https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=The_Lives_of_Others_%28novel%29The Lives of Others (novel) - Revision history2026-11-04T14:32:25ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Lives_of_Others_(novel)&diff=540590&oldid=prevTyrone73H144: Creating some data from scratch2025-12-12T23:22:07Z<p>Creating some data from scratch</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|2014 novel by Neel Mukherjee}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2018}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}<br />
{{Infobox book<br />
| name = The Lives of Others<br />
| title_orig =<br />
| image = Neel Mukherjee - The Lives of Others.jpg<br />
| author = [[Neel Mukherjee (writer)|Neel Mukherjee]]<br />
| cover_artist =<br />
| country = India <br />
| language = [[English language|English]]<br />
| series =<br />
| genre = <br />
| publisher = [[Chatto & Windus]] (UK); [[W. W. Norton]] (US)<br />
| release_date = 22 May 2014 (UK); 1 October 2014 (US)<br />
| media_type = Print ([[Hardcover|Hardback]])<br />
| pages = 528 pp (UK hardback edition)<br />
| isbn = 978-0-7011-8629-6<br />
| oclc= <br />
}}<br />
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'''''The Lives of Others''''' is a [[novel]] by [[Neel Mukherjee (writer)|Neel Mukherjee]]. It was published in 2014 by [[Chatto & Windus]] in the UK and [[W. W. Norton & Company]] in the US. The novel, the author's second one, was shortlisted for the [[2014 Man Booker Prize]] on 9 September 2014.<ref name=toi>{{cite web|title=Neel Mukherjee shortlisted for 2014 Man Booker prize|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/Neel-Mukherjee-shortlisted-for-2014-Man-Booker-prize/articleshow/42169778.cms|website=[[The Times of India]]|accessdate=23 September 2014}}</ref> Bookbinder [[Tom McEwan (bookbinder)|Tom McEwan]] was commissioned to make a custom binding for the book at the ceremony at the [[Guildhall, London|Guildhall]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Designer bindings of Man Booker shortlist on display at Waterstones, Piccadilly &#124; the Man Booker Prizes |url=http://www.themanbookerprize.com/feature/designer-bindings-man-booker-shortlist-display-waterstones-piccadilly |url-status=dead |accessdate=2014-12-19 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141219142633/http://www.themanbookerprize.com/feature/designer-bindings-man-booker-shortlist-display-waterstones-piccadilly |archivedate=19 December 2014 |df=dmy-all}}, "Designer bindings of Man Booker shortlist on display at Waterstones, Piccadilly". Retrieved on 19 December 2014.</ref><br />
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The novel is set in [[Calcutta]] (Kolkata) in the 1960s and follows a wealthy business family, one of whose members gets involved in extremist political activism. The book deals with the chasm between generations, and is set against a backdrop in which the gulf between the poor and the wealthy has never been wider.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Lives of Others|url=http://www.themanbookerprize.com/books/lives-others|website=[[2014 Man Booker Prize]]|accessdate=23 September 2014}}</ref><br />
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== Writing ==<br />
The novel is split into two interlacing narratives, typeset in different fonts. One is an epistolary account of a violent agrarian movement through the eyes of Ghosh family scion Supratik, who has left his home to mobilise the oppressed peasants against corrupt moneylenders and landlords. The other is a third-person account around the Ghosh family,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lal |first1=Nandini |title=Book review: 'The Lives of Others,' by Neel Mukherjee |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/book-review-the-lives-of-others-by-neel-mukherjee/2014/10/13/95973596-4f31-11e4-aa5e-7153e466a02d_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=13 October 2014}}</ref> which forms the bulk of the book.<ref name=nyt/> The story touches briefly on notable moments of the city's history such as the [[Bengal famine of 1943]], the [[Great Calcutta Killings]] of 1946, and the [[Partition of India]]. Most of the action takes place in the years 1968–72.<ref name=ghosh>{{cite web |title=Neel Mukherjee's THE LIVES OF OTHERS: a review |last1=Ghosh |first1=Amitav |author-link1=Amitav Ghosh |url=https://amitavghosh.com/blog/?p=6400 |date=3 May 2014}}</ref><br />
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Like many other Indian novels in English, the text includes [[Bengali language|Bengali]] words and phrases. A family tree and a guide to Bengali relational terms is provided.<ref name=independent/><br />
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The tension between classes is at the core of the novel.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Beretta|first=Carlotta Maria|date=2019-04-02|title=Righting the Subalterns? Neel Mukherjee's The Lives of Others and the Naxalite Movement|url=https://revistes.uab.cat/indialogs/article/view/v6-beretta|journal=Indialogs|volume=6|pages=65|doi=10.5565/rev/indialogs.130|issn=2339-8523|doi-access=free}}</ref> ''[[The Statesman (India)|The Statesman]]'' described the book to have a [[neo-orientalism|neo-orientalist]] agenda.<ref name=statesman>{{cite web|author=Somdatta Mandal|title=The neo-orientalist agenda|url=http://www.thestatesman.com/supplements/the-neo-orientalist-agenda-92942.html|newspaper=The Statesman|date=27 September 2015}}</ref> <br />
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Describing the unexpected ease with which he wrote the novel, Mukherjee said:<ref name=rsl>{{cite web |url=https://rsliterature.org/award/rsl-encore-award/ |title=RSL Encore Award |date=30 August 2016 |publisher=Royal Society of Literature |access-date=3 August 2017}}</ref><br />
{{Blockquote|"Writers rarely have access to that part of their heads where books originate. One can talk cogently of influences, plotting, putting a book together, structuring, editing, everything, really, but origins are a far cloudier issue, the domain of the unconscious, mostly, so not readily available for truthful discussion.... I don't know whether my book started life as the story of a joint family in Calcutta at a critical juncture in history or as a reckoning with an ultra-left movement for social justice and equality around which the domestic story was built.... That way of talking about a book as which narrative came first is always already too late because the origins lie far earlier.... It was as if the book had already been there, waiting patiently to be let in; I only had to open the door."}}<br />
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== Reviews ==<br />
''The Lives of Others'' was favourably reviewed by novelists including [[Amitav Ghosh]], [[A S Byatt]], [[Anita Desai]] and [[Patrick Flanery]].<ref name=statesman/><br />
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Critics praised the novel's intricate and detailed portrayal of middle-class Bengali life during the period.<ref name=statesman/><ref name=ghosh/> In a glowing review for ''[[The Guardian]]'', [[A S Byatt]] complimented the author's capacity to imagine the lives of others.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee review – Marxism and tradition in 1960s India |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/14/lives-of-others-neel-mukherjee-review |website=The Guardian |last1=Byatt |first1=A. S. |date=14 May 2014}}</ref> <br />
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Reviewing for ''[[The Independent]]'', [[Patrick Gale]] noted the author's taste for violent contrasts and narratives within narratives.<ref name=independent>{{cite web|author=Patrick Gale|title=The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee, book review: A departure from the comfy Indian novel that both shocks and impresses|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-lives-of-others-by-neel-mukherjee-book-review-a-departure-from-the-comfy-indian-novel-that-both-9378005.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-lives-of-others-by-neel-mukherjee-book-review-a-departure-from-the-comfy-indian-novel-that-both-9378005.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|website=The Independent|date=15 May 2014}}</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' likened Mukherjee with [[Leo Tolstoy|Tolstoy]] in his ability "to bring to life a diverse and expansive set of characters and to sharply evoke their interior worlds."<ref name=nyt>{{cite web |last1=Sawhney |first1=Hirsh |title='The Lives of Others,' by Neel Mukherjee |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/28/books/review/the-lives-of-others-by-neel-mukherjee.html? |website=The New York Times |date=26 December 2014}}</ref> For ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'', [[Anita Desai]] noted the eye for detail, as in Victorian novel, and in terms of theme, compared the book with [[Rabindranath Tagore]]'s 1915 novel ''[[The Home and the World]]'' which depicts an altruistic aristocrat along with a villainous revolutionary.<ref name=desai>{{cite journal |last1=Desai |first1=Anita |title=The Real India |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2015/10/22/real-india/ |journal=The New York Review of Books |date=October 22, 2015|volume=62 |issue=16 }}</ref> Reviewing for ''[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]'', [[Patrick Flanery]] wrote favourably of the well-observed and psychologically nuanced scenes of collective family.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Flanery |first1=Patrick |title=The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee, review: 'masterful' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/10862488/The-Lives-of-Others-by-Neel-Mukherjee-review-masterful.html |website=The Telegraph |date=14 October 2014}}</ref> ''[[Il Sole 24 Ore]]'' likened the novel to ''[[Buddenbrooks]]'' (1901).<ref>{{Cite web|last=Sampietro|first=Luigi|date=11 November 2016|title=Ridere per disperazione a Calcutta|url=http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/cultura/2016-11-11/ridere-disperazione-calcutta-163307.shtml?uuid=ADzq7oqB|website=Il Sole 24 Ore|language=it}}</ref><br />
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In 2020, ''The Independent''<nowiki/>'s Emma Lee-Potter listed ''The Lives of Others'' as one of the 12 best Indian novels.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Lee-Potter|first=Emma|date=2020-08-05|title=12 best Indian novels that everyone needs to read|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/books/fiction-books/best-india-books-literature-novels-salman-rushdie-arundhati-roy-a9264211.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-12-23|website=The Independent}}</ref><br />
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==Awards and honours==<br />
*2014 [[Man Booker Prize]] shortlist<ref name=toi/><br />
*2014 [[Encore Award]] winner<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.encoreaward.com/index.php/winners-shortlists/103-2014-winner |title=2014 Winner |publisher=Encore Award |date=19 June 2014 |accessdate=19 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121015240/http://www.encoreaward.com/index.php/winners-shortlists/103-2014-winner |archivedate=21 January 2016 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><br />
*2014 [[Costa Book Award for Novel]] shortlist<ref name=toi/><br />
*2016 [[DSC Prize for South Asian Literature]] shortlist<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dscprize.com/global/updates/dsc-prize-2016-announces-a-shortlist-of-6-novels.html |title=DSC Prize 2016 Finalists |author= |date=26 November 2015 |accessdate=28 November 2015}}</ref><br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lives of Others, The}}<br />
[[Category:2014 Indian novels]]<br />
[[Category:Novels set in the 1960s]]<br />
[[Category:Novels set in 1967]]<br />
[[Category:Novels set in Kolkata]]<br />
[[Category:Chatto & Windus books]]<br />
[[Category:W. W. Norton & Company books]]</div>Tyrone73H144