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The Artist of Disappearence
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The Artist of Disappearence
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The Artist of Disappearence
Audiobook4 hours

The Artist of Disappearence

Written by Anita Desai

Narrated by Anne Flosnik and James Langton

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

Award-winning, internationally acclaimed author Anita Desai ruminates on art and memory, illusion and disillusion, and the sharp divide between life's expectations and its realities in three perfectly etched novellas. Set in India in the not-too-distant past, the dramas illuminate the ways in which Indian culture can nourish or suffocate. All are served up with Desai's characteristic perspicuity, subtle humor, and sensitive writing. Overwhelmed by their own lack of purpose, the men and women who populate these tales set out on unexpected journeys that present them with a fresh sense of hope and opportunity. Like flies in a spider's web, however, they cannot escape their surroundings - as none of us can. An impeccable craftsman, Desai elegantly reveals our human frailties and the power of place.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateDec 20, 2011
ISBN9781611205060
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The Artist of Disappearence
Author

Anita Desai

ANITA DESAI is the author of Fasting, Feasting, The Art of Disappearance, The Zig Zag Way, Clear Light of Day, and Diamond Dust, among other works. Three of her books have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Desai was born and educated in India and now lives in the New York City area.

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Could it be that the essence of a culture is best preserved at the perifery? There are various examples, probably known to all readers of specific features or language, culture or custom that still exist in remote areas, sometimes isolated communities in one's own country, sometimes overseas parts which were former colonies, where certain inflections or cultural traditions have remained alive. In The artist of disappearance Anita Desai brings together three short stories which each describe how Indian ways of thinking, or lifestyles have been preserved in remote areas.In the first story, "The Museum of Final Journey's the narrator is a well-educated man who takes up a post in a remote district, far from the city where he studied. Although his roots are in this area, it is obvious that he has estranged from living conditions there. He wonders at an exquisite art object he sees in a home and assumes it must be stolen or plundered. He hears from, and eventually visits a museum which houses an enormous, and very valuable collection of anthropological, historical and artistic objects, which he marvels at as he is led through the rooms of the museum, to the last courtyard, where a living treasure, an elephant is kept. The curator explains that he sells off pieces from the collection to feed the elephant. The story seems to contrast the cultured, materialistic world view of the Western view that would focus on preserving the collection of objects, versus the local cultural view that the objects can be sacrificed to keep the elephant alive, and that the elephant is much more important than the art objects.The second story, "Translator translated" is about two old school friends. One of the two women, Tara, has studied literature at university and after a career in journalism has become an editor at a publishing house. Her school friend. Prema, is enthusiastic about a book written in a local languages, and Tara is persuaded to have one of those books translated and published. Prema also has a degree in English literature, but studied the local language in an evening course, after she had lost it, and then wrote her thesis on an author who wrote in the local language, "Oriya". The translation and publication of the book is successful and leads to a revival in academic interest in both the local languages and the author. The author is persuaded to write more, but in the end her new works are disappointing, lacking the originality are purity of the first work. The story contrasts high culture and low culture, high culture as represented by Jane Austen and Simone de Beauvoir, the works studied at school and university, versus local langauge or dialect writers. In the end, the weight of high culture crushes and corrupts the underappreciated lower, local culture.In the last story, "The Artist of Disappearance" an old man cannot be persuaded to leave the ruin of his old, burntout house to take up residence in a new apartment. Instead, he hold on to living in old clothes and the old house. Through his lifestyle, he has come very close to nature. Then, a film crew arrives in the village. They are bustling, young people, who want to make a film about unspoilt nature, or the way the modern world threatens nature. As they cannot find what they are looking for, their attention is turned to Ravi, the old man in his ruined house and grown-over garden. Looking for him, they cannot find him at home, they turn up everything in his house, and peek at every corner. The story suggests the intrusiveness of modern, fleeting ideas into the stilled, quiet world of memory and nature of the old man.The three stories show a different outlook on life, more deeply Indian, that still exist and contrast sharply with the dominant, imported Western cultural values, that are intrusive, corrupting and superficial. The old culture runs deep, far from the centre, where it still exists in small pockets, enclosures and in retreat.These are three lovely stories, each very original and sincere, and very recognizable. The story telling is quite simple and straight-forward. Highly recommended.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Once in a while comes a work that I cannot explain why, but just does not captivate me. It is not that I did not like Desai's writing. In fact, she is a very good, at times amazing writer with words that leave a taste in your mouth. It is not that I need an action-packed plot; I am perfectly fascinated by the every-day lives of normal people where everything happens and nothing much takes place. Perhaps it was that I didn't feel the main characters or narrators, I didn't feel their pain, their frustration. It was described well enough, and their actions served to this purpose as well, but still, something was missing.

    So, perhaps not surprisingly, my favorite story was the last one, which had more flavor of local life and interesting flashbacks to a bygone era. The second story about Prema, the translator, brought out the academic in me, which comes out automatically when an author is practicing their academic muscles on an unassuming populace (what does it mean to be a translator? what is the role of the translator? Can the translator be creative? Does the translator create anything? What is the nature of the relationship between author and translator? What happens to indigenous languages when they are translated into English or French? How does one make a work more accessible, yet independent of any colonial oppression? etc. etc. etc.) The first story is my second favorite, mostly due to the museum and the characters other than the narrator.

    Recommended for those interested in India, the moral and ethical issues relating to art and the artist, and elephants.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Beautiful, beautiful stories
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Anita Desai is a matchless prose stylist, a master of subtlety, a connoisseur of the crystal clear sentence. Her writing seems to hearken back half a century to a time when clarity counted for more than innovation. For that reason The Artist of Disappearance, a collection of three novellas, might seem a bit old fashioned. But it is also refreshing because in these pieces she is doing nothing more profound than using flawless prose to spin a good yarn. These three novellas are remarkable for their restraint, for the subdued emotions they evoke, and for their timeless sense of loss and melancholy. In the first, "The Museum of Final Journeys," a nameless bureaucrat serving in a remote outpost is invited to inspect a collection of rare and exotic items housed at a dilapidated estate that has been abandoned by its owners. In "Translator Translated," Prema is commissioned to produce translations of the works of renown author Suvarna Devi, who writes in the obscure Oriya language, but becomes so involved in her project that she crosses the invisible boundary separating creator and translator. And in the title novella Ravi, a recluse living in the burnt out shell of his family's home, high on a hill outside of Mussoorie, recedes even further from view when a film crew visits seeking to expose the corrupt practices that have resulted in officially sanctioned devastation to the region's natural beauty. Desai's stories are set in modern India, but feel like they were written ages ago. Enjoyable if not exactly riveting, the book comes across as a minor work. But for anyone with a craving for traditional storytelling by a contemporary master, The Artist of Disappearance will more than satisfy.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A short work of three short "novellas". Quiet, reflective stories that offer glimpses of life - both personal perspectives and broader cultural and social ones. The language is elegant, while the stories are laced with a gentle sadness. Things pass, many are remembered, but what is the significance of that remembrance? What should be preserved? Does the act of preserving it detract from the essence of it? If created for a personal purpose and then experienced by another, has it been changed? Has it disappeared? Has it been transformed? So many things in life are fragile and ephemeral. These stories capture that well, leading the reader to wish for more from this brief collection.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    In just a few days this book will hit the stores and I hope that many of you will go out and buy it because it is, in a word, wonderful. The rich and elegant writing transports you into the characters' worlds and makes you feel like you're right there with them, living their lives, feeling their pain, their joy, their turmoil and their bliss. It did that for me anyway. The relatively short novellas surprised me by how much substance there was in their pages, how I had to take a break between each one to reflect upon the characters, the time and place, the circumstances. This reflection wasn't a matter of choice, I really had to do it, let everything sink in, work its way through me, and that made the experience all the more fulfilling because it's not often that I find books that pack that kind of punch.All three novellas are powerful in their own way but the third one, the one that lends its title to the collection, is my favorite because it is the most multi-faceted and most positive of the three. While Ravi is a textbook recluse his joy from creating and his lack of desire to have anyone else's approval were in such refreshing contrast to the mode of thinking which almost dictates that if one spends their time doing something the activity must be financially gainful or at least bring some sort of renown. My favorite thing about Ravi though wasn't that he was a person who created simply to create, but that he was a person who didn't become discouraged by setbacks, he just changed direction and proceeded on a different path. I think that's an excellent message since we all can become discouraged if things don't go exactly the way we plan.There really wasn't anything that I didn't like about this book, it was deeply satisfying and made me curious to read Anita Desai's other works. I highly recommend it to anyone.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is a collection of three short novellas. The writing is lyrical and easy to read, but the stories are very odd. They don't have much plot. Rather they are glimpses into an India that doesn't exist any more. The themes seem to be loss, aging, decay, etc. I found them sad and they left me a bit unsettled. But, Ms. Desai is an elegant writer.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This work is comprised of three short novellas (or three long short stories), all set in various locations in India in roughly the current time. The first of the three I found to be quite forgettable. The second one, "Translator Translated," was more intriguing. It concerns a somewhat marginalized and isolated English professor who translates a collection of short stories by an indigenous writer to apparently great acclaim. However, in her subsequent attempt to translate a novel by the same author, she encounters a significant literary and ethical dilemma. Her choice is interesting; the eventual outcome feels contrived and unsatisfying. Still, this story has stayed with me and I found myself thinking with somewhat raised consciousness about the English-language-centric dynamics of literature. The final "novella," "The Artist of Disappearance," was my favorite. A hermit living in a burned out ruin of a house (and there's more about that) almost encounters mainstream society in the form of a trio of documentary filmmakers: not Hollywood, but capitalist story-seekers nonetheless. This beautiful little story explores the meaning of being in isolation and of being in connection, and of owning one's story. All three of [[Anita Desai]]'s novellas richly evoke character, place, and time and they're definitely worth reading.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A slim volume containing 3 novellas about preservation and change. What value does something have over time, and how much of it should be preserved for generations to come? In 'The Museum of Final Journeys', a new officer of the British government is sent to a backwater town for training. He is approached by an old man from the countryside who seeks his assistance in preserving a house that has turned into a museum of beautiful, strange and exotic items. The house belonged to a woman who had long passed, and whose son had traveled the ends of the earth, sending items home to his mother in lieu of his visits. There is, however, one item that the old man holds dearest, but which requires high maintenance. The officer's actions following the visit to the museum haunts him in the years to come.In 'The Translator Translated', a quiet, seemingly dull teacher with a hidden passion for Oriya, a little known language meets a publisher and is infused with a new lease in life when she's asked to translate her favorite author's first book into English. The new spark within her changes her and gives her a sense of purpose and for the first time, a sense of self-importance. When the author releases her second book, the teacher is disappointed with the work and takes it upon herself to provide a loose translation and to make changes to the text as she deemed fit without thought to the repercussions.In 'The Artist of Disappearance', we're given the story of Ravi and how he came to be living in a burned ruin of a house. But the hermit starts building a garden, discovering and exhibiting beauty out of the devastation around him. The villagers protect his isolation until a film crew from Delhi accidentally discover his work and wish to interview him. In the three stories, each main character recognizes something of beauty they wish to preserve, but the choices they make have wider implications than they realize. Very concise writing that subtly carries weighty subjects that would be fuel for an afternoon of discussion.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This title is the first I've read by Anita Desai. I will be searching out more of her writing ! "The Artist of Disappearance" is a collection of three short novellas. Each story is a small gem. I've read entire novels that have not "set" a time, place or character as well as Ms Desai does in the slight pages of these short stories. The novella's are easy to read, however their impact remains with the reader long after the pages are completed. The seemingly simple themes of these stories are, upon reflection much like peeling an onion, with meanings that at first glance escape. Long after the book is closed, thoughts of Anita Desai's characters continue to haunt this reader's thoughts. The writing is concise yet discriptive, much is being said in a beautiful economic style.A fellow reviewer suggested that this book would make a good reading group choice. Agree 100% ! I would add that each story probably contains enough subject matter for an entire group meeting.Simply beautiful !
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This set of novellas focuses on three individuals, each struggling with important choices that will impact their own fate. The first is a civil servant who is just beginning his career and questioning his ability to make a difference. He is given the opportunity to help an elderly curator save a family created museum. His instincts tell him that this could be important, and he is faced with the choice of whether or not to try. The second is an English teacher who reunites with an unexpected person from her past. She is given the chance to translate the work of an author she has always admired and help her become known. This dream come true is threatened as she becomes carried away with the power of her position. The third character is a hermit who creates an artistic garden for his own solitude. When others discover its beauty, he has to find a way to disappear again.I tend to read anything about the history and culture of India that I can find, and this book stands out to me as something unique. I loved the way that Anita Desai developed her characters. In the second story I felt especially touched by Prema's struggle. I could feel her excitement as she began to feel empowered for the first time in her life, and I could feel her panic as she began to lose control. The third story which focused on Ravi was simply beautiful. The author creates effective pictures of India from the stunning to the grim. I haven't read her before, but I am looking forward to finding more of her books.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a short, but meaningful read comprised of three novellas set in India at different times. There are three different protagonists, each struggling with some sort of choice in the story. Each story also reflects a divide-- whether between past and present, nature and man, routine and adventure. The effects of colonialism are strongly reflected in the stories and there is often a theme of inhabiting two worlds at once.While the characters do not have a great deal of depth, possibly due to the brevity of the stories, the sense of setting created by the writer is excellent and immediately pulls you into the stories. The writing is beautiful and is somehow crisp and flowing at the same time. Desai is a writer with a clear ability to elicit strong emotional reactions from her reader; as I read I often felt as though the story were happening to me, particularly the last story which was especially powerful. This would be a good book for a book club and would generate interesting discussion. Those interested in the history of India would also greatly enjoy this thought-provoking and well-written collection.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The newest work by Anita Desai is a collection of three novellas set in modern India, which share the themes of art and isolation. In the first novella, 'The Museum of Final Journeys', a lonely young government official is serving a post in an isolated and decrepit town, when an elderly man implores him to help save a museum of various objects collected from a young man's journeys across the world. The family's mansion is in decay, with only a hint as to its former grandeur, but the museum itself, kept locked and guarded, is filled with an overwhelming display of finery that titillates and exhausts the government man. 'Translator, Translated' is about an unhappy and unfulfilled middle age college literature teacher who meets a fellow classmate at a school reunion whose career and fame she has followed for years. The teacher, Prema, is thrilled that her classmate, Tara, has recognized her, and Tara invites her to translate the book that Prema is reading into English for the publishing company that she has started. The last novella, 'The Artist of Disappearance', is easily the best of the three. It concerns a man who lives as a hermit in his late parents' partially destroyed home deep in the Himalayas, who constructs a secret garden as a peaceful escape from his already isolated existence. A film crew from Delhi that is creating a documentary about the destruction of the area by miners and others accidentally stumbles upon the garden, and wish to find its creator, to the chagrin of the hermit, who withdraws to a place where he cannot be found by anyone.All of the stories are filled with rich descriptions of rural and city life in modern India, as Desai's mastery of language and the art of writing are on full display. However, the first two short stories ended abruptly and in an unsatisfying manner to this reader, and were less enjoyable that the last novella, which was one of the best ones I've read. This is the first book I've read by Anita Desai, who is widely recognized as one of the best modern Indian writers, and I will certainly read more of her work in the near future.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The prose is breathtaking and the story telling is a masterpiece.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Two short stories and, to be generous, a novella about nothing really other than thematic material. While Desai is a glorious constructor of tightly focused prose, this small book is unsatisfying because neither characters nor situations are memorable. Perhaps intentionally?As the title suggests, it could be Desai who is the artist of making these stories and the people in them disappear. Ephemera of existence, civilization, culture, man-made settlement, and just “the way things are” are explored with the intention of understanding (if not appreciating) the concept of impermanence.Post-colonial India is, if I interpreted her book correctly, at sea and lacking an identity. The British stamp is wearing off but the India that existed before has been eroded, much like her land has been, under the heel of exploitative development. Personalities disappear if they are “Indian,” overwhelmed by the westernized version of today’s Indians – at least, the ones who become successful. Uprooting a people, its culture, and its artifacts only creates a museum of pieces that probably tell us nothing and certainly don’t provide a framework for national unity and identity.What was the known India has vanished, as have so many of her traditional people, and too much of her heritage, natural resources, and beauty. Any attempt to recapture or recreate India's pre-colonial past must be at the least misunderstood, and at the worst doomed. But perhaps Desai's theme is too large for her format? The idea of transient existence is, ironically, probably too great for such small stories.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    These novellas by Anita Desai are written in a crystalline, engaging style, which kept me reading even in parts about characters just going about their daily lives or a less interesting detour in the final piece. Because of this, I’ll definitely seek out more of Desai’s work. The first novella is about a bored government worker stuck in a provincial post who visits a dilapidated estate full of exotic curios. The second follows an unhappy woman whose life becomes more exciting as she reconnects with an old schoolmate and works for her as a translator. In the final piece, an isolated man with an unfortunate history collides with the modern world. Desai’s writing immediately pulled me into “The Museum of Final Journeys”, the first story. Even though the first part describes the narrator’s discomfort with his new place and position and the boring routines of his office, it is somehow compelling. The main plot is involving and somewhat quixotic, even if the whole story is only an odd and discomfiting reminiscence of the now older narrator. The next story “Translator Translated” also has a wonderful opening hook, as the main character, Prema, a mediocrity back in school, sees golden girl Tara, now a respected publisher. Against the odds, Prema is able to interest Tara in her favorite author, who writes in a neglected language. Prema’s love for and obsession with translating is well-written, and I also liked the parts that switch between third and first person – usually I dislike it when authors do that. Prema goes around with an air of defeat, so it never seemed like things could work out for her. However, the story didn’t go where I expected it to. The story also raised a number of interesting issues regarding the translator-author relationship. The title story is the last one. At first, it tells the story of Ravi, an eccentric and withdrawn man who lives in a burned-out house. Even though his family’s decline is related in a more “telling instead of showing” way, it is still involving with some sharp writing. I found the second half less compelling as there is an abrupt subject change, although the end ties everything up. Definitely worth a look.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A mesmerizing story teller, Desai sets scenes and steeps one into the mood of her tale with wonderfully written descriptions.1. The Museum of Final Journeys A well-educated man cannot bare to spend his life with his mother on their remote estate. He travels continuously and sends precious artifacts back to her--so many they fill room after room of their mansion, veritably turning it into a museum. After the mother dies, the estate falls into disrepair, yet her aged retainer stays on. Years later, he undertakes a difficult journey to tell the district judge of all this, in hopes the state will take over the museum. Reluctantly, the judge travels out to view the contents, and is so overwhelmed by chamber after chamber of riches, he writes this story. In the last chamber, he had discovered an elephant living with the attendance of an old man in rags. “--the last gift Sri Jiban sent his mother.” If the elephant lived any longer the retainer would have to begin dismantling the museum. He pleaded with the judge to appeal on their behalf. At a loss, so overwhelmed, the judge mumbled that he would let him know . . . Soon after, he was transferred to the capital. He was disturbed by the memory of the elephant. Then in time, the memory fades; he isn’t sure if that museum and the elephant weren‘t a dream. So moving, I nearly cried.2. Translator Translated At a school reunion, unsociable English teacher Prema runs into Tara, who had been the most popular girl in her class, and is surprised to be recognized. Tara now runs a small publishing firm, about to launch into books written in India’s native languages. Prema’s favorite book lies in her purse, dog-eared and stained. It is written in Oriya, her childhood language, and she shows it to Tara, who is interested and asks Prema to send her a synopsis and sample translation. Prema goes right to it, so happy in the work she even becomes nicer to her students. The book is published to some acclaim, Tara and Prema recognized in India’s world of publishing. At long last Prema gets to meet the aged woman who wrote this book, who hasn’t written anything since. Prema encourages her to write another book. But the multitude of adjectives and the verbosity of the forthcoming book inspire her to edit as she translates--no one would know the difference. Unaware it is inauthentic, Tara publishes the book. When it comes out, to more acclaim for Tara and Prema, the author’s nephew sees the changes and strenuously objects to the “cavalier attitude.” Tara sends him and his town’s newspaper a letter of apology. Evidently he never told his aunt, as she writes Prema a thank you note. “Tara did not withdraw the book, nor did she ever order a reprint. The Association of Indian Publishers sent Prema, c/o Tara, an invitation to its next gathering of authors and translators. Prema declined, pleading illness.” Prema goes on teaching, aware her students are bored with her. She gets the idea she could write her own book. But some parts come better expressed in Oriya, others in English, and she gives up. Running into the nephew and his little boy in a bookshop one day, she asks of his family: he cheerily brings her up to date, then is distracted by the boy, and she flees.3. The Artist of Disappearance tells of Rivi, neglected as a child by his vacationing, partying parents, who kept to himself at school and became a recluse on his vacated family estate in the hills, serviced by the farm family who live just down a ways. Rivi has let the old woman who had tutored him, now blind and devoted to her cats, stay on. Each keeps to himself in this big old house, till she knocks over a lantern and sets fire to the place. When Rivi has reluctantly faced the public in order to visit his old tutor in her hospital ward, understandingly, she tells him he needn’t stay, to go home. Rivi moves into one barely habitable room that has survived the fire. His days are spent out wandering: in time, he comes across a glen barricaded by a huge stone. He slips through a crevice, and begins to arrange branches and various flora in this hidden place, and comes every day, as if to a shrine. A TV film crew seeking to document the prevailing quarries’ and mines’ massacre of outlying areas suffers greasy food and a country hotel’s fleas, searching out graphic sites. The crew’s new assistant, a young girl who had complained of the discomforts, is sent down a path on her own and comes across Rivi’s “garden,” she calls it, when she tells the crew, claiming it would make a perfect, hopeful ending to their sad program. News of the film crew’s search for the designer of this garden moves Rivi’s farmer to put him in old clothes and take him into his home, offering a loft by itself where Rivi can sleep. The crew views its film is disappointment: without being present, the garden looks dead. Leaving that area, they come across huge explosions from a limestone mine, billowing white dust. “That is what we need for a finish!” cries the boss ecstatically. I had to look back to the endings of these stories--after holding one in a different world, they become lost in time.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Beautifully written, quiet and contemplative, these three stories should have been winners for me. But they left me cold. I read each one in between other books, and honestly can remember very little about the first story – it left no impression on me whatsoever. The second was better - an exploration of a woman’s sense of disconnection from the world and how she tries to anchor her existence – all overlaid with interesting cultural and social questions related to modern India. The last story was very good but I don’t think it will end up leaving much of an impression on me. Desai just seemed to create a purposeful distance between her work and her reader; this may work for some but I prefer to feel a stronger connection to what I read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    All of us, every one of us, has had a moment when a window opened, when we caught a glimpse of the open, sunlit world beyond, but all of us, on this bus, have had that window close and remain closed. – from Translator Translated -The Artist of Disappearance is a collection of novellas which are all set in India and have the similar themes of identity, searching for meaning in one’s life and how place can define who we become.The Museum of Final Journeys, the first novella in the book, introduces the idea that memory is fragile and unreliable. Another theme in the story is the delicate balance of the natural world in a modernized society. In this story, a young man arrives in a dusty, desolate town where he has been posted to complete his training for a government position. He laments the long, dull days and the slovenly conditions of his new home. Then, one afternoon, a clerk arrives to make an appeal – he is the curator of sorts of an unusual museum but he can no longer afford to keep it running and wishes for the government to take it over. Intrigued, the narrator agrees to visit the museum. What he finds is astonishing and surprising – a treasure trove of objects, the unusual story of a family, and a creature whose life depends on the benevolence of her caretakers. Years later, his memory of the event is fragmented and frail like a mirage – perhaps as a way to resolve the guilt he feels for his lack of action.The second story in the collection, Translator Translated, centers around Prema, an Indian woman who unexpectedly runs into an old high school friend and gets the opportunity to realize her dream of translating fiction. In this novella, Desai explores the different cultures of India and the loss of little known languages, as well as the role language plays in our identity. Prema loves the language of Oriya which is her mother’s tongue, but it is a language which very few people speak or understand. When Prema begins translating a book from Oriya into English she finds herself struggling to connect the two halves of her own life which includes the inter-caste marriage of her parents. As Prema works, she finds it harder and harder to be faithful in her translation of the author’s work.Wasn’t this what the Impressionist painters had done in those early adventurous days, breaking up flat surfaces to refract light into many scattered molecules, and so reconstruct the surface and make it stir to life? – from Translator Translated -As the novella unfolds, Prema becomes more lost to herself as she converts her mother tongue into the colonial language of English. Translator Translated is a beautiful meditation on the loss of culture and identity in a modern world.The final story of this collection is, perhaps, my favorite. The Artist of Disappearance centers around Ravi, an odd man who is isolated from society and lives in the burned out shell of his family’s home. Ravi has always been different from others. He is especially connected to nature.Outdoors was the life to which he chose to belong – the life of the crickets springing out of the grass, the birds wheeling hundreds of feet below in the valley or soaring upwards above the mountains, and the animals invisible in the undergrowth, giving themselves away by an occasional rustle or eruption of cries or flurried calls; plants following their own green compulsions and purposes, almost imperceptibly, and the rocks and stones, seemingly inert but mysteriously part of the constant change and movement of the earth. – from The Artist of Disappearance -Ravi’s story is about nurturing that part of ourselves which is connected to the earth. In the towns around Ravi’s home, bulldozers are destroying the land and mining has stripped the earth of living creatures. But, high in the mountains, Ravi constructs a beautiful glade made from stones and trees, flowers and berries. Ravi is completely disconnected from society while being wholly connected to the physical space he calls home.As a whole, Desai’s collection is nearly dreamlike in quality. Her characters have unfulfilled dreams and are disillusioned with their lives. Each character is presented with opportunities to enrich themselves and then find they stumble because of their human imperfection.Anita Desai writes beautifully. She captures the beauty of India, but also does not hesitate to reveal its faults and complexities. I thoroughly enjoyed this slim volume of stories whose characters struggle and search for meaning in their lives.Highly recommended for readers who love literary fiction.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The three novellas in Anita Desai’s, The Artist of Disappearance, revolve around the concept of art. While all are interesting and contain her usual lyrical writing, the strongest is the one that shares the book’s title. It stands on its own as a complete work, where the other two are made stronger by their connection to one another. One of the most compelling issues brought out by this book is the question of aesthetics. What makes something art and does it have to be accepted and seen or read by others to make it true art? Who determines what is and is not art? Desai also portrays an ever changing India. One who is losing its indigenous life and languages to a seemingly uncaring populace, ashamed of its history. Despite these, and other, insightful thoughts Desai brings to her readers, this novel as a whole falls short, in terms of impact. This is due to the lack in her first two stories. The short story, The Artist of Disappearance, is enough and does not need to be published with the others. It stands more powerfully on its own.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Anita Desai’s ‘The Artist of Disappearance’ comprises three longish short stories (or novellas, if we accept the publisher’s marketing approach at face value) set in modern-day India. Although not directly connected to one another, each story involves protagonists at the fringes of society or their professional careers and who find themselves somewhat overwhelmed as the various events unfold. Nothing of particular consequence happens throughout the book, but then these seem to be intended as highly atmospheric, character-driven tales that do a nice job of capturing the time, the place and the mood.The strongest story in the collection is ‘Translator Translated’, which focuses on Prema Joshi, a thoroughly unlikeable, middle-aged woman with an undistinguished job teaching English literature at a local girls’ school. She finds momentary fame as the translator of book of fiction originally written in her mother’s native regional language, until she oversteps her bounds. The characterizations throughout this narrative are quite well developed and the author embeds in it the interesting device of switching between the first- and third-person perspectives. It is also the only one of the three stories that feels fully complete. The other two—‘The Museum of Final Journeys’ and the book’s title piece—offer intriguing set ups, but ultimately provide disappointing endings. Overall, I liked these stories and found reading them to be a fairly enjoyable experience. The author is a meticulous craftsman when it comes to choosing her words and assembling her sentences, which alone is enough to justify the effort required to digest this slim volume. On the other hand, there is nothing at all memorable about any of these pieces and I suspect that they will be quickly forgotten. Indeed, after a very short while, all I am likely to remember is that Anita Desai—who was a new author for me—is a good writer, but I may not be able to tell you why.