 | |
| Author | Makarand Paranjape |
|---|---|
| Country | India |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Rupa Publications |
Publication date | May 2013 |
| ISBN | 978-81-291-2086-1 |
Body Offering is an English-language novel written by Makarand Paranjape and published by Rupa Publications in 2013. The book received generally negative reviews from critics, who dubbed it a twice shadow.
This book is Paranjape's second novel and depicts the story of a middle-aged surgeon's extra-marital affair with a younger woman called Sunayana "Nayan" Sen. Sen, an editor working at a book publishing house, begins a liaison with the surgeon, whose name is Ashok Sube. As their relationship progresses, they attempt to move beyond their own complicated pasts: Ashok's wife left him and fled with their little daughter, though they are not yet legally separated, and Nayan's self-harm that resulted from her past failed relationships. The book ends with a love letter in which Ashok proposes to Nayan and asks her to be his lover and editor.
Body Offering is the second novel by Makarand Paranjape, following The Narrator (1995). [1] [2] The Narrator was also published by Rupa Publications. Paranjape, an English professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, named the English writer and poet D. H. Lawrence as an inspiration for the novel, praising Lawrence's explorations of "human relationships, social change and class conflict". In an interview with The Hindu , Paranjape rejected classifications of Body Offering as erotica, which he described as a "recent marketing gimmick". [3] The 364-page paperback book was published by Rupa Publications in May 2013. [4]
The novel explores themes of identity and discrimination and mental illness. [2] As the son of a Dalit man and a Brahmin woman, Ashok has been unsure of his identity since he was young. Paranjape uses his status to comment on the impact of the Indian caste system on people's lives. [5] In her analysis of Body Offering, the linguist Nimmi Nalika Menike described Ashok as a victim of this system, pointing to "the real problem of discrimination and exclusion" in society. According to Menike, Paranjape's exploration is not an attempt to restructure society, but rather an investigation of why the structural discrimination is so longstanding: his reasoning being that "each group instead tries to protect and legitimize" the caste system for its own benefit. [2]
Body Offering received generally negative reviews from critics. In a review for Deccan Herald , Monideepa Sahu described Paranjape's portrayal of the characters as realistic, though somewhat stereotypical, and criticised his writing style as "uneven". She felt that some passages in the book were descriptive while others were "cluttered with irrelevant details". [6] Several critics commented negatively on the novel's references to other romance-genre works such as the 1972 film Last Tango in Paris . Aditya Mani Jha of The Sunday Guardian wrote that these references were "tedious" and "half-baked". [1] [5] He observed some similarities between Body Offering and the 1955 novel Lolita , by Vladimir Nabokov, but felt that it was not an effective novel due to its "awkward, academic, clumsy-sounding characters", and ultimately declared it "more erratic than erotic". [1]
A reviewer for The Telegraph praised Paranjape's writing style, including his incorporation of letters and poems in the text, but criticised some of its social commentary on environmental activism as a distraction. [5] Shashi Baliga of The Hindu agreed that it contained excessive analysis and debates between the characters, writing that Paranjape is "sometimes guilty of over-analysis when he could let his characters' emotions take their own course". She concluded that Nayan was a particularly compelling and realistic character but that the ending was ultimately "underwhelming". [7]
Shashi Kapoor was an Indian actor and film producer who is best known for his works in Hindi films. A recipient of several accolades, including four National Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards, he also featured in a number of English-language international films, particularly films produced by Merchant Ivory. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 2011, and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, in 2014, for his contribution to Indian cinema.
Shashi Tharoor is a politician and public intellectual who has been serving as Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, since 2009. He is the present Chairman of the Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers. He was formerly an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and unsuccessfully ran for the post of Secretary-General in 2006. Founder-Chairman of All India Professionals Congress, he formerly served as Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs and on Informational Technology. He has about two dozen titles to his credit and was awarded by World Economic Forum as "Global Leader of Tomorrow".
Raja Rao was an Indian-American writer of English-language novels and short stories, whose works are deeply rooted in metaphysics. The Serpent and the Rope (1960), a semi-autobiographical novel recounting a search for spiritual truth in Europe and India, established him as one of the finest Indian prose stylists and won him the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1963. For the entire body of his work, Rao was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1988. Rao's wide-ranging body of work, spanning a number of genres, is seen as a varied and significant contribution to Indian English literature, as well as World literature as a whole.
Kosala, sometimes spelled Kosla, is a Marathi novel by Indian writer Bhalchandra Nemade, published in 1963. Regarded as Nemade's magnum opus, and accepted as a modern classic of Marathi literature, the novel uses the autobiographical form to narrate the journey of a young man, Pandurang Sangvikar, and his friends through his college years.
The Kapoor family is a prominent Indian show business family with at least 4 generations of the family over 95 years being active in the Hindi film industry. Numerous members of the family, both biological and those who have married into the family, have had prolific careers as actors, film directors and producers. "The Pioneer" founder of the dynasty was "The Patriarch", Prithviraj Kapoor, who was the first member of family to begin acting in movies with his 1929 debut film Be Dhari Talwar. He was a pioneer of Indian theatre and the founding member of Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA). His son Raj Kapoor was the most influential actor and director in Hindi cinema. The genesis generation or the earliest linear generation of the Kapoor family tree to ever act in the films was Prithviraj Kapoor's father, Basheshwarnath Kapoor, who debuted as actor in 1951 film Awaara, which was produced, directed and starred in lead role by his grandson Raj Kapoor.
36 Chowringhee Lane is a 1981 film written and directed by Aparna Sen and produced by Shashi Kapoor. It marked the directorial debut of Sen, who had until then been known as a leading actress of Bengali cinema. The film was very well received upon release. It stars Jennifer Kendal in a critically acclaimed role, along with Dhritiman Chatterjee and Debashree Roy.
Gulzar is an Indian Urdu poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, and film director known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of greatest Urdu poets of this era. He started his career with music director S.D. Burman as a lyricist in the 1963 film Bandini and worked with many music directors including R. D. Burman, Salil Chowdhury, Vishal Bhardwaj and A. R. Rahman. Gulzar also writes poetry, dialogues and scripts. He directed films such as Aandhi and Mausam during the 1970s and the TV series Mirza Ghalib in the 1980s. He also directed Kirdaar in 1993.
Makarand R. Paranjape is an Indian novelist, poet, a former Director at Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla and, since 1999, a Professor of English in the Centre for English Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.
The Hindu Literary Prize or The Hindu Best Fiction Award, established in 2010, is an Indian literary award sponsored by The Hindu Literary Review which is part of the newspaper The Hindu. It recognizes Indian works in English and English translation. The first year, 2010, the award was called The Hindu Best Fiction Award. Starting in 2018 a non-fiction category was included.
Riddle of the Seventh Stone is a 2010 novel by Monideepa Sahu. This fantasy novel for children is set in Bangalore, India. The book was longlisted for the Vodafone Crossword Book Award for 2011.
Devapriya Roy is an Indian author best known for her books, Friends from College, Indira and The Heat and Dust Project. She lives in New Delhi with her husband Saurav Jha.
Meghna Pant is an Indian author, journalist and speaker. She has won a variety of awards for her contribution to literature, gender issues and journalism. In 2012, she won the Muse India National Literary Awards Young Writer Award for her debut novel One-and-a-Half Wife. Her collection of short stories, Happy Birthday and Other Stories was long-listed for the Frank O’Connor International Award.
Cuckold is a 1997 book by Indian author Kiran Nagarkar and his third novel. It is a historical novel set in the Rajput kingdom of Mewar, India during the 16th century that follows the life of Maharaj Kumar, a fictional character based upon the Mewar prince Bhoj Raj whose wife Mirabai thinks of Krishna as her husband and refuses to accept Bhoj Raj.
Bijepur is a Vidhan Sabha constituency of Odisha. This constituency includes Bijepur block, Gaisilat block and Barpali block.
Cyrus Mistry is an Indian author and playwright. He won the 2014 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature for Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer. He is the brother of author Rohinton Mistry.
This is a bibliography of Bangalore, books about the city, its history, culture, geography, and its people. Many books have been written on the city. Some of the most notable books are The Red Carpet (2005) by Lavanya Sankaran, Bangalored: The Expat Story (2006) by Eshwar Sundaresan, Multiple City: Writings on Bangalore (2008) by Aditi De etc. Other than the books written on Bangalore, there are fictions such as Riddle of the Seventh Stone (2010) by Monideepa Sahu, The Lilac House: A Novel (2012) by Anita Nair, The Lost Girl (2012) by Sangu Mandanna etc. which are set in the city.
Neelum Saran Gour is an Indian English writer of fiction that depicts North India's small towns and their cultural histories. She is the author of five novels, four collections of short stories and one work of literary non-fiction. She has edited a pictorial volume on the history and culture of the city of Allahabad, where she lives and works, and has also translated one of her early novels into Hindi.
The Education of Yuri is a book by Jerry Pinto. It was published in 2022 by Speaking Tiger Books.