Upamanyu Chatterjee`s notable creation `English, August` is the first serious attempt of an Indian author, which dares to match the sensibility that one finds in the modern European Novel. His portrays some relevant issues like the plight of the `Urban Educated Youth`, the predicaments of the `western types` in India, etc. In English, August Chatterjee portrays `a new class` of westernized people who are on the verge of becoming a class, which was hitherto ignored in the regional and the English Fiction of India
Born in 1959 at Patna, Bihar, Upamanyu Chatterjee is one of the new talented Indian writers of the contemporary generation. He studied English literature at Delhi University, after that he joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1983. In 1990, he lived as Writer in Residence, at the University of Kent, U.K. In 1998, he was appointed Director in the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. Chatterjee has written a handful of short stories including `The assassination of Indira Gandhi`. His best-selling novel, English, August: An Indian story was published in 1988 and has since been reprinted several times. This is a perfect book to know about modern India. Beautifully written and also an entertaining novel English, August is an intelligent creation of Upamanyu Chatterjee. His second novel was also notable. `The last burden` was appeared in 1993. This novel recreates life in an Indian family at the end of the twentieth century. It is a fascinating portrayal of the Indian middle class. `Mammaries of the welfare state` was published at the end of 2000 as a sequel to English, August.
Synopsis:
This novel, English August, is considered as the most contemporary novel from the Indian subcontinent. Unpretentious, cynical, funny, tragic, Mr Chatterjee tells the tale of a young Indian bureaucrat from an urban Indian milieu posted to an obscure Indian village. In this story of `English August` by Upamanyu Chatterjee, the protagonist Agastya Sen is a young civil servant. He is posted to Madna where he experiences kitsch in all its forms like relics of the British Empire, temples, monsoons, Gandhi, savants and many more. In his confusion he staggers towards the Hindu belief in the virtues of renunciation and an uncertain, traumatic, self-knowledge. He is a character who is self-sufficient and self-sustaining.
Famous publishing house Faber and Faber published the book `English, August` by Upamanyu Chatterjee in the year of 1989.
