[Goanet-News] INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH: Amitav Ghosh... and the 'Sea of Poppies'

[Goanet News]

http://blogs.reuters.com/indiamasala/2008/06/19/of-amitav-ghosh-bollywood-and-opium/

June 19th, 2008
Of Amitav Ghosh, Bollywood and opium
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Posted by: Tony Tharakan
Tags: India Masala, amitav ghosh, Bollywood, interview, opium trade,
sea of poppies

I wish someone would make a movie on the "Sea of Poppies."

Amitav Ghosh's latest novel has all the right ingredients for a film
set in 19th century India — runaway lovers, a bankrupt Raja,
anti-British sentiment, a white woman masquerading as an Indian
peasant and a huge ship sailing down the Ganges.

Author Amitav GhoshBut Ghosh is unconvinced.

"It'll be very difficult. Will need a lot of special effects," says
the 52-year-old writer.

Ghosh just smiles. The silver-haired author, one of India's best known
novelists writing in English, is more affable than I had imagined.

There had been offers from Bollywood for two of his books — "The
Hungry Tide" (2004) and "The Calcutta Chromosome" (1995) — but the
projects fizzled out.

That doesn't bother Ghosh.

"It's not on my mind when I write a book. If somebody is interested,
it's something I'm open to," he says.

"Sea of Poppies," released this month, is set against the backdrop of
the opium trade in eastern India and is the story of sailors, convicts
and indentured labourers on board a ship headed to Mauritius in 1838.

The sea is a recurring theme in Ghosh's novels. In fact, the writer
spent some time on a sail boat to acquaint himself with sailing terms.

And how did he describe so well the effect of opium on addicts in "Sea
of Poppies." Did he taste some himself?

Ghosh smiles again.

"No, I didn't."

Then has an afterthought.

"In fact, we all taste opium. When I was a kid, we used to be given
gripe water which is basically opium."

* * *
Amitav Ghosh
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For the banker and RBI Governor, see Amitav Ghosh (banker).
Amitav Ghosh
Amitav Ghosh

Amitav Ghosh (born 1956), is an Indian-Bengali author and literary
critic known for his work in the English language.

Ghosh was born in Kolkata and was educated at The Doon School; St.
Stephen's College, Delhi; Delhi University; and the University of
Oxford, where he was awarded a Ph.D. in social anthropology.

Ghosh lives in New York with his wife, Deborah Baker, author of the
Laura Riding biography In Extremis: The Life of Laura Riding (1993)
and a senior editor at Little, Brown and Company. They have two
children, Lila and Nayan. In 1999, Ghosh joined the faculty at Queens
College, City University of New York as Distinguished Professor in
Comparative Literature. He has also been a visiting professor to the
English department of Harvard University since 2005. Ghosh has
recently purchased a property in Goa and is returning to India. He is
working on a trilogy to be published by Penguin Books India.

Ghosh's latest work of fiction is Sea of Poppies (2008) an epic saga,
set just before the Opium Wars which encapsulates the colonial history
of the East. His other novels are The Circle of Reason (1986), The
Shadow Lines (1990), The Calcutta Chromosome (1995) The Glass Palace
(2000) and The Hungry Tide (2004). The Shadow Lines won the Sahitya
Akademi Award, India's most prestigious literary award. The Calcutta
Chromosome won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for 1997. Ghosh's fiction is
characterised by strong themes that may be somewhat identified with
postcolonialism but could be labelled as historical novels. His topics
are unique and personal; some of his appeal lies in his ability to
weave "Indo-nostalgic" elements into more serious themes.

Ghosh has also written In an Antique Land (1992), Dancing in Cambodia,
At Large in Burma (1998), Countdown (1999), and The Imam and the
Indian (2002, a large collection of essays on different themes such as
fundamentalism, history of the novel, Egyptian culture, and
literature). In 2007, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Indian
government.


[edit] External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Amitav Ghosh

    * Official website
    * Amitav Ghosh in Emory University Site
    * Trapped by Language: On Amitav Ghosh's In an Antique Land -
University of Denver
    * Interview with Amitav Ghosh on CNN-IBN/ibnlive.com on his book
Sea of Poppies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amitav_Ghosh

* * *

---------
Goa Launch of Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh

AMITAV GHOSH IN CONVERSATION WITH MARIA AURORA COUTO

AT THE PENGUIN INDIA GOA LAUNCH OF

SEA OF POPPIES BY AMITAV GHOSH

AT LITERATI, CALANGUTE

ON 24TH JUNE 2008 AT 5.30 p.m.

E/1-282 Gaura Vaddo, opp. Tarcar Ice Factory and next to ABC Farms,
Gaura Vaddo, Calangute, Goa - 403516. Tel: 2277740