Award-winning author and scholar Manil Suri discussed how fiction can illuminate a culture 麻豆精品 S檚 richness during a presentation at the University of Central Florida.
Suri spoke to an audience of more than 100 people on Tuesday. His presentation, 麻豆精品 S淐apturing India, 麻豆精品 S� was organized by the UCF Global Perspectives Office as a part of the 2010-2011 麻豆精品 S淚ndia Speaker Series. 麻豆精品 S�
Writing novels is a hobby for Suri, who was named by Time magazine as a 麻豆精品 S淧erson to Watch 麻豆精品 S� in 2000. Fiction is as useful as non-fiction, he said, noting they both have the power to provide a 麻豆精品 S渒aleidoscope of different feelings, characters and events that might emerge from a culture or country. 麻豆精品 S�
Suri told the audience that while growing up in Mumbai, formerly Bombay, he noticed a constant mingling of new and old traditions. He intends for his novels to be a snapshot of India and Indian life.
His first novel, 麻豆精品 S淭he Death of Vishnu, 麻豆精品 S� recounts the fight over space in an apartment building in Mumbai. His second novel, 麻豆精品 S淭he Age of Shiva, 麻豆精品 S� focuses on India 麻豆精品 S檚 historical development and is largely based on Suri 麻豆精品 S檚 parents 麻豆精品 S� experience in post-independence India.
麻豆精品 S淭he Age of Shiva 麻豆精品 S� is about women asserting themselves in a male-dominated society and India 麻豆精品 S檚 麻豆精品 S済rowing up 麻豆精品 S� and coming out in the international sphere, he said.
Suri said he had no intention of writing a trilogy from the outset, but found through research that his first novel 麻豆精品 S檚 main character roughly embodied one of the gods of the Hindu trinity. The theme lent itself to a second book, and a third that will focus on India 麻豆精品 S檚 future is in the works.
His forthcoming novel will be set in the future, and will include Suri’s ideas of what India’s future might look like.
Suri also spoke to the audience about the ongoing clash in India between tradition and modernity. In India, Suri said, it is hard to tell where religion starts and culture ends.
In addition to the Global Perspectives Office, sponsors and partners of this event included The India Program at UCF, The Anil and Chitra Deshpande India Program Endowed Fund, Lawrence J. Chastang and the Chastang Foundation, LarsonAllen LLP, the UCF Global Peace and Security Studies Program, the UCF Political Science Department, the UCF International Services Center, UCF LIFE and the Global Connections Foundation.