Nikhil Krishnan
Rich Man, Poor Man
Run and Hide
By Pankaj Mishra
Hutchinson Heinemann 336pp £16.99
Pankaj Mishra’s new novel is narrated by a middle-aged man, Arun, to a younger woman, Alia. The story, part apology and part apologia, is told in circumstances that are slowly clarified in the telling. Alia, it seems, has written a book herself, a journalistic exposé of corrupt Indian millionaires on Wall Street who, like Arun, had origins in humble or violent families before making it to one of India’s elite institutes of technology.
Unlike the now-incarcerated tycoons of Alia’s book, Arun jumped off the ladder of careerism early on. He has chosen instead to move to a small hillside town, making a modest living as a literary translator. But he becomes one of Alia’s sources, able to explain the world his coevals came from and were so desperate to escape.
The early sections promise a different novel from the one Mishra ultimately delivers. Arun’s classmates Aseem (later a well-connected left-wing provocateur) and Virendra (who becomes what the papers call a ‘financial wizard’) start with equal billing, and are recognisably versions of real public figures.
However, it becomes clear as the chapters pass that this is Arun’s story. And Arun, like Mishra, is not interested in current affairs simply for their own sake. Arun has a larger story to tell, about the world-historical role of the petite bourgeoisie: the transforming power of their ressentiment,
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm