Reviews

• 90年代インドにおける閉塞感ただようブラフマンのある愛！

  ナーラーヤンの『ラーマーヤナ』の前書きをパンカジ ミシュラが書いていて、それがとてもいい文章だったので、この本（1999年刊）を取り寄せて読んでみた。どこか関節が外れているような重量感のないユーモアを期待していたのだけれども、この本のタッチはちょっと違う。『ロマンティックス』というタイトルが示しているように、未来を閉ざされたブラフマンのパセティックな純愛がすごく身近に迫ってくる小説だった。 学部学生の主人公がバラナシで下宿生活を始めるところからこの小説は始まる。そこに体制からドロップアウトしインドに引き寄せられてきた白人達が登場する。主人公が彼らを奇妙な動物でも眺めるように、嫌味を言うのではなく小さな驚きの連続として感じるあたりが初々しくユニークだ。そんな白人のなかの一人の女性(父親は、パリに住む銀行家)が彼に好意を示し、彼もまた惹かれていく。彼女にはシタール奏者のインド人のボーイフレンドがいて二人はヨーロッパに演奏旅行にいく計画を温めているが、彼女とのプラトニックな愛の道行きがこの小説の一つの読みどころだ。 ブラフマンの学生援護組織のリーダとの交流がこの小説のもう一つの軸だ。彼の故郷を二人で訪ねるが、リーダの母親は、役所の勤め口は下位カーストに割り当てられ、特別なコネを持たない息子はまともな仕事には就けないだろう、早晩破滅するしかない、と話す。主人公は、自分がもはやブラフマンの清浄なる観念からは遠いところにいることを一度ならず語るのだが、最終章でかっての恋人が今フランスでごく普通の幸福な生活を送っているという話を聞き終えた時、自分にはいかなる心の動揺もなく平静でいることを確認するのは、紛れもないブラフマンであると僕には思えた。

• This is both a well crafted novel & written in great style. It is set in the 60's & the backdrop is realistic, not at all romantic. The principal characters are not rewarded for their romanticism. Would probably appeal to readers with some life experience behind them - over forties.

• This is a novel of remembered youth, lost love and self-discovery. Told in Mishra's crystalline, courtly prose, it is vividly imagined and emotionally resonant. Mishrah has a knack for evoking people who have misplaced their lives in a chaotic landscape and a view of emotion and motivation that is almost clinical in its clarity. Mishrah's style is superficially similar to Naipaul's but his perspective strikes me as much more compassionate and lacking Naipaul's perpetual undertone of disillusionment. This is a much better book than Mishra's An End to Suffering, which seemed to me rather an awkward blend of didacticism and literary autobiography. Mishrah should stick to fiction: The Romantics is a wonderful read.

• there is nothing to dislike about this book, i would recommend to everyone who is who has taste of good fictional story. splendid the whole plot revolves around a boy who is based from baneras and allahabad journey, i can fell each part of the story happening beautifully written by pankaj mishra

• Yes brilliant first book, I recommend it

• I cannot believe some of the harsh criticism leveled against this book by some of the early reviewers. While this may not be "The Great Indian Novel," it is a beautifully written story. I see this book as a "coming of age" novel. The narrator has led a fairly isolated life until he arrives at Benares to continue his studies after completing his undergraduate degree. There, he meets a number of European and American expatriates, apparently his first true encounters with Westeners. Their behavior and attitudes are so vastly different from his that he is left puzzled, especially at the beginning. The relationships that he forms transform his life in ways that he could not have anticipated. The narrator describes different areas of India, and Indian life, from his native point of view. His descriptions of the cluttered city streets, rural poverty and Himalayan beauty are viewed without the usual Western "filters" in so many English language novels. I think that this is a beautiful and moving first novel.

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