Items related to The Romantics
Synopsis
Set in contemporary India, The Romantics tells the story of Samar, a young man who goes to live in Benares to avoid a small-town job and to lose himself in reading and a world beyond himself. But soon the realities of the bustling holy city begin to intrude as Samar is introduced to a world of Europeans, of modern India and of disappointed love. `If you buy one literary novel this year, make sure it's this' Amanda Craig, The Times, Summer Books `This bright new star is the real thing' David Robson, Sunday Telegraph
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Product Description
Paperback. Pub Date :2001-2-1 Pages: 277 A first novel set in contemporary India. this book describes howSamar. a young Brahmin. escapes a future of small-town jobs to livein Benares. losing himself in books and solitude Here. . he meetsCatherine. a French woman who stands at the centre of the eventswhich destroy his equanimity.
Review
In his impressively perceptive and thoughtful first novel, The Romantics , Pankaj Mishra explores the collisions of India's past with the onslaught of the new. Samar, a 19-year-old Brahmin, has arrived in the holy city of Benares in the winter of 1989 and taken a room where he intends to continue his solitary bookish life. His chosen companions are the likes of Edmund Wilson, Ivan Turgenev and Gustav Flaubert--with occasional unintended forays into the thick of student political upheavals through his acquaintance with the mysterious Rajesh.
But in the room next to his lives the Englishwoman Miss West, whose ex-pat entourage includes a beautiful young Frenchwoman, Catherine. Frozen by his own gaucheness and ineptitude, Samar is fascinated by what he sees as their "casual yet intimate knowingness. I felt the fragility of my own personality, my lack of opinions and taste". And yet he is convinced that in this predestined encounter with Catherine, "some of the richness of life and the world were revealed to me". With an unrelenting eye, Samar observes his own conflicts--the tumult of romantic delusion, of casual rejection, the unassuaged longings of youth--with the knowledge "that the past that had given shape and coherence to my parents lives was no longer available to me". There is neither lax nostalgia here nor conservative mourning for the past but simply a careful registering of what is.
The force of the novel's intelligence and observation, the seriousness of its purpose and its almost contemplative pace make Mishra's rite of passage for his central character and his society into a fine debut. --Ruth Petrie
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- PublisherPicador
- Publication date2001
- ISBN 10 0330392778
- ISBN 13 9780330392778
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages288
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The Romantics
Seller: WorldofBooks, Goring-By-Sea, WS, United Kingdom
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Paperback. Condition: Good. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine. Seller Inventory # GOR000957494
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The Romantics
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Paperback. Condition: Fair. A readable copy of the book which may include some defects such as highlighting and notes. Cover and pages may be creased and show discolouration. Seller Inventory # GOR002020276
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The Romantics
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Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The Romantics This book is in very good condition and will be shipped within 24 hours of ordering. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. See all our books here, order more than 1 book and get discounted shipping. Seller Inventory # 7719-9780330392778
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The Romantics
Seller: Bahamut Media, Reading, United Kingdom
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Paperback. Condition: Very Good. This book is in very good condition and will be shipped within 24 hours of ordering. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. See all our books here, order more than 1 book and get discounted shipping. Seller Inventory # 6545-9780330392778
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Romantics
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Condition: good. Befriedigend/Good: Durchschnittlich erhaltenes Buch bzw. Schutzumschlag mit Gebrauchsspuren, aber vollständigen Seiten. / Describes the average WORN book or dust jacket that has all the pages present. Seller Inventory # M00330392778-G
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The Romantics
Seller: Anybook.com, Lincoln, United Kingdom
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Condition: Good. This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside.This book has soft covers. In good all round condition. Seller Inventory # 9039979
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the romantics
Published by
Picador India, India, 1999
ISBN 10: 0330392778
ISBN 13: 9780330392778
Used
Softcover
First Edition
Seller: Syber's Books, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Seller rating 2 out of 5 stars
Softcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: No Dust Jacket. First Edition. there is a small catch at the bottom of the spine, and a little rubbing on the front edges of the front and rear cover. No other damage to detail. This is the author's first novel, the young man who arrives at a boarding house in the holy city of Benares, an ancient city trying to cope with modern India. Then he hopes to lose himself in books and solitude but, far from offering him an undistracted existence, the city forces all of his silent desires into the light. Size: Mid Sized Paperback ( 7¾" - 9¾" tall ). 277 pages. Please refer to accompanying picture (s). Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 500 grams. Category: Literature & Literary; India; ISBN: 0330392778. ISBN/EAN: 9780330392778. Inventory No: 0246376. Seller Inventory # 0246376
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The Romantics
Seller: Book Express (NZ), Wellington, New Zealand
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Paperback. Condition: Good. 277 pages. Cover worn On the banks of the Ganges, the holy city of Benares groans and heaves along the fault line where modern India presses against its living past, as pilgrims bathe in the sacred waters while the bodies of the dead await by the thousands their turns on the burning ghats. Into this city comes in all innocence . Seller Inventory # 3189n
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The Romantics
Seller: Bookbot, Prague, Czech Republic
Seller rating 4 out of 5 stars
Condition: Fine. On the banks of the Ganges, the holy city of Benares groans and heaves along the fault line where modern India presses against its living past, as pilgrims bathe in the sacred waters while the bodies of the dead await by the thousands their turns on the burning ghats. Into this city comes in all innocence young Samar to complete his university studies and take the civil-service examinations that will determine his future. An uprooted Brahman, bearing the responsibilities of his caste but shorn of its privileges, Samar, obsessed by the intellectual culture of the West but shaped by ancient obligations due his ancestors, finds himself suspended between conflicted worlds. He is the classic young man from the provinces, propelled by curiosity and passion beyond his comprehension. He will emerge with a story to tell: a story of lost illusions and the joy and pain of love. On his journey of self-discovery, Samar is accompanied by two guides: Rajesh, an impoverished fellow Brahman, a hanger-on at the university who has mysterious powers over a band of student malcontents that has made him its leader; and Miss West, his neighbor in the ramshackle lodging where he has taken a room. Miss West--English, fortyish, her good looks so far intact--will introduce Samar to her circle of Western friends who have come to Benares seeking a culture more resonant than their own. From Rajesh, Samar will discover the dead end to which that culture has come. When he arrives in Benares, Samar knows Miss West's world only through the books he has read. By the time he is ready to leave the holy city, Samar's Brahman reserves will have been tested to the breaking point by Miss West's beautiful friend Catherine and by the horror to which Rajesh has exposed him. He survives by the grace of character and intelligence with which his brilliant creator--one of the most promising talents of his Anglo-Indian generation--has endowed him in this astonishingly mature first novel, the harbinger of a major literary career. Seller Inventory # d58d376c-de88-41eb-a8a8-741cacb4c670
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