Bombay--London--New York (Routledge Studies in Health and Social Welfare) [Paperback]

Amitava Kumar (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 22, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0143028960 | ISBN-13: 978-0415942119 | Edition: 1

When Amitava Kumar left Patna, India, he envisioned himself as an up-and-coming citizen of the world, leaving behind the confines of Indian traditions. Yet like the wave of exiles that preceded him, he found that once we leave our past, we are defined by it: in the U.S. he is pigeonholed by his appearance and quizzed about saris and arranged marriages.
"There is no beginning that is a blank page," writes Kumar. Circling the three capitals of the Indian diaspora, Bombay-London-New York captures the contours of the expatriate experience, touching on the themes of abandonment, nostalgia, and exile that have powered some of the most prominent Indian writers today -- Naipaul, Rushdie, Roy, Kureishi, as well as E.M. Forster and Gandhi.
With resonant, poetic language and a storyteller's sensibility, Kumar explores the works of these writers through the lens of his own life as an immigrant and writer. As their fiction reveals, the past of the expatriate is mythical,shaped by memory and loss.
With tales of life in India and London and meditations on the form Indian fiction gives to the lives of those who read about it, this is a sweeping, passionate search to find one's own story in the stories of others.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

When Salman Rushdie said in the early 1980s that Indian writers were "in a position to conquer English Literature," he was being slightly exuberant but also a bit prophetic. Today, the parade of Indians writers in English is long and growing in numbers and prestige; among them, one finds Amitav Ghosh, Arundhati Roy, Hanif Kureishi, Rohinton Mistry, Hashi Tharoor, Vikram Seth, R.K. Narayan, and Anita Desai. In addition to using English, they all share an expatriate status and the immigrant-writer experience. It is these similarities that Kumar pursues in his intriguing book. Himself an exile, Kumar (English, Pennsylvania State Univ.), a winner of an "Outstanding Book of the Year" Award from the Myers Program for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America, figuratively wanders through the three main capitals of the Indian diaspora (Bombay, London, and New York) in pursuit of the themes and motivations that characterize these literary exiles. In the process, he reflects on what expatriate fiction reveals, namely, that the past is mythical (partly true, partly dreamed) and shaped by nostalgia, memory, and loss and that even when we leave our past and the old country, we are still defined by it. This book illuminates both the writers examined and the act of writing as a means of re-creating the past. Highly recommended for literary collections and all large public and academic libraries.
Ali Houissa, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

[Kumar's] literary criticism is effortless and illuminating...his analysis of the Indian underclass and social unrest is incisive. When Kumar is personal and honest he is most effective. His observations on Naipaul and Rushdie, in particular, are balanced and insightful. Kumar is clearly capable of great narrative. -- Persimmon
This intriguing book illuminates both the writers examined and the act of writing as a means of re-creating the past. Highly recommended for literary collections and all large public and academic libraries. -- Library Journal
...[a] wilful, engaging book on Indian fiction in English, where it is always clear that there is a relationship between literary journeys and those embarked on in real life, between the flow of words and the movement of people and things, and between the reader's act of finding the literary centre and the writer's task of illuminating the periphery. -- Times Literary Supplement
Bombay-London-New York is a riveting book. Kumar's passion for his subject matter is infectious. But he is doing much more than simply providing illuminating insights into Indian cultural life in the West. He is showing a way forward for cultural criticism, with the critic as an insightful storyteller. It is the wave of the future. -- Independent
Kumar is a skilled storyteller. He manages to pull the different strands of his narrative - the autobiography, the anxieties of the writer in exile, the evolution of indigenous varieties of Indianness in London and New York - with considerable success. His prose is always elegant, his ideas always pulsate with energy and his humanity shines through every page. -- Independent
[Bombay-London-New York] is not so much a well-cooked biryani, where different ingredients are synthesized into a holistic meal, but more a juicy, multi-layered club sandwich. -- Independent
This is a work of luminous imagination and tenderness. Amitava Kumar is a startling story teller: that rare cultural critic who writes from and for the heart. When last did any academic so successfully harmonize a love of language with a passion for ideas? This book will surely establish Kumar as one of the most eloquent, searching public intellectuals of his generation. Rob Nixon Rachel Carson Professor of English, University of Wisconsin, Madison and author of Dreambirds.
As a literary critic, memoirist and social historian, Amitava Kumar is a rare and bracing presence in the world of Indian writing in English. He is a connoisseur of texts, always alert to the felicitous phrase and image, but his greater achievement lies in illuminating the individual and collective histories that a young literature emerges from - Pankaj Mishra.
[Bombay-London-New York] is not so much a well-cooked biryani, where different ingredients are synthesized into a holistic meal, but more a juicy, multi-layered club sandwich. -- Independent
As a literary critic, memoirist and social historian, Amitava Kumar is a rare and bracing presence in the world of Indian writing in English. He is a connoisseur of texts, always alert to the felicitous phrase and image, but his greater achievement lies in illuminating the individual and collective histories that a young literature emerges from. -- Pankaj Mishra
This is a work of luminous imagination and tenderness. Amitava Kumar is a startling story teller: that rare cultural critic who writes from and for the heart. When last did any academic so successfully harmonize a love of language with a passion for ideas? This book will surely establish Kumar as one of the most eloquent, searching public intellectuals of his generation. -- Rob Nixon Rachel Carson, Professor of English, University of Wisconsin, Madison and author of Dreambirds.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (September 22, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143028960
• ISBN-13: 978-0415942119
• ASIN: 041594211X
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,453,023 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Being Amitava Malkovich, October 24, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Bombay--London--New York (Routledge Studies in Health and Social Welfare) (Paperback)

What we get with this book is a sure-footed survey of indian writing in English that feels like a grand tour by a docent who also happens to be your close friend. Amitava Kumar is an emerging literary voice from the indian subcontinent. The intimate prose evokes feelings of alienation and displacement that serve as a recurrent theme in a manner common to many expatriate authors but what is special with this book is a poignant sociological component. The author is not content to rely on his own keen observations of the real world; he delves into the world of fiction that many writers of eminence have created. The academic and the writer of fiction come together in a way that left me feeling good about myself.

Several photographs adorning the book give an air of authencity to the prose. The book brings a sense of immediacy to the forgotten places in india in a way that was never done before.With this book he has created a portal to his brain much like the movie "Being John Malkovich".

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An authoritative survey of Indian writings and Indian diaspora, July 31, 2006

By 

Amitabh Virmani (Allahabad, India) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bombay--London--New York (Routledge Studies in Health and Social Welfare) (Paperback)

Amitava Kumar in this work surveys Indian writing in English. He explores socio-geography of the Indian diaspora (some 20 million people living outside their home country), touching upon the common feeling of nostalgia and nationalism. His social view in not only limited to his own experience, but also draws from fictional worlds created by various exemplary authors like V S Naipaul and Hanif Kureishei.

This book is a curious mix of autobiography, literary commentary, stories from Bollywood movies and contemporary News!

Apart from its luminous prose, the book is adored with absorbing photos and poems. At places, photos do not fit well with the text. The poems are brief and simple. Quotations from various authors make this work an entertaining read. I highly recommened it to those interested in exploring Indian writings.

3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Being Amitava Malkovich, October 24, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Bombay--London--New York (Routledge Studies in Health and Social Welfare) (Paperback)

What we get with this book is a sure-footed survey of indian writing in English that feels like a grand tour by a docent who also happens to be your close friend. Amitava Kumar is an emerging literary voice from the indian subcontinent. The intimate prose evokes feelings of alienation and displacement that serve as a recurrent theme in a manner common to many expatriate authors but what is special with this book is a poignant sociological component. The author is not content to rely on his own keen observations of the real world; he delves into the world of fiction that many writers of eminence have created. The academic and the writer of fiction come together in a way that left me feeling good about myself.

Several photographs adorning the book give an air of authencity to the prose. The book brings a sense of immediacy to the forgotten places in india in a way that was never done before.With this book he has created a portal to his brain, reminding me of the movie "Being John Malkovich".