Vikram Seth

{{Infobox writer

| name = Vikram Seth

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE|size=100%}} {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRSL|size=100%}}

| image = Vikram Seth, in Oxfordshire (cropped).jpg

| caption = Seth in 2009

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1952|6|20|df=y}}

| birth_place = Calcutta, West Bengal, India

| death_date =

| death_place =

| occupation = {{hlist|Novelist|poet}}

| nationality =

| height =

| alma_mater = Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Stanford University

| period = 1980–present

| genre = Novels, poetry, libretto, travel writing, children's literature, biography/memoir

| notableworks = A Suitable Boy
The Golden Gate
An Equal Music

| awards = Padma Shri, Sahitya Academy, Stegner Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship,

FRSL

Commonwealth Writers' Prize

| signature =

| module = {{Listen |embed= yes |filename= Vikram_Seth_BBC_Radio4_Desert_Island_Discs_22_Jan_2012_b01772hm.flac |title= Vikram Seth's voice |type= speech |description= from the BBC programme Desert Island Discs, 22 January 2012.{{Cite episode |title= Vikram Seth |series= Desert Island Discs |series-link= Desert Island Discs |url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b019rd99 |station= BBC Radio 4 |date= 22 January 2012 |access-date= 18 January 2014 }} }}

| website = {{URL|www.vikramseth.net}}

}}

Vikram Seth (born 20 June 1952) is an Indian novelist and poet.{{Cite web |url=http://www.indianlink.com.au/travel/the-city-of-wonders/ |date=2010 |first1=Sandip |last1=Hor |website=indianlink.com.au |title=Indian Link — The City of Wonders |access-date=28 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130404061736/http://www.indianlink.com.au/travel/the-city-of-wonders/ |archive-date=4 April 2013 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }} He has written several novels and poetry books. He has won several awards such as Padma Shri, Sahitya Akademi Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith Literary Award and Crossword Book Award. Seth's collections of poetry such as Mappings and Beastly Tales are notable contributions to the Indian English language poetry canon.{{Cite journal |jstor = 23002110|title = In Other Places: An Inner Voice|last1 = Joshi|first1 = Rita|journal = India International Centre Quarterly|year = 1991|volume = 18|issue = 1|pages = 55–65}}

Early life and education

Seth was born on 20 June 1952 in Calcutta. His father, Prem Nath Seth, was an executive of Bata Shoes and his mother, Leila Seth, a Barrister by training, became the first female judge of the Delhi High Court and first woman to become Chief justice of a state High Court in India.{{cite book|author=Angela Atkins|title=Vikram Seth's Suitable Boy: A Reader's Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nqiNnpMOxlYC&pg=PA7|date=26 June 2002|publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-0-8264-5707-3|page=7}}

Seth was educated at the all-boys' private boarding school The Doon School in Dehradun, where he was editor-in-chief of The Doon School Weekly.{{cite book|author=Leila Seth|title=On Balance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m8byMR-HFBMC&pg=PT137|date=7 February 2007|publisher=Penguin Books Limited|isbn=978-81-8475-055-3|pages=137–}} At Doon, he was influenced by his teacher, the mountaineer Gurdial Singh, who taught him geography and according to Leila Seth, "guided Vikram in many ways...encouraged him to appreciate Western classical music and instilled in him a love of adventure and daring." Singh later described Seth as an "indefatigable worker, and he maintains without difficulty his distinguished level in studies...he has put in enormous amount of energy in other spheres of school life, in dramatics, in debating, in first aid, in music, and in editing the Doon School Weekly."File:Vikram Seth winning a music prize at The Doon School.jpg in 1968.]] After graduating from Doon, Seth went to Tonbridge School, England, to complete his A-levels.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/mar/27/books.guardianreview1 |title=A suitable joy | Books |work=The Guardian |date=26 March 1999 |access-date=7 April 2020}}{{cite book|title=Vikram Seth's Suitable Boy: A Reader's Guide|author=Atkins, A.|date=2002|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|isbn=9780826457073|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nqiNnpMOxlYC&pg=PA8|page=8|access-date=24 November 2015}} Later he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He then pursued a Ph.D. in Economics at Stanford University though never completed it.{{cite web|url=http://ekikrat.in/Vikram-Seth |title=Vikram Seth |publisher=ekikrat.in|access-date=24 November 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/may/golden-gate-stanford-052013.html |title=The Golden Gate returns to Stanford May 30 |date=20 May 2013 |publisher=news.stanford.edu|access-date=24 November 2015}}Vikram Seth's Founder's Day Address, The Doon School, Penguin Books of Modern Speeches (2009) p.34 "...edited the Weekly and did other things"

Work and style

File:Acrostic by Vikram Seth for Gurdial Singh, The Doon School.jpg penned by Seth dedicated to Gurdial Singh, Seth's housemaster at The Doon School in the late 1960s, after his death in 2023.]]

Seth has published eight books of poetry and three novels. In 1980, he wrote Mappings, his first book of poetry. The publication of A Suitable Boy, a 1,349-page novel, propelled Seth into the public limelight. It was adapted into a BBC television drama miniseries in 2020.{{Cite web|title=A Suitable Boy: BBC miniseries|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000lbh9}} His second novel, An Equal Music, deals with the troubled love-life of a violinist. Seth's work Two Lives, published in 2005, is a memoir of the marriage of his great-uncle and aunt.

In addition to The Golden Gate, Seth has written other works of poetry including Mappings (1980), The Humble Administrator's Garden (1985), All You Who Sleep Tonight (1990) and Three Chinese Poets (1992). His children's book, Beastly Tales from Here and There (1992) consists of 10 stories about animals. He has written a travel book, From Heaven Lake: Travels through Sinkiang and Tibet (1983), an account of a journey through Tibet, China and Nepal. He was also commissioned by the English National Opera to write a libretto based on the Greek legend of Arion and the Dolphin. The opera was performed for the first time in June 1994.

A sequel to A Suitable Boy, A Suitable Girl, was announced in 2009, but has yet to be published.

Seth's former literary agent Giles Gordon recalled being interviewed by Seth for the position, "Vikram sat at one end of a long table and he began to grill us. It was absolutely incredible. He wanted to know our literary tastes, our views on poetry, our views on plays, which novelists we liked".{{citation |title=A suitable joy |date=27 March 1999 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/mar/27/books.guardianreview1 |periodical=The Guardian |access-date=5 September 2007 |first=Jeremy |last=Gavron |location=London}}." Seth later explained to Gordon that he had passed the interview not because of commercial considerations, but because unlike the others he was the only agent who seemed as interested in his poetry as in his other writing. Seth followed what he has described as "the ludicrous advance for that book" (£250,000 for A Suitable Boy){{cite news |last1=Flood |first1=Alison |title=Vikram Seth writes Suitable Boy sequel |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jul/03/vikram-seth-suitable-boy-sequel#:~:text=There's%20no%20word%20yet%20as,to%20his%20most%20popular%20novel.&text=Seth%20described%20the%20time%20shift,in%20an%20interview%20with%20Reuters. |access-date=25 September 2020 |work=The Guardian |date=3 July 2009 |language=en}} with £500,000 for An Equal Music and £1.4 million for Two Lives.{{citation |title=Seth to get at least $3 million advance |first=Shyam |last=Bhatia |date=1 September 2003 |access-date=5 September 2007 |work=Rediff.com |url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/sep/01seth.htm?zcc=rl}} He prepared an acrostic poem{{cite web |url=http://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/vikram_seth_tribute.html |title=Curtis Brown |access-date=26 February 2017 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040815212235/http://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/vikram_seth_tribute.html |archive-date=15 August 2004 }} for his address at Gordon's 2005 memorial service.{{cite web|url=http://www.poemhunter.com/vikram-seth/biography/|title=Vikram Seth – Vikram Seth Biography – Poem Hunter|publisher=poemhunter.com|access-date=24 November 2015}}

On 16 June 2024, publishing house Speaking Tiger announced the release of Seth's English translation of the sacred Hindu hymn Hanuman Chalisa - his first new work in over a decade.{{Cite web |title=Vikram Seth translates 'Hanuman Chalisa' in new bilingual edition |url=https://www.theweek.in/wire-updates/national/2024/06/16/lst2-book-vikram-seth.html |access-date=2024-07-13 |website=The Week |language=en}}

Views

Seth commented on the Indian general elections held during the summer of 2024 saying that "we live in a better situation now than we lived a month ago". He made this comment less than a month after the elections were over and a new coalition government had been sworn in. Seth said "at least now there is somewhat of limitation on autocracy."{{cite news|url=https://www.deccanherald.com/india/vikram-seth-on-2024-lok-sabha-election-results-limitation-on-autocracy-now-3076858|title=Vikram Seth on 2024 Lok Sabha election results: 'Limitation on autocracy now'|agency=Press Trust of India|website=deccanherald.com|publisher=Deccan Herald|date=22 June 2024|accessdate=10 July 2024}}

On the recent sanction{{cite news|url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/columns/delhi-lg-sanction-for-arundhati-roy-prosecution-under-uapa-legal-issues/article68295917.ece|title=Delhi LG's sanction for Arundhati Roy's prosecution under UAPA is legally vulnerable|author=V. Venkatesan|website=frontline.thehindu.com|publisher=Frontline|date=16 June 2024|accessdate=10 July 2024}} to prosecute the author Arundhati Roy, he noted that it was "craziness."

Personal life

Seth is bisexual. He was in a relationship with the violinist Philippe Honoré for ten years and dedicated his novel An Equal Music to him.{{Cite web |date=2016-03-11 |title="It Took Me Long To Come To Terms With Myself. Those Were Painful Years." |url=https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/it-took-me-long-to-come-to-terms-with-myself-those-were-painful-years/232671 |access-date=2022-09-22 |archive-date=11 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311123845/https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/it-took-me-long-to-come-to-terms-with-myself-those-were-painful-years/232671 |url-status=bot: unknown }}{{Cite book |last=Seth |first=Vikram |title=An Equal Music |publisher=Vintage |year=1999}} In 2006, he became a leader of the campaign against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, a law against homosexuality. When Section 377 was reinstated in 2013, Seth continued campaigning against the law.{{Cite news |last=Seth |first=Vikram |date=December 20, 2013 |title=Vikram Seth on Section 377 and gay rights in India |work=India Today |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/20131230-vikram-seth-on-gay-rights-homosexuality-769369-2013-12-20}}{{Cite news |last=Burke |first=Jason |date=December 20, 2013 |title=Vikram Seth: India's gay sex ban is against our tradition of tolerance |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/20/vikram-seth-india-supreme-court-ban-gay-sex}}{{Cite news |last=Biswas |first=Soutik |date=December 20, 2013 |title=Why Indian author Vikram Seth is angry |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-25459648}}

Seth divides his time between the United Kingdom, where he bought and renovated the former home of the Anglican poet George Herbert near Salisbury, and India, where he has a family home in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.{{citation |last1=Lewis |first1=Leo |title=Listening to God's melodies |date=29 July 2006 |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,923-2288533,00.html |periodical=The Times |location=London |access-date=5 September 2007 |last2=Island |first2=Jindo}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

Works

=Novels=

The Golden Gate (1986){{citation |title=Vikram Seth |periodical=DoonOnline: Features & Spotlights |url=http://doononline.net/pages/info_features/features_spotlights/spotlights/seth/index.htm |access-date=5 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060516082359/http://www.doononline.net/pages/info_features/features_spotlights/spotlights/seth/index.htm |archive-date=16 May 2006 |url-status=dead }}
A Suitable Boy (1993)
An Equal Music (1999){{citation |periodical=European Review |date=20 January 2005|volume=13 |pages=103–113 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/S1062798705000104 |url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=276618 |first=Silvia |last=Albertazzi |title=An equal music, an alien world: postcolonial literature and the representation of European culture|s2cid=144544406|url-access=subscription }}
A Suitable Girl (due for publication in 2026)

=Poetry=

Mappings (1980)
The Tale Of Melon City (1981)
The Humble Administrator's Garden (1985)
All You Who Sleep Tonight (1990)
Beastly Tales (1991)
Three Chinese Poets (1992)
The Frog and the Nightingale (1994)
Summer Requiem: A Book of Poems (2015)
A Doctor’s Journal Entry for August 6, 1945
Elephant and the Trapogan

= Translation =

Hanuman Chalisa{{cite web|url=https://scroll.in/video/1069602/i-did-it-for-my-own-private-pleasure-vikram-seth-on-translating-the-hanuman-chalisa-into-english|title='I did it for my own private pleasure': Vikram Seth on translating the Hanuman Chalisa into English|website=scroll.in|publisher=Scroll India|date=21 June 2024|accessdate=10 July 2024}}

=Children's fiction=

Arion and the Dolphin (1994)
The Louse and the Mosquito (2020)

=Non-fiction=

From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet (1983)
Two Lives (2005)
The Rivered Earth (2011){{citation |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-toi/special-report/I-got-drunk-to-write/articleshow/10888180.cms |title=Times of India by Shobha John, TNN: 27 Nov 2011, 05.13 am IST : 'I got drunk to write, says Vikram Seth' |work=The Times of India |location=India |date=27 November 2010}}

=Appearances in poetry anthologies=

The Oxford India Anthology of Twelve Modern Indian Poets. Ed. Arvind Krishna Mehrotra. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1992.{{cite web |title=The Oxford India Anthology of Twelve Modern Indian Poets |url=https://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/amit/books/mehrotra-1993-oxford-india-anthology.html |website=cse.iitk.ac.in |access-date=23 August 2018}}{{cite web |title=Book review: 'Twelve Modern Indian Poets' by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19920815-book-review-twelve-modern-indian-poets-by-arvind-krishna-mehrotra-766731-2013-01-03 |website=indiatoday.in |date=3 January 2013 |access-date=23 August 2018}}
The Golden Treasure of Writers Workshop Poetry. Ed. Rubana Huq. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 2008.{{cite journal |title=Rubana Huq, ed. The Golden Treasury of Writers Workshop Poetry. Review |url=http://journals.iium.edu.my/asiatic/index.php/AJELL/article/view/82/67 |journal=Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language and Literature |date=15 June 2009 |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=126–129 |last1=Mandal |first1=Somdatta }}

Awards and honours

1983 – Thomas Cook Travel Book Award for From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet
1985 – Commonwealth Poetry Prize (Asia) for The Humble Administrator's Garden
1988 – Sahitya Akademi Award for The Golden Gate
1993 – Shortlisted, Irish Times International Fiction Prize for A Suitable Boy
1994 – Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best Book) for A Suitable Boy
1994 – WH Smith Literary Award for A Suitable Boy
1999 – Crossword Book Award for An Equal Music
2001 – Commander of the Order of the British Empire
2001 – EMMA (BT Ethnic and Multicultural Media Award) for Best Book/Novel for An Equal Music
2005 – Pravasi Bharatiya Samman
2007 – Padma Shri in Literature & Education{{cite web |url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |year=2015 |access-date=21 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2015 }}
2013 – NDTV's 25 Greatest Global Living Legends In India

References

Sources

Chaudhuri, Amit (ed.). "Vikram Seth (born 1952)." The Vintage Book of Modern Indian Literature. New York: Vintage, 2004:508–537.

External links

{{Sister project links |wikt=no |b=no |n=no |q=Vikram Seth |s=Author:Vikram Seth |v=no |species=no |commons=Category:Vikram Seth }}

[https://web.archive.org/web/20150518080821/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/article1551817.ece The Telegraph ("Love split delayed Suitable Boy sequel")]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20150906135953/http://literature.britishcouncil.org/vikram-seth British Council Bio]
{{IMDb name |id=1532972 |name=Vikram Seth}}
[http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=40714 "Poetic License" by Cynthia Haven, "Stanford Magazine," May/June 1999]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20151122180015/http://bombmagazine.org/article/1377/ BOMB Magazine interview with Vikram Seth by Ameena Meer]
[http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=seth_vikram Vikram Seth] at the Encyclopedia of Fantasy
[https://freshairarchive.org/segments/poet-vikram-seth Interview with Vikram Seth by Terry Gross on Fresh Air]