Untouchable (Penguin Classics) - Softcover

Anand, Mulk Raj

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140183957 ISBN 13: 9780140183955

Publisher: Penguin Books, 1989

Synopsis

Bakha is a young man, proud and even attractive, yet none the less he is an outcast in India’s caste system: an Untouchable. In deceptively simple prose this groundbreaking novel describes a day in the life of Bakha, sweeper and toilet-cleaner, as he searches for a meaning to the tragic existence he has been born into – and comes to an unexpected conclusion. Mulk Raj Anand poured a vitality, fire and richness of detail into his controversial work, which led him to be acclaimed as his country’s Charles Dickens and one of the twentieth century’s most important Indian writers.

About this title

Review:

One of the most eloquent and imaginative works to deal with this difficult and emotive subject (Martin Seymour-Smith)

It recalled to me very vividly the occasions I have walked 'the wrong way' in an Indian city, and it is a way down which no novelist has yet taken me (E. M. Forster)

About the Author:

Mulk Raj Anand was born in Peshawar in 1905 and educated at the universities of Punjab and London. After earning his PhD in philosophy in 1929, Anand began writing for T.S. Eliot's magazine, the Criterion,as well as books on cooking and art. Recognition came with the publication of his first two novels, including his well- known trilogy - The Village (1939), Across the Black Waters ( 1940) and The Swaord and the Sickle ( 1942). By the time he returned to India in 1946 he was easily the best - known Indian writer abroad. Making Bombay his home and centre of activity, Anand threw himself headlong into the cultural and social life of India. He founded and edited the fine art magazine Marg, and has been the recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award, several honorary doctorates and other distinctions.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0140183957
• ISBN 13: 9780140183955
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160