In recent years American readers have been thrilling to the work of such Indian writers as Salman Rushdie and Vikram Seth. Now this extravagant and wonderfully discerning anthology unfurls the full diversity of Indian literature from the 1850s to the present, presenting today’s brightest talents in the company of their distinguished forbearers and likely heirs. The thirty-eight authors collected by novelist Amit Chaudhuri write not only in English but also in Hindi, Bengali, and Urdu. They include Rabindranath Tagore, arguably the first international literary celebrity, chronicling the wistful relationship between a village postal inspector and a servant girl, and Bibhuti Bhushan Banerjee, represented by an excerpt from his classic novel about an impoverished Bengali childhood, Pather Panchali . Here, too, are selections from Nirad C. Chaudhuri’s Autobiography of an Unknown Indian , R. K. Narayan’s The English Teacher , and Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children alongside a high-spirited nonsense tale, a drily funny account of a pre-Partition Muslim girlhood, and a Bombay policier as gripping as anything by Ed McBain. Never before has so much of the subcontinent’s writing been made available in a single volume. Acclaimed writer Salman Rushdie has argued that there have been no decent Indian authors writing in their native languages in the last 50 years. This anthology, compiled by Calcutta writer and novelist Chaudhuri (A New World), not only disproves Rushdie's assertion but also helps to enhance our appreciation of a body of work least accessible to an English-speaking public. Dating from the 1850s to the present, the eclectic mix of narratives and stories includes selections from works by 20 writers who use vernacular Indian languages and 18 writers who work mainly in English. It thus ably represents the excellence and diversity of narrative traditions and literary approaches in a multilingual, multiconfessional country. Among the most famous authors showcased are Nobel Laureate Rabindramath Tagore, who in addition to five short letters, writes here about an amorous relationship between a small-town postal inspector and a servant girl; 19th-century novelist B. Chatterjee, who wrote in both English and Bengali about colonial society and Hinduism; and, of course, Rushdie, who is represented by a selection from Midnight's Children, which deals symbolically with the difficult birth of the new nation-state of India. Even though it is not fully representative of the last 150 years of a vivid literary tradition, as Chaudhuri himself acknowledges, this excellent anthology is highly recommended for most collections. Ali Houissa, Cornell Univ. Lib., Ithaca, NY Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. The much ballyhooed popularity of fiction in English by Indian writers prodded Chaudhuri, himself the author of such refined and beautiful works as A New World (2000) and Real Time [BKL Ap 1 02], to construct an anthology that connects contemporary writers to the rich and diverse tradition of modern Indian literature in its multilingual entirety. In impeccable prose, and with decorous but intense ardor for story, language, and the mosaic of cultures that comprise the great polyglot nation of India, Chaudhuri introduces a suitably generous, well-documented, and newly translated selection of fiction, essays, poetry, and memoir. He begins with works by writers of the Bengal Renaissance, including the Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore, then surveys modern literature in Hindi, Urdu, various languages from the south, and English, a section that encompasses writers more familiar to American readers, such as R. K. Narayan, Salman Rushdie, and Amitav Ghosh. Chaudhuri's literary taste is just as discerning as his readers will expect, and the mastery and soulfulness of this anthology corrects any false impressions regarding the newness or trendiness of Indian writing. Donna Seaman Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved “A very lucid and engaging selection that, for the first time, sets the quite extraordinary phenomenon of Indian writing . . . in clear context.” —The Spectator In recent years American readers have been thrilling to the work of such Indian writers as Salman Rushdie and Vikram Seth. Now this extravagant and wonderfully discerning anthology unfurls the full diversity of Indian literature from the 1850s to the present, presenting today s brightest talents in the company of their distinguished forbearers and likely heirs. The thirty-eight authors collected by novelist Amit Chaudhuri write not only in English but also in Hindi, Bengali, and Urdu. They include Rabindranath Tagore, arguably the first international literary celebrity, chronicling the wistful relationship between a village postal inspector and a servant girl, and Bibhuti Bhushan Banerjee, represented by an excerpt from his classic novel about an impoverished Bengali childhood, Pather Panchali. Here