Description
A trenchant, darkly humorous, and unsentimental look at Calcutta society.
Set in Calcutta in the mid-1980s, Truth/Untruth is a fast-paced thriller built around the death of the pregnant Jamuna-a maid in a newly affluent residential apartment complex-and Arjun, the upwardly mobile businessman who seduced her. Packed with a cast of colorful characters, this novel is a trenchant, darkly humorous, and unsentimental look at the different segments of Calcutta society: from the middle-class culture vultures to the unscrupulous "promoter" class and the domestic helpers and slum goons who form an intrinsic part of the city's life. All are implicated in a complex web of guilt and bizarre twists and turns. Sex, lies, death-the great modernist themes-run like a thread through this book, exposing societal greed, lust, corruption, and moral hypocrisy with a sardonic tone that spares none. An unusual novel by an author who is otherwise known for her hard-hitting activist-feminist stories, Truth/Untruth underlines the exploitative vicious cycle that defines urban relations between the haves and have-nots.
About the Author
Mahasweta Devi (1926-2016) was one of India's foremost literary figures and social activists. Anjum Katyal is a writer, editor, translator, and critic. She is the author of Habib Tanvir and Badal Sircar.
Book Information
ISBN 9781803090771
Author Mahasweta Devi
Format Hardback
Page Count 144
Imprint Seagull Books London Ltd
Publisher Seagull Books London Ltd
Set in Calcutta in the mid-1980s, Truth/Untruth is a fast-paced thriller built around the death of the pregnant Jamuna-a maid in a newly affluent residential apartment complex-and Arjun, the upwardly mobile businessman who seduced her. Packed with a cast of colorful characters, this novel is a trenchant, darkly humorous, and unsentimental look at the different segments of Calcutta society: from the middle-class culture vultures to the unscrupulous "promoter" class and the domestic helpers and slum goons who form an intrinsic part of the city's life. All are implicated in a complex web of guilt and bizarre twists and turns. Sex, lies, death-the great modernist themes-run like a thread through this book, exposing societal greed, lust, corruption, and moral hypocrisy with a sardonic tone that spares none. An unusual novel by an author who is otherwise known for her hard-hitting activist-feminist stories, Truth/Untruth underlines the exploitative vicious cycle that defines urban relations between the haves and have-nots.
About the Author
Mahasweta Devi (1926-2016) was one of India's foremost literary figures and social activists. Anjum Katyal is a writer, editor, translator, and critic. She is the author of Habib Tanvir and Badal Sircar.
Book Information
ISBN 9781803090771
Author Mahasweta Devi
Format Hardback
Page Count 144
Imprint Seagull Books London Ltd
Publisher Seagull Books London Ltd
