Tropical Classical

by Iyer, Pico

• ISBN13: 9780679454328
• ISBN10: 0679454322
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-04-01
• Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc

Summary

InTropical Classicalthe author ofVideo Nights in KatmanduandThe Lady and the Monkvisits a holy city in Ethiopia, where hooded worshippers practice a Christianity that has remained unchanged since the Middle Ages. He follows the bewilderingly complex route of Bombay'sdabbawallahs, who each day ferry 100,000 different lunches to 100,000 different workers. Iyer chats with the Dalai Lama and assesses the books of Salman Rushdie and Cormac McCarthy. And he brings his perceptive eye and unflappable wit to bear on the postmodern vogues for literary puffery, sexual gamesmanship, and frequent-flier miles. Glittering with aphorisms, overflowing with insight, and often hilarious,Tropical Classicalrepresents some of Iyer's finest work.

Table of Contents

Preface	xiii
PLACES	3	(86)
Ethiopia: Prayers in the Wilderness	3	(17)
Nepal: Movie Days in Kathmandu	20	(14)
Tibet: The Life and Times of the Potala Palace	34	(14)
The East India Company: Oxbridge-on-the-Hooghly	48	(14)
Bombay: Hobson-Jobson on the Streets	62	(11)
The New World's New Making Itself Up and Over	73	(6)
New York: A city in Black and White	79	(5)
A Hermitage in California: A Life Outside Time	84	(5)
PEOPLE	89	(34)
Norman Lewis
A Curious Collector of Curiosities	89	(16)
Tenzin Gyatso
Tibet's Guiding Star	105	(5)
Peter Matthiessen
In Search of the Crane	110	(5)
Peter Brook
Autumn of the Rebel Patriarch	115	(8)
BOOKS	123	(118)
Welcome to the Age of Tropical Classical	123	(8)
A Junglified Victoria: Reef	131	(8)
Romesh Gunesekera
Jane Austen in Calcutta: A Suitable Boy	139	(5)
Vikram Seth
The Mailman from Malgudi: Malgudi Days	144	(2)
R. K. Narayan
Prosaic Justice All Around: Salman Rushdie vs. the Ayatollah	147	(3)
Pop Goes the Culture: East, West	150	(4)
Salman Rushdie
In Praise of Folly: Three Continents	154	(10)
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
The Web	154	(10)
Andrew Harvey
The Spiritual Import-Export Market: Journey to Ithaca	164	(14)
Anita Desai
Waiting upon History: The Remains of the Day	178	(4)
Kazuo Ishiguro
A Martian in Mittel Europe: The Unconsoled	182	(5)
Kazuo Ishiguro
A Small, Bewildered Foreigner: Paddington's Storybook	187	(2)
Michael Bond
Tourists at Home: The Misalliance	189	(6)
Anita Brookner
Persian Nights	189	(6)
Diane Johnson
The Meek Inherit to Earth: Grace Abounding	195	(5)
Maureen Howard
No Fond Return of Love	195	(5)
Barbara Pym
Richard Burton in the Peace Corps: The Happy Isles of Oceania	200	(4)
Paul Theroux
An Englishman in Paradise: Spring Street Summer	204	(2)
Christopher Hudson
Private Eye, Public Conscience: The Works of Raymond Chandler	206	(3)
An American Song of Enthusiasm: Henry Miller at 100	209	(3)
Searching for America: Sundog	212	(6)
Jim Harrison
A Connoisseur of Fear: White Noise	218	(5)
Don DeLillo
Black-Magic Realism: The Crossing	223	(6)
Cormac McCarthy
In the Shadow of the '60s: The Burning House	229	(5)
Ann Beattie
A Waiting Room for Death: A Match to the Heart	234	(7)
Gretel Ehrlich
THEMES	241	(58)
In Praise of the Humble Comma	241	(3)
Excusez-moi! Speakez-vous Franglais?	244	(3)
For Japan, See Oscar Wilde	247	(3)
Through the Cuban Looking Glass	250	(2)
The Rise of Minority Terrorism	252	(3)
History? Education? Zap! Pow! Cut!	255	(1)
Authors' Photos and the Tyranny of the Image	258	(5)
Perhaps the Article on Blurbs I've Written Today	263	(6)
The Contagion of Innocence	269	(10)
A Midsummer Night's Dream: The sequel	279	(3)
The Ultimate Near-Life Experience	282	(2)
Of Weirdos and Eccentrics	284	(4)
9/9/1991	288	(3)
Sleeping with the Enemy	291	(3)
The Competitive Advantage of Seasons	294	(5)
SQUIBS	299
Confessions of a Frequent Flier	299	(3)
The New Enemies of Promise	302	(5)
The Lears: An American Tragedy	307	(2)
A Game of Instants	309	(3)
Silence	312