Anjum Hasan – författare

A darkly funny, sharply observed, and deeply moving novel about the surprises and struggles of life in contemporary Delhi 'Confirms Anjum Hasan as one of the most important writers of our time' WILLIAM DALRYMPLEAlif is a middle-aged history teacher living in contemporary Delhi. He’s often lost in reveries on India’s past, but it’s the present that presses down on him. His wife is set on a bigger house and a better car while trying to ace her MBA exams; his teenage son wants to quit school to get rich; his colleagues are suspicious of a Muslim teaching Indian history; and his old friend has just reconnected with a childhood sweetheart for whom Alif has always had feelings.Then one day, while leading a school field trip, the unthinkable happens, and Alif finds his job on the line as his life – and the world around him – rapidly descends into chaos.

This anthology brings together one hundred contemporary Indian poets and fiction writers working in English as well as translating from other Indian languages. Located anywhere from Michigan to Mumbai, the sources of their creativity range from the ancient epics to twentieth-century world literature, with themes suggesting a modernist individuality and sense of displacement as well as an ironic, postmodern embracing of multiple disjunctions. The editors present a historical background to the various Englishes apparent in this collection, while also identifying the shared traditions and contexts that hold together their uniquely diverse selection. In aiming at coherence rather than unity, Hasan and Chattarji reveal that the idea of Indianness is as much a means of exploring difference as finding common ground.