sozobe wrote:You don't have a "bedside table"?
I want that book!! (The Namesake.) Was excerpted in the New Yorker, looked fantastic. "The Interpreter of Maladies" is one of my all-time faves.
Gautam -- random observation, tell me what you think. I started getting seriously into modern Indian fiction about 15 years ago. Then, it seemed like if there was a novel by an Indian author published here, it was good, period. (I could come up with titles but my brain is mushy yet. Rushdie, obviusly. Seth. Some Mistry I think.)
Then about -- what -- 8 years ago? it became a thing. Oooh, Modern Indian Fiction! "The God of Small Things", Rushdie again, other stuff. It became a publishing phenomenon.
So where I was used to picking up a book with an Indian name and an "exotic" looking cover -- red and gold predominated -- and being assured it was good, a lot of the more recent ones seem eh.
Or is that me getting more jaded?
Soz, you are not alone in this - see we think alike !!
I also am pretty wary of the modern Indian literature right now. When the initial boom happened, I think it was something new to the western world. I mean, how often did you see an Indian author being published in the west ?
I think that the problem has been over exposure. Once a select few authors started getting fame, everyone sort of jumped on the band wagon (after all income in $s is far more than income in Rupees) and an obvious result was the detoriation in quality.
One of the other reasons IMO (which is never humble btw) that the Indian authors have not been able to evolve. The books are the same - realtionships in an Indian context, poverty, hardships etc etc - The novelty wears off after a while !
