Una fascinante recreación de la India de los años posteriores a la independencia, a través de la mirada de una joven que regresa al país tras educarse en O
En torno a esta pregunta, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala ha reunido nueve relatos sobre una vida que podría haber sido la suya. La admiración por la India como paraíso perdido y reencontrado, la religión, las complejas relaciones amorosas, el arte, el sexo o la politica son solo algunos de los temas de este amplio panorama que, a modo de puzzle, ofrece un analisis certero de los seres humanos y de sus avatares cotidianos.
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala takes her own life and turns it into a "what if?" scenario: nine versions of what her life might have been had she taken different paths. Each of her characters begins as Jhabvala did, but veers off into an imaginary direction, including an affair with a pianist, a return to India in old age, and devotion to a famous guru. The chapter headings include pen-and-ink drawings by C.S.H. Jhabvala, the author's architect husband, who has illustrated several of her books or their jackets.
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala takes her own life and turns it into a "what if?" scenario: nine versions of what her life might have been had she taken different paths. Each of her characters begins as Jhabvala did, but veers off into an imaginary direction, including an affair with a pianist, a return to India in old age, and devotion to a famous guru. The chapter headings include pen-and-ink drawings by C.S.H. Jhabvala, the author's architect husband, who has illustrated several of her books or their jackets.
Esmond en la India recrea, con detalle y elegancia, los años posteriores a la independencia de la India desde los ojos de una joven, Shakuntala, que regresa a Delhi después de los años de college en Oxford. La mirada de la muchacha nos sirve para comprobar el contraste de civilizaciones y los distintos enfoques generacionales, a la vez que muestra un fresco rico en colores y fragancias sensuales, contra el que se dibuja una galería de personajes fascinantes y singulares. Entre ellos, el inglés Esmond Stillwood, con su nostalgia por las formas de vida de la metrópoli, pero también la bella Gulab y su hijo Ravi, la anciana Umma, o la familia de Shakuntala y la de los vecinos Ram Nath y Lakhsmi. Esmond en la India es el reflejo más completo y hermoso de un momento decisivo en la historia de la India.
This brilliant collection spans two worlds - the restless, aspiring society of New York's Upper East Side and the world of India's capital city, New Delhi, where the old India symbolized by Gandhi's spinning wheel is giving way to one powered by industry and property development. A rich cast of characters inhabits these stories - Indian businessmen and holy women, students, society hostesses and ambitious young politicians; New Yorkers preoccupied with money yet also in search of meaning - anxious and often manipulative parents, alienated children, men and women struggling with their longings and failures and their complicated sex lives. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's quiet but insistent probing goes to the very heart of her characters, showing us all their complexities and contradictions. In these absorbing stories, there is a feeling of ambivalence, a subtle sensuality and a poignant sense of time passing. Like all great storytellers, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala suggests many questions but supplies no easy answers. This is a fascinating and wonderfully readable collection which is also a literary event.
Each book in the "New Longman Literature" series provides the complete, original text and a full range of support materials. The study material includes: the writer on writing - a section by or about the writer, exploring the process of writing; an introduction; guidance on keeping a log; a National Curriculum study programme; and a glossary.
