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The Vermilion Boat

160.000

63 in stock


Author Sudhin N. Ghose
ISBN 9789386338587
Published Language English
Publication Year 2017
Publisher Speaking Tiger
Binding Paperback
Pages 320
Ships By 2-3 days
SKU: ST-103 Categories: , Tag:

Description

Sisi-Magar became my boat, and straddled on its back I was transformed into a sea-godÑone who defied the elements and to whom the wind and the waves paid homage. They no longer raved about death, but spoke of abundant life.’

A young orphan leaves for Calcutta, full of hope, to attend university there. But, on reaching the city, he finds he has been betrayed and left penniless and homeless by Jogin-Da, the guardian whom he respected and blindly trusted. Even as he scours the streets of Calcutta for shelter and sustenance, the young man finds himself drawn to the city’s glorious past, and repelled by the religious prejudices and narrowmindedness of its residents. At university, too, he comes into conflict with his peers who thoughtlessly ape Western culture and ignore the best parts of their own traditions. In a time of gathering disillusionment and disappointment, the young man finds a mentor in an ageing professor, Profulla Babu, and loveÑof a sortÑwith his Latin tutor, Roma. He receives a chance at redemption, too, after he befriends Sisi-Magar, a tame porpoise in a temple pond, which he must set free in the Ganges.

Published in 1953 and now being reissued for the first time in more than half a century, The Vermilion Boat is the third novel in Sudhin N. Ghose’s quartet which follows the life and career of an unnamed young man. As much a coming-of-age story as an account of the making of the great metropolis of Calcutta, The Vermilion Boat brings together history, legend and myth to create a rich, sprawling narrative.

About the author
Sudhindra Nath Ghose (1899Ð1965)Ñbest known as Sudhin GhoseÑwas born in Bardhaman in Bengal. He moved to Europe as a student in the 1920s where he first studied science and art history before completing a doctorate in literature. Though he spent his entire writing career in the West, Sudhin N. Ghose, like his contemporaries Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan and Raja Rao, based his work on India, drawing material from the villages and towns of Bengal. An impeccable prose stylist and a master of sprawling narratives which draw inspiration from myths, fables, legends and epics, Sudhin N. Ghose is among the greatest writers in Indian English literature. Sudhin N. Ghose wrote journalistic pieces, a scholarly tract, and three volumes of Indian folktales apart from the work for which he is best remembered: a quartet of novels comprising And Gazelles Leaping (1949), Cradle of the Clouds (1951), The Vermilion Boat (1953) and The Flame of the Forest (1955).

Additional information

Author

ISBN

Published Language

Publication Year

Publisher

Binding

Pages

320

Ships By

2-3 days