Letters embedded into the text from time-to-time affix further dynamism to such character development.
David Sassoon Library makes an appearance in the book. Pic courtesy/Wikimedia Commons
TITLE A Slight Angle
AUTHOR Ruth Vanita
GENRE Fiction
Publisher Viking (Penguin Random House India)
Cost Rs 399
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Ruth Vanita’s new novel A Slight Angle is set in the decade of the 1920s pre-independence India. As its central theme, Vanita explores human desires that went unaccounted for in the freedom song of an emerging nation. We follow the lives of young protagonists: Sheela, Hemlata, Sharad, Abhik, Kanta, Robin and Rita. Each deviates from the path their elders have carved for them and stand as models of modern India. Sheela chooses to reject marriage; Kanta and Robin are in love and break the confines of religion and caste; Sharad is attracted to his professor Abhik Roy at the University of Delhi; Rita is living the life of a star.
Vanita’s understanding of same-sex desire and gender struggle supports the narrative and helps her favour poignancy over melodrama. The decision to give the text multiple narrators adds cohesiveness to the picture that readers draw of the characters. We learn about Sharad not only through him but also through the words of Sheela and Robin. Letters embedded into the text from time-to-time affix further dynamism to such character development.
Readers are also regularly introduced to familiar historic characters whose presence lends the narrative the quality of being plucked from real-life events. For instance, Hindi writers Mahadevi Verma and Subhadra Kumari Chauhan make guest appearances when Sheela attends their poetry readings with Hemlata in Allahabad (now Prayagraj) or when Hemlata speaks to them. Meanwhile, Mahatma Gandhi’s emerging political significance during the decade is noted throughout the book.
One of the most beautiful moments for this writer was encountering Mumbai of the 1920s through Sharad’s eyes. He moves to the city, and is immediately enchanted by the Sir David Sassoon Library. We see him spend his time reading poems, painting by the sea or sitting in Miss Rita’s drawing room meeting new people. The novel is an excellent read for those looking to travel back in time through complex but recognisable characters, standing at a slight angle, negotiating a place for themselves in a world that has not fully opened its arms for them.
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