Vikram Seth

Neelam Srivastava (University of Newcastle upon Tyne)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

Vikram Seth's work is characterized by the innovative recuperation of “unfashionable” and “traditional” forms such as the realist

roman-fleuve

and the novel in verse. Such recuperation goes against the current of cross-pollination between genres and stylistic experimentalism which characterizes other writers like Salman Rushdie or Amitav Ghosh, to whom he is often compared. Reading Seth, one experiences the sense of an old-fashioned conception of the relationship between reader and writer; engaging the attention and interest of the “common reader” (as he defines it) becomes a programmatic element of both his poetry and his prose, and his books reveal a sophisticated yet unselfconscious return to realist narrative and formal poetic structures.

A presentation of Seth's work does

3099 words

Citation: Srivastava, Neelam. "Vikram Seth". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 October 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4020, accessed 19 March 2024.]

4020 Vikram Seth 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.