Amitav Ghosh and His Works

About the Author

Amitav Ghosh was born on 11 July 1956, is an Indian well know English fiction writer. He is the 54th and first recipient of the Jnanpith, and other notable awards for English fiction writing. He was born and brought up in Kolkata and got higher education from Delhi University. His debut novel is The Circle of Reason in 1986 and the other notable novels; The Shadow Lines (1988), The Calcutta Chromosome (1995), The Glass Palace (2000), The Hungry Tide (2004), Sea of Poppies (2008), the first volume of Ibis trilogy, set in 1830, which covers the colonial history of the East. River of Smoke (2011), the second volume of Ibis trilogy, and Flood of Fire (2015), the third and last of the Ibis trilogy is and his very recent novel  Gun Island (2019). He is counted among the serious fiction writers from the contemporary Indian English literature. Being a high headed novelist, he does not approve the novelists who are the follower of Chetan Bhagat. however, he has been successful in securing the place of a literary author of contemporary Indian English literature. The problems of migration, climatic change, disordered Eco-system, and direct or indirect impact of pollution on the aquatic lives like the wastage of industries and effluents left by the different chemical industries to the seawater or in the river have been the major vibrant issues that our day-today world is facing at large. 

His Works

His debut novel The Circle of Reason (1986), deals with Alu, the protagonist, a young weaver from a Bengali village whose unexpected shifting of the countries one after the other. His misadventure is followed by falsely accused as a terrorist, subsequently, chased by the police of different countries; Bombay to the Persian Gulf, then, to North Africa. The Shadow Lines (1988), is an award-winning novel, Sahitya Akademi Award in 1989, brought wide critical acclaim for its intricate woven plots. It has set against the backdrop of many historical events like Swadeshi movement, Second World War, Partition of India, and Communal riots of 1963-64 in Dhaka and Calcutta, these are the recurrent theme and its impact on the movement of the characters throughout the novel. this novel has been bifurcated into two parts- Going Away and the second Coming Home. The novel follows the life of Tridib, the protagonist who is a young boy brought up in Calcutta, educated in Delhi, and then follows with the experiences in London. The Calcutta Chromosome (1995), the third novel by Ghosh, is a medical thriller, based on a novel prize recipient scientist whose research contributes to malaria during the time. The Glass Palace (2000) is a historical novel, set in Burma, Bengal, India, and Malaya, and covers almost a century. The most important novel which has been prescribed in various Indian universities, The Hungry Tide (2004) deals with the rarest beauty and ugly side of the Sundarvan. The frequent unexpected visit of tidal floods across the Sundarvan creates great havoc for the inhabitants of the region. it records vividly the experience of Piyali Roy in Sundarvan, a young marine biologist, an American, came to India for her research on endangered dolphin. Sea of Poppies (2008) is the first (River of Smoke, the second, and Flood of Fire, the third volume) volume of Ibis trilogy follows the ill-fated of Deeti, the protagonist, and her agony caused by the ill will of her brother-in-law who used to rape her. Her destiny takes her to Mauritius as an indentured labourer. he novel highlights the social issues like Casteism, domestic and social violence, indentured labourer and human trafficking. Gun Island (2019) is a very latest that delves into the the world of myths of Mansa Devi, a Godess of snake chases the Gun Merchant taking Deena Nath, the protagonist through Calcutta, Brooklyn and then finally Venice where Rafi has emigrated for the work.

Thus the works by Amitav Ghosh have rendered a variety of relevant issues of the contemporary world. The issues related to Eco-system, changing climate, problem of emigration and human trafficking. Although his richness of issues densely, fails to universalise or connect to the world. his most of novels are centered and set in the West Bengal and remains limited to that. Having a serious writer, Amitav Ghosh must connect to the world or at least try to come out of the limited geographical location.