A Matter of Rats – A Short Biography of Patna
Autor Amitava Kumaren Limba Engleză Hardback – 3 apr 2014
Kumar's ruminations on one of the world's oldest cities, the capital of India's poorest province, are also a meditation on how to write about place. His memory is partial. All he has going for him is his attentiveness. He carefully observes everything that surrounds him in Patna: rats and poets, artists and politicians, a girl's picture in a historian's study, and a sheet of paper on his mother's desk. The result is this unique book, as cutting as it is honest.
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Specificații
ISBN-13: 9780822357049
ISBN-10: 0822357046
Pagini: 144
Dimensiuni: 149 x 210 x 18 mm
Greutate: 0.31 kg
Editura: MD – Duke University Press
ISBN-10: 0822357046
Pagini: 144
Dimensiuni: 149 x 210 x 18 mm
Greutate: 0.31 kg
Editura: MD – Duke University Press
Notă biografică
Amitava Kumar is a novelist, poet, journalist, filmmaker, and Helen D. Lockwood Professor of English at Vassar College. He is the author of "A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb" and "Nobody Does the Right Thing: A Novel," both also published by Duke University Press; "Husband of a Fanatic: A Personal Journey through India, Pakistan, Love, and Hate," a "New York Times" "Editors' Choice" selection; "Bombay--London--New York," a "New Statesman" (UK) "Book of the Year" selection; and "Passport Photos." He is the editor of several books, including "Away: The Indian Writer as an Expatriate," "The Humour and the Pity: Essays on V. S. Naipaul," and "World Bank Literature." He is also the screenwriter and narrator of the prize-winning documentary film "Pure Chutney." Kumar's writing has appeared in "The Nation," "Harper's Magazine," "Vanity Fair," "The American Prospect," "The Chronicle of Higher Education," "The Hindu," and other publications in North America and India.
Recenzii
""A Matter of Rats" is a a wonderfully witty, poignant and idiosyncratic performance, full of surreal details and the oddest and most delicious digressions. Part memoir, part history, part biography of a rat-infested city in spectacular decline, Amitava Kuma has produced an enjoyably eloquent, gossipy, and discursive portrait of his love/hate relationship with his benighted birthplace."--William Dalrymple
"Amitava Kumar writes with such generosity, intelligence, precision, and wit that we come to recognize the world he portrays and the heart he excavates as our own. In prose that's riveting and blow-your-mind perceptive, Kumar vividly brings his childhood home of Patna, India, to life. "A Matter of Rats" will make you laugh and cry and shake your head in astonishment and horror and delight. This is a book for all of us, now."--Cheryl Strayed, author of"Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail"
"There's much more to Patna than rats, of course, and Kumar touches on its ancient glory and later role in the East India Company's opium trade. He also writes eloquently about writing itself, and the meaning of place."
--Nina Shengold ""Chronogram" "
""A Matter of Rats" is disconcerting, sophisticated, and recklessly courageous. The stories gathered here bring Patna to life, and accrete to an almost unbearable intensity."--Teju Cole, author of"Open City"
"Pound for pound, Amitava Kumar is one of the best nonfiction writers of his generation. . . . No one in India writes a more fine-grained and quietly evocative prose. . . . In his marvelous new work "A Matter of Rats: A Short Biography of Patna", Kumar puts a stethoscope to his hometown and takes a reading of its heart."--Siddharth Chowdhury ""Time Out Delhi" "
"E. B. White composed "Here Is New York", his fraught love letter to Manhattan, during a heat wave in the summer of 1948. Sixty-four years later, the book served as a 'secret talisman' for Amitava Kumar, who carried it with him into the heat and humidity of his hometown, Patna, in India, as he wrote "A Matter of Rats", an equally cleareyed ode to a similarly implausible place."--Maud Newton""New York Times Magazine"" (04/27/2014)
"This new look at an ancient city transports readers on a fun journey. Lovers of travel writing, Indian history, and fans of literature will greatly enjoy this short book. . . ."--Melissa Aho ""Library Journal" "
"An intimate and whimsical book, but one that truly shines when the author turns his gaze to the ordinary people who still live in Patna . . . skillfully evoking the circumstances of chaos, filth and absurdity in which even the city's middle-class professionals are forced to live."--Sonia Faleiro""New York Times Book Review"" (05/11/2014)
"Amitava Kumar writes with such generosity, intelligence, precision, and wit that we come to recognize the world he portrays and the heart he excavates as our own. In prose that's riveting and blow-your-mind perceptive, Kumar vividly brings his childhood home of Patna, India, to life. "A Matter of Rats" will make you laugh and cry and shake your head in astonishment and horror and delight. This is a book for all of us, now."--Cheryl Strayed, author of"Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail"
"There's much more to Patna than rats, of course, and Kumar touches on its ancient glory and later role in the East India Company's opium trade. He also writes eloquently about writing itself, and the meaning of place."
--Nina Shengold ""Chronogram" "
""A Matter of Rats" is disconcerting, sophisticated, and recklessly courageous. The stories gathered here bring Patna to life, and accrete to an almost unbearable intensity."--Teju Cole, author of"Open City"
"Pound for pound, Amitava Kumar is one of the best nonfiction writers of his generation. . . . No one in India writes a more fine-grained and quietly evocative prose. . . . In his marvelous new work "A Matter of Rats: A Short Biography of Patna", Kumar puts a stethoscope to his hometown and takes a reading of its heart."--Siddharth Chowdhury ""Time Out Delhi" "
"E. B. White composed "Here Is New York", his fraught love letter to Manhattan, during a heat wave in the summer of 1948. Sixty-four years later, the book served as a 'secret talisman' for Amitava Kumar, who carried it with him into the heat and humidity of his hometown, Patna, in India, as he wrote "A Matter of Rats", an equally cleareyed ode to a similarly implausible place."--Maud Newton""New York Times Magazine"" (04/27/2014)
"This new look at an ancient city transports readers on a fun journey. Lovers of travel writing, Indian history, and fans of literature will greatly enjoy this short book. . . ."--Melissa Aho ""Library Journal" "
"An intimate and whimsical book, but one that truly shines when the author turns his gaze to the ordinary people who still live in Patna . . . skillfully evoking the circumstances of chaos, filth and absurdity in which even the city's middle-class professionals are forced to live."--Sonia Faleiro""New York Times Book Review"" (05/11/2014)
Descriere
It is not only the past that lies in ruins in Patna, it is also the present. But that is not the only truth about the city that Amitava Kumar explores in this vivid, entertaining account of his hometown. We accompany him through many Patnas, the myriad cities locked within the city--the shabby reality of the present-day capital of Bihar; Pataliputra, the storied city of emperors; the dreamlike embodiment of the city in the minds and hearts of those who have escaped contemporary Patna's confines. Full of fascinating observations and impressions, "A Matter of Rats" reveals a challenging and enduring city that exerts a lasting pull on all those who drift into its orbit.
Kumar's ruminations on one of the world's oldest cities, the capital of India's poorest province, are also a meditation on how to write about place. His memory is partial. All he has going for him is his attentiveness. He carefully observes everything that surrounds him in Patna: rats and poets, artists and politicians, a girl's picture in a historian's study, and a sheet of paper on his mother's desk. The result is this unique book, as cutting as it is honest.
Kumar's ruminations on one of the world's oldest cities, the capital of India's poorest province, are also a meditation on how to write about place. His memory is partial. All he has going for him is his attentiveness. He carefully observes everything that surrounds him in Patna: rats and poets, artists and politicians, a girl's picture in a historian's study, and a sheet of paper on his mother's desk. The result is this unique book, as cutting as it is honest.
Cuprins
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction. The Place of Place xi
1. The Rat's Guide 1
2. Pataliputra 15
3. Patna in the Hole 29
4. Leftover Patna 45
5. Other Patnas 63
6. Emperor of This World 73
7. Emotional Atyachaar 85
Epilogue. Place of Birth/Place of Death 103
Notes 109
Index 113
Introduction. The Place of Place xi
1. The Rat's Guide 1
2. Pataliputra 15
3. Patna in the Hole 29
4. Leftover Patna 45
5. Other Patnas 63
6. Emperor of This World 73
7. Emotional Atyachaar 85
Epilogue. Place of Birth/Place of Death 103
Notes 109
Index 113