Lunch With a Bigot: The Writer in the World

241 Pages·2015·1.02 MB·English

by  Amitava Kumar

LUNCH WITH A BIGOT
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LUNCH WITH A BIGOT
Amitava Kumar
The Writer in the World •
Duke University Press • D urham and London • 2 015
© 2015 Duke University Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper ∞
Designed by Heather Hensley
Typeset in Chaparral Pro by Westchester Publishing Services
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Kumar, Amitava, 1963–
Lunch with a bigot : the writer in the world / Amitava Kumar.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8223-5911-1 (hardcover : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-8223-5930-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-8223-7539-5 (e- book)
1. Kumar, Amitava, 1963– 2. Kumar, Amitava, 1963– — Criticism
and interpretation. I. Title.
pr9499.4.k8618z46 2015
824'.92— dc23 2014040367
Cover art: Subodh Gupta, Full Moon, 2011. Oil on canvas,
228 × 168 cm (89 3⁄4 × 66 1⁄8 in.). Courtesy the artist and Hauser &
Wirth. Photo by Thomas Müller.
In memory of my mother,
Lakshmi Nidhi Singh (1937–2014)
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After forty years,
what I came
to care about most
was not style,
but the breath of life.
• • •
William Maxwell
• CONTENTS •
Author’s Note x i
PART I ​• R EADING PART II ​• W RITING
Chapter 1 Chapter 8
Paper 3 How to Write a Novel 79
Chapter 2 Chapter 9
My Hanif Kureishi Life 14 Reading Like a Writer 84
Chapter 3 Chapter 10
The Map of My Village 29 Writing My Own Satya 97
Chapter 4 Chapter 11
The Poetry of Gujarat Riots 32 Dead Bastards 106
Chapter 5 Chapter 12
Conversation with The Writer as a Father 110
Arundhati Roy 37
Chapter 13
Chapter 6 Ten Rules of Writing 119
Salman Rushdie and Me 51
Chapter 7
Bad News 58
PART III ​• PLACES PART IV ​• PEOPLE
Chapter 14 Chapter 21
Mofussil Junction 127 Lunch with a Bigot 169
Chapter 15 Chapter 22
A Collaborator in Kashmir 132 The Boxer on the Flight 183
Chapter 16 Chapter 23
At the Jaipur Literature Amartya’s Birth 187
Festival 141
Chapter 24
Chapter 17 The Taxi Drivers of
Hotel Leeward 146 New York 192
Chapter 18 Chapter 25
The Mines of Jadugoda 151 On Being Brown in America 196
Chapter 19 Chapter 26
Upon Arrival in the Past 155 Missing Person 201
Chapter 20
Bookstores of New York 162 Index 213