7.6 /10 1 Votes
Country India Publication date January 1988 Originally published January 1988 Publisher Faber and Faber Genres Fiction, Novel | 3.8/5 Goodreads Language English Pages 296 pp ISBN 0571151019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Followed by The Mammaries of the Welfare State Similar Upamanyu Chatterjee books, India books, Novels | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
English, August: An Indian Story is a novel by Indian author Upamanyu Chatterjee written in English, first published in 1988. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1994. The novel portrays the struggle of a civil servant who is posted in a rural area and is considered to be a very authentic portrayal of the state of Indian youth in the 1980's.
Plot summary
The posting starts off as a tremendous culture shock for Agastya, a city boy. However, it eventually becomes one long philosophical journey and a process of self discovery. Written by a civil servant, the novel manages to capture the essence of an entire generation of Indians, whose urban realities jar in sharp contrast to that of rural India.
Agastya Sen's sense of dislocation is only compounded by his extreme lack of interest in the bizarre ways of government and administration. While his mind is dominated by marijuana, masturbation and the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, images from his previous urban life. His work in Madna would ideally require him to be a devoted servant of the people.