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Like Barbarians in India

Paper Type: Book Print Paper | Size: 178mm x 130mm

ISBN-13: 978-93-91125-16-5

450

Like Barbarians in India is a heartfelt tribute to India and to four French writers—Pierre Loti, Henri Michaux, André Malraux and André Gide—who felt a common attraction to this country of ‘ancient civilization’. The author discusses these writers and their interaction with India, as well as his love for the country.

Each chapter in the book details the impact or influence that India had on these French writers individually. Pierre Loti, whose original name was Julien Viaud, discovered India in 1931 and wrote India (without the English), which describes India as if it had not been colonized. About half of Henri Michaux’s Barbarian in Asia is devoted to India. André Malraux knew Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi and had read Tagore and the Indian sacred texts. André Gide also knew Nehru and had translated Tagore and Kabir into French.

The author has travelled and lived in India and was a friend of the sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar. In this work he comments on India of the past and present and shares his deep love of this land, its people and culture.

Jean-Claude Perrier

Author

Jean-Claude Perrier born in 1957, in Paris, loves literature, reading and writing. He started working as a journalist and is also the author of several books, including novels, biographies, essays, and travelogues. He discovered India in 1981 and it was a revelation for him. In love with the culture, music, and people of India, he has authored several books with an Indian theme: André Malraux and the Temptation of India, Travels in French India, and Like Barbarians in India (translated in English, Hindi, and Bangla). He received the prestigious French Academy Prize in 2010 for an essay, ‘The mysteries of Saint-Exupery’ that is translated in Italian, German, Russian, and Slovenian.

Sriparna Chatterji

Translator

Sriparna Chatterjee has taught French for 10 years at Alliance Française, Kolkata, and has a Maîtrise de Français Langue Etrangère from the University of Rouen. Thereafter she has been teaching French in reputed academic institutions in Kolkata.