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AVASTHE : A NOVEL

By U. R. Ananthamurthy| Narayan Hegde

 499.00 inclusive of all taxes

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About the book

A literary colossus – THE NEW YORK TIMES

One of the greatest Indian writers of the last century – PANKAJ MISHRA

A masterpiece that will continue to speak to generations – K. SATCHIDANANDAN

First published in Kannada in 1978, Avasthe is U.R. Ananthamurthy’s tour de force.

In a nation struggling with corruption and the corrosion of human values, the prime minister is all set to become a ruthless dictator. From his sickbed, Krishnappa Gowda, revolutionary leader of the peasants, grapples with his conscience, the schemes of partymen and flattery from hangers-on. Memories come and go as his mind, tethered to a failing body, reaches for the true meaning of life.

In Ananthamurthy’s hands, life’s cruel negations – caste, poverty, pettiness – are delicately balanced with its triumphs – the splendour of nature, the majesty of poetry, the delight of friendship, the deliverance of love.

The quintessential Indian novel, Avasthe is a masterpiece whose meanings will continue to resonate and reveal themselves long after it has been read.

Pages: 240

Available in: Hardback

Language: English

U. R. Ananthamurthy

U.R. ANANTHAMURTHY (1932-2014) is one of India’s greatest literary figures and public intellectuals. His publications include novels, short stories, poetry, translations and essays in literary and cultural criticism. He has been awarded the Padma Bhushan and the Jnanpith Award.

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Narayan Hegde

NARAYAN HEGDE is an Emeritus Professor of English at the State University of New York at Old Westbury, USA. He is a recipient of the Katha Translation Award and National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Literature. He is part of a team translating the fifteenth-century Kannada Mahabharata epic by Kumaravyasa, scheduled to be published by the Harvard University Press under the Murty Classical Library of India series

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I had read Avasthe in a beautiful Malayalam translation decades ago. But looking back now, I feel it is an allegory that suits our times even more than the times when it was written. It is a work central to U.R. Ananthamurthy’s oeuvre as it faithfully, if obliquely, reflects his concerns and convictions as a writer and a citizen, making use of the protagonist’s paralysis as a metaphor for the democracy of our times. Ananthamurthy’s narrative style which balances itself between suggestion and description, his vividness in portraying even minor characters, his profound understanding of human dilemmas and of social and political evil that overpowers even idealists, and his ominous intimations of an impending tragedy in our collective life – Avasthe beautifully combines all these elements in what is undoubtedly a masterpiece that will continue to speak to generations. - k. satchidanandan

U.R. Ananthamurthy was one of the greatest Indian writers of the last century, as much a master of literary form as an original thinker. Avasthe, a complex novel now assiduously Englished, is a bracing reminder of how deftly he fused his tremendous intellectual power and political passion with his fine moral imagination. - pankaj mishra

The three hungers of our time that U.R. Ananthamurthy often spoke of – modernity, equality and spirituality – are manifest here in all their sharp, serrated tensions. Through the hands of a master novelist, Avasthe lays open the question of whether those qualities can ever come together. It explores a landscape of hermits and politicians, village and city, power and fragility, in all its ambiguities. Avasthe brings us something we may have lost – the novel of ideas – where crucial questions are given life. - sharmistha mohanty

On The blog

narayan hegde

HarperCollins India to publish UR Ananthamurthy’s Avasthe, a masterpiece from one of India’s most celebrated writers

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