The Artist of Disappearance

Anita Desai

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English

Vintage
01 August 2012

Fiction & Literature; Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945); Short stories

A triptych of beautifully crafted novellas make up Anita Desai's exquisite new book. Set in modern India, but where history still casts a long shadow, the stories move beyond the cities to places still haunted by the past, and to characters who are, each in their own way, masters of self-effacement. In 'The Museum of Final Journeys' an unnamed government official is called upon to inspect a faded mansion of forgotten treasures, each sent home by the absent, itinerant master. As he is taken through the estate, wondering whether to save these precious relics, he reaches the final - greatest - gift of all, looming out of the shadows. In 'Translator, Translated', middle-aged Prema meets her successful publisher friend Tara at a school reunion. Tara hires her as a translator, but Prema, buoyed by her work and the sense of purpose it brings, begins deliberately to blur the line between writer and translator, and in so doing risks unravelling her desires and achievements. The final story is of Ravi, living hermit-like in the burnt-out shell of his family home high up in the Himalayan mountains. He cultivates not only silence and solitude but a secret hidden away in the woods, concealed from sight. When a film crew from Delhi intrude upon his seclusion, it compels him to withdraw even further until he magically and elusively disappears... Rich and evocative, remarkable in their clarity and sensuous in their telling, these stories remind us of the extraordinary yet delicate power of this pre-eminent writer.

By: Anita Desai
Imprint: Vintage
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 129mm, Spine: 12mm
Weight: 128g
ISBN: 9780099553953
ISBN 10: 0099553953
Publication Date: 01 August 2012
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Reviews for The Artist of Disappearance

Profoundly elegiac -- Margaret Drabble * New Statesman * From a web of connections, Desai spins stories of history and loss that move the reader not with epiphanies, but through the sheer beauty of her storytelling * Time Out * Elegantly paced and smartly crafted -- Fatima Bhutto * Financial Times * Anita Desai writes exquisitely -- Allan Massie * Scotsman * Bewitchingly beautiful * The Times *