First published in the "striking" collection, The Art of Disappearance , a novella about government bureaucrat in India who has a change of perspective ( New York Times ).
Disappointed by his professional and social position, an entitled and officious junior civil servant imagines that his life will change when a mysterious old man promises to lead him to a museum filled with priceless treasures.
Praise for The Art of Disappearance:
"The excellent strength [the novellas] share is a gracefulness and dreamlike sonority, reminiscent of writers like Jhumpa Lahiri and W.G. Sebald, wherein strange evolutions of solitary lives are the rule, and readers are held by the stately, hypnotic dignity of the voice that tells them." - San Francisco Chronicle
"[A] brilliant miniature exposé of contemporary culture." - The Guardian
"Lingers in the memory the same way these landscapes and people of India prove impossible to forget." - Boston Globe
Autorentext
ANITA DESAI is the author of Fasting, Feasting, The Art of Disappearance, The Zig Zag Way, Clear Light of Day, and Diamond Dust, among other works. Three of her books have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Desai was born and educated in India and now lives in the New York City area.
Klappentext
Disappointed by his professional and social position, an entitled and officious junior civil servant imagines that his life will change when a mysterious old man promises to lead him to a museum filled with priceless treasures.