Tropical Classical Essays from Several Directions

by IYER, PICO

• ISBN13: 9780679776109
• ISBN10: 0679776109
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-06-30
• Publisher: Vintage

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.

Author Biography

Pico Iyer has written nonfiction books on globalism, Japan, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, and forgotten places, and novels on Revolutionary Cuba and Islamic mysticism. He regularly writes about literature for The New York Review of Books; about travel for the Financial Times; and about global culture and the news for Time, The New York Times, and magazines around the world.

Table of Contents

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