The Romantics is the debut novel

Debut novel

A debut novel is the first novel an author publishes. Debut novels are the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to publish in the future...

 of Pankaj Mishra

Pankaj Mishra

Pankaj Mishra born 1969 in Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh , is an Indian essayist and novelist. He is particularly notable for his book Butter Chicken in Ludhiana, a sociological study of small-town India, and his writing for the New York Review of Books.He graduated with a bachelor's degree in commerce...

, the author of Butter Chicken in Ludhiana: Travels in Small Town India (1995), An End to Suffering: The Buddha in the World (2004) and Temptations of the West: How to be Modern in India, Pakistan and Beyond (2006). The Romantics is an ironic tale of people longing for fulfillment in cultures other than their own. It was published in eleven Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an languages and won the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum award for first fiction.

Plot introduction

Samar, the young narrator of The Romantics, arrives at a boarding house in the holy city of Benaras, an ancient city trying to cope with modern India. There he hopes to lose himself in books and solitude, but, far from offering him an undistracted existence, the city forces all his silent desires into the light.

Quotes on the blurb

The following quotes are given on the blurb of the novel:

'Pankaj Mishra writes the most perfect prose of any Indian novelist of his generation' - William Dalrymple

'Read it and find yourself at the source of something great' - Candia McWilliam

Candia McWilliam

Candia McWilliam is a Scottish author. Her father was the architectural writer and academic Colin McWilliam.Born in Edinburgh, McWilliam was educated at Girton College, Cambridge, where she obtained first class honours. Her first novel, A Case of Knives, published in 1988, was the winner of a...

Literary significance and reception

'Though slightly over-long and crowded with minor players, The Romantics is an intriguing combination of casual grace and emotional intensity, peppered with discreet social comment on caste, class, sectarian strife, the state of the nation. (...) Hearteningly different from the tricksiness and posturing of much recent Indian writing, this is a charming début, which makes a virtue of its studied simplicity' - Aamer Hussein

Aamer Hussein

Aamer Hussein is a Pakistani short story writer and critic.-Early life and education:He grew up in Karachi, where he attended Lady Jennings School and the Convent of Jesus and Mary. He spent most summers with his mother's family in India. He studied in Ootacamund, South India, for two years before...

, The Independent

The Independent

The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

 

'If much of cosmopolitan Indian writing has valorized the immigrant and the foreign land, then The Romantics is a celebration of the home and its forgotten world' - Amitava Kumar

Amitava Kumar

Amitava Kumar is an Indian writer and journalist who is currently Professor of English on the Helen D. Lockwood Chair at Vassar College.-Early Life and Education:...

, The Nation

The Nation

The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...

'...this extraordinary debut novel

Debut novel

A debut novel is the first novel an author publishes. Debut novels are the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to publish in the future...

, The Romantics, a supernova in the wan firmament of recent fiction' - Marie Arana

Marie Arana

Marie Arana is an editor, journalist and author.Born in Peru, the daughter of Jorge Arana, a Peruvian born civil engineer, and Marie Campbell Arana, she moved with her family to the United States at the age of 9, achieved her B.A. in Russian at Northwestern University, her M.A...

, The Washington Post

The Washington Post

The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...

 

External links

• Magazine contains articles written by Pankaj Mishra
• Articles on New York Review of Books
• Philosopher King by Adam Goodheart—book review in New York Times
• "Pankaj Mishra, Intellectual and Spiritual Vagrant". An interview by Wendy Cheng at Loggernaut
  Loggernaut
  Loggernaut Reading Series is a reading series in Portland, Oregon founded in 2005. Each reading features three readers and a prompt to which they respond....
  
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