Vikram Seth: Difference between revisions

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| period          = 1980–present
| period          = 1980–present
| genre            = Novels, poetry, libretto, travel writing, children's literature, biography/memoir
| genre            = Novels, poetry, libretto, travel writing, children's literature, biography/memoir
| notableworks    = ''[[A Suitable Boy]]''<br/>''[[The Golden Gate (Seth novel)|The Golden Gate]]''<br/> ''[[An Equal Music]]''<br/>
| notableworks    = ''[[A Suitable Boy]]''<br/>''[[The Golden Gate (Seth novel)|The Golden Gate]]''<br/> ''[[An Equal Music]]''
| awards          = [[Padma Shri]], [[Sahitya Academy Award|Sahitya Academy]], [[Stegner Fellowship]], [[Guggenheim Fellowship]],  
| awards          = [[Padma Shri]], [[Sahitya Academy Award|Sahitya Academy]], [[Stegner Fellowship]], [[Guggenheim Fellowship]],  
[[FRSL]]
[[FRSL]]
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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.<ref name="Atkins2002">{{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}}</ref>
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.<ref name="Atkins2002">{{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}}</ref>


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]]''.<ref name="Seth2007">{{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–}}</ref> At Doon, he was influenced by his teacher, the mountaineer [[Gurdial Singh (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."<ref name="Seth2007"/> 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."<ref name="Seth2007" />[[File:Vikram Seth winning a music prize at The Doon School.jpg|thumb|left|Seth receiving a music prize at [[The Doon School]] in 1968.]] After graduating from Doon, Seth went to [[Tonbridge School]], England, to complete his [[A-levels]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/mar/27/books.guardianreview1 |title=A suitable joy &#124; Books |work=The Guardian |date=26 March 1999 |access-date=7 April 2020}}</ref><ref name="google2">{{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}}</ref>  Later he read [[Philosophy, Politics and Economics]] at [[Corpus Christi College, Oxford|Corpus Christi College]], [[University of Oxford|Oxford]]. He then pursued a Ph.D. in Economics at [[Stanford University]] though never completed it.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=http://ekikrat.in/Vikram-Seth |title=Vikram Seth |publisher=ekikrat.in|access-date=24 November 2015}}</ref><ref name="stanford">{{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}}</ref><ref>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"</ref>
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]]''.<ref name="Seth2007">{{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–}}</ref> At Doon, he was influenced by his teacher, the mountaineer [[Gurdial Singh (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."<ref name="Seth2007"/> 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."<ref name="Seth2007" /> After graduating from Doon, Seth went to [[Tonbridge School]], England, to complete his [[A-levels]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/mar/27/books.guardianreview1 |title=A suitable joy &#124; Books |work=The Guardian |date=26 March 1999 |access-date=7 April 2020}}</ref><ref name="google2">{{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}}</ref>  Later he read [[Philosophy, Politics and Economics]] at [[Corpus Christi College, Oxford|Corpus Christi College]], [[University of Oxford|Oxford]]. He then pursued a Ph.D. in Economics at [[Stanford University]] though never completed it.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=http://ekikrat.in/Vikram-Seth |title=Vikram Seth |publisher=ekikrat.in|access-date=24 November 2015}}</ref><ref name="stanford">{{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}}</ref><ref>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"</ref>


==Work and style==
==Work and style==
[[File:Acrostic by Vikram Seth for Gurdial Singh, The Doon School.jpg|thumb|An [[acrostic]] penned by Seth dedicated to [[Gurdial Singh (mountaineer)|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 (poetry)|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.<ref>{{Cite web|title=A Suitable Boy: BBC miniseries|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000lbh9}}</ref> His second novel, ''[[An Equal Music]],'' deals with the troubled love-life of a violinist. Seth's work ''[[Two Lives (non-fiction)|Two Lives]],'' published in 2005, is a memoir of the marriage of his great-uncle and aunt.
Seth has published eight books of poetry and three novels. In 1980, he wrote ''[[Mappings (poetry)|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.<ref>{{Cite web|title=A Suitable Boy: BBC miniseries|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000lbh9}}</ref> His second novel, ''[[An Equal Music]],'' deals with the troubled love-life of a violinist. Seth's work ''[[Two Lives (non-fiction)|Two Lives]],'' published in 2005, is a memoir of the marriage of his great-uncle and aunt.


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*''[[A Suitable Boy]]'' (1993)  
*''[[A Suitable Boy]]'' (1993)  
*''[[An Equal Music]]'' (1999)<ref name="albertazzi">{{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 }}</ref>
*''[[An Equal Music]]'' (1999)<ref name="albertazzi">{{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 }}</ref>
*''[[A Suitable Girl (novel)|A Suitable Girl]] (due for publication in 2026)''  
*''[[A Suitable Girl (novel)|A Suitable Girl]] (planned)''


===Poetry===
===Poetry===
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*''[[The Frog and the Nightingale]]'' (1994)
*''[[The Frog and the Nightingale]]'' (1994)
*''Summer Requiem: A Book of Poems'' (2015)
*''Summer Requiem: A Book of Poems'' (2015)
*''A Doctor’s Journal Entry for August 6, 1945''
*''A Doctor's Journal Entry for August 6, 1945''
*''[[Elephant and the Trapogan]]''
*''[[Elephant and the Trapogan]]''


Revision as of 23:31, 15 June 2025

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Vikram Seth (born 20 June 1952) is an Indian novelist and poet.[1] 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.[2]

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.[3]

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.[4] 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."[4] 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."[4] After graduating from Doon, Seth went to Tonbridge School, England, to complete his A-levels.[5][6] 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.[7][8][9]

Work and style

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.[10] 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".[11] 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)[12] with £500,000 for An Equal Music and £1.4 million for Two Lives.[13] He prepared an acrostic poem[14] for his address at Gordon's 2005 memorial service.[15]

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.[16]

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."[17]

On the recent sanction[18] to prosecute the author Arundhati Roy, he noted that it was "craziness."[17]

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.[19][20] In 2006, he became a leader of the campaign against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, a law against homosexuality.[19] When Section 377 was reinstated in 2013, Seth continued campaigning against the law.[21][22][23]

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.[24]

Works

Novels

Poetry

Translation

Hanuman Chalisa[27]

Children's fiction

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

Non-fiction

Appearances in poetry anthologies

Awards and honours

Template:BLP sources section

See also

References

Template:Reflist

Sources

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

External links

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Template:Vikram Seth Template:Commonwealth Writers' Prize: Best Book Winners Template:Sahitya Akademi Award for EnglishTemplate:Padma Shri Award Recipients in Literature & EducationTemplate:Authority control

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  9. ↑ 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"
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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