Settings & Atmosphere - Fiction, Indian & South Asian Fiction, Literary Styles & Movements - Fiction, Occupations - Fiction, Erotica, Character Types - Fiction
Delhi
Khushwant Singh
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Synopsis
I return to Delhi as I return to my mistress Bhagmati when I have had my fill of whoring in foreign lands...' Thus begins Khushwant Singh's vast, erotic, irrelevant magnum opus on the city of Delhi. The principal narrator of the saga, which extends over six hundred years, is a bawdy, ageing reprobate who loves Delhi as much as he does the hijda whore Bhagmati-half man, half woman with sexual inventiveness and energy of both the sexes. Travelling through time, space and history to 'discover' his beloved city, the narrator meets a myriad of people-poets and princes, saints and sultans, temptresses and traitors, emperors and eunuchs-who have shaped and endowed Delhi with its very special mystique. And as we accompany the narrator on his epic journey we find the city of emperors transformed and immortalized in our minds forever.Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
This sprawling, erotic, exotic novel spiked with Rabelaisian humor is set in both modern and ancient Delhi. The narrator is a journalist and sometimes tour guide/lover to rich foreign women who visit his native city, such as Lady Hoity-Toity, the noted archaeologist. From his numerous short-lived sexual affairs, about which he boasts to friends, to his ongoing relationship with a hijda (half-man half-woman) prostitute named Baghmati, to fairy-tale-like stories within the story about Delhi's history dating back to the 1300's, a unique vision of Delhi emerges--one that is filled with both affection and revulsion, a city of temples and bazaars, of muddy waters, filth and poverty. Comparing his love for Delhi with his love for Baghmati, he sets out to ``explain the strange paradox of his lifelong, love-hate affair with the city and the woman,'' warning that it may read like ``A Fucking Man's Guide to Delhi: Past and Present.'' As much fun as the novel is, however, especially at the outset, it goes on too long without much plot to drive it. Singh is a veteran Indian journalist and author of Train to Pakistan . (May)Book Details
Published
April 22, 1990
Publisher
Penguin Books
Pages
400
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780140126198