Vikram Seth: His Life and Works

About Vikram Seth

Vikram Seth is one of the greatest writers of contemporary Indian English literature. He was born on 20 June 1952 in Kolkata, West-Bengal. his writing covers a variety of genres like Novels, poetry, libretto, travel writing, children's literature, biography and memoir. His notable works include- A Suitable Boy The Golden Gate and An Equal Music. He also has been honoured by many awards including Padma Shri, Sahitya Academy, Stegner Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship and Commonwealth Writers' Prize. The life of Viram has not been static; he has been shifting, primarily for early education, St. Xavier's High School and St. Michael's High School in Patna, then moved to The Doon School in Dehradun and completed graduation from there. For higher education, he turned to Tonbridge School, England for A-levels, after that he went to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Finally, Seth went for never final PhD to Stanford University.

His Works

 'Mappings' is his first collection of poems published in 1980 as handset and hand bind, later, published by mainstream publishers. Seth popularity, largely, lies in his writing style of novels in verse form that made a great difference to his personality as a writer. 'A Suitable Boy' is his first novel published in 1993, one of the lengthiest novel ever published in a single volume. Suitable Girl, the sequel of the A Suitable Boy, was sent for the publication in 2017 and yet not published till 2020. An Equal Music is Seth's second novel that deals with an entangled love story of a violinist. apart from these, he has written a few other collections of poems like The Humble Administrator's Garden (1985),  All You Who Sleep Tonight (1990) and Three Chinese Poets (1992). Vikram Seth is an author of many literary genres; he writes poems, novels in verse, travelogue and fable stories for children. He has also authored a collection of ten stories, Beastly Tales from Here and There (1992) and Arion and the Dolphin (1994) for children. He is one of the multifaceted authors from the galaxy of contemporary Indian English authors. He has written a travel book, From Heaven Lake: Travels through Sinkiang and Tibet (1983), records an account of a journey through Tibet, China and Nepal.

Conclusion

Thus Vikram Seth is one of the most popular and well known among the literary figures of the contemporary time. As he hails from the literary circle, writing is the passion that has made him immortal in the history of English literature. His well-crafted poetry, verse form of novels and the travelogue have contributed a significant portion in the history of Indian English literature and particularly to the contemporary Indian English literature. In fact, he has uplifted the current status of Indian English literature on the world stage. His sensibility, sense of humour and poetic skill have really astonished the world.