Images and Symbols in Select Novels of Amitav Ghosh
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- Category: English: Novels
- Date Submitted: 11/29/2015 09:00 AM
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IMAGES AND SYMBOLS IN AMITAV GHOSH’S THE CIRCLE OF REASON, THE SHADOW LINES, THE GLASS PALACE AND THE HUNGRY TIDE.
Reading a novel, poem, drama or for that matter any written word conjures up images in one’s mind. It may be a single or myriads of images. The amalgamation of all the words together, transport the reader headlong into the writers mind. A writer uses symbols to convey his story, to make it more enjoyable and challenging. Amitav Ghosh is one such writer who transports the reader to a whole new world using images and symbols extensively in his novels.
Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta and graduated in Social Anthropology. He has been a distinguished Professor in Comparative Literature and Visiting Professor at Harvard University. He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Indian Government in 2007 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Ghosh stormed into the literary world with The Circle of Reason, 1986. He then went on to write The Shadow Lines (1988) which won the Sahitya Akademi Award. The Glass Palace (2000) The Hungry Tide (2004), The Sea of Poppies (2008) and River of Smoke (2011) followed suit.
The Circle of Reason details the story of Alu, a master weaver, wrongly suspected of being a terrorist. He is chased across continents by a police inspector and meets and encounters a wide range of characters on the way.
The Shadow Lines is the story of a nameless narrator for whom borders dissolve in time and space. He is transported into the very worlds of the stories he hears from his uncle Tridib and grandmother. Set in Calcutta , London and blending into Bangladesh of the past, the story moves back and forth. Wars and riots co-exist with peaceful human lives and the mind flies into other countries, for it does not heed borders and needs no visas.
The Glass Palace set during the British rule, again takes place in various locations like Burma, India and Malaysia. It is the story of Rajkumar, a story of rags to riches, of society and...
Reading a novel, poem, drama or for that matter any written word conjures up images in one’s mind. It may be a single or myriads of images. The amalgamation of all the words together, transport the reader headlong into the writers mind. A writer uses symbols to convey his story, to make it more enjoyable and challenging. Amitav Ghosh is one such writer who transports the reader to a whole new world using images and symbols extensively in his novels.
Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta and graduated in Social Anthropology. He has been a distinguished Professor in Comparative Literature and Visiting Professor at Harvard University. He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Indian Government in 2007 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Ghosh stormed into the literary world with The Circle of Reason, 1986. He then went on to write The Shadow Lines (1988) which won the Sahitya Akademi Award. The Glass Palace (2000) The Hungry Tide (2004), The Sea of Poppies (2008) and River of Smoke (2011) followed suit.
The Circle of Reason details the story of Alu, a master weaver, wrongly suspected of being a terrorist. He is chased across continents by a police inspector and meets and encounters a wide range of characters on the way.
The Shadow Lines is the story of a nameless narrator for whom borders dissolve in time and space. He is transported into the very worlds of the stories he hears from his uncle Tridib and grandmother. Set in Calcutta , London and blending into Bangladesh of the past, the story moves back and forth. Wars and riots co-exist with peaceful human lives and the mind flies into other countries, for it does not heed borders and needs no visas.
The Glass Palace set during the British rule, again takes place in various locations like Burma, India and Malaysia. It is the story of Rajkumar, a story of rags to riches, of society and...