Читать онлайн «A Suitable Boy»
Автор Викрам Сет
‘The greatness of the novel, its unassailable truthfulness, owes less to research than to imagination, an instinctive knowledge of the human heart — with all its varieties of kindness and cruelty, its capacity for hurt. . As with all the best books, one feels only dismay when the pages on the right of the tome start thinning out.’ —
‘So vast and so amiably peopled [
‘Not merely one of the longest novels in English; it may also prove to be the most fecund as well as the most prodigious work of the latter half of [the twentieth] century.’ —
‘A phenomenon, a prodigy, a marvel of 19th century storytelling in the language of today. . It is hard to believe that Seth is only one man. He writes with the omniscience and authority of a large, orderly committee of experts on Indian politics, law, medicine, crowd psychology, urban and rural social customs, dress, cuisine, horticulture, funerary rites, cricket and even the technicalities of shoe manufacture.’ —
‘Conceived on the grand scale of the great 19th century novels—
‘We should be grateful for this panoramic sweep which revives in our memory a period when a whole way of life came to an end. . [Seth’s] sure touch is really quite incredible, his characters are consistent from beginning to end.’ —
‘A quietly monumental novel. . [Seth] has given that unlikeliest of hybrids, a modest
‘An immensely enjoyable novel which describes with unhurried pace the panorama of India. . Everything appears familiar to us, yet in fact it is newly minted by a master artist.’ —
To Papa and Mama
and the memory of Amma
The superfluous, that very necessary thing. .
The secret of being a bore is to say everything.
To these I owe a debt past telling:
My several muses, harsh and kind;
My folks, who stood my sulks and yelling,
And (in the long run) did not mind;
Dead legislators, whose orations
I’ve filched to mix my own potations;
Indeed, all those whose brains I’ve pressed,
Unmerciful, because obsessed;
My own dumb soul, which on a pittance
Survived to weave this fictive spell;
And, gentle reader, you as well,
The fountainhead of all remittance.
Buy me before good sense insists
You’ll strain your purse and sprain your wrists.
