Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss

Letizia Alterno (University of Manchester)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kerry Myler (Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 2006

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Kiran Desai acknowledged that she “... spent a very long time writing and rewriting The Inheritance of Loss” and “... found it a devastating book to write” (Gee, 33; 35). Written over a period of eight years, the novel was first published in the USA by Atlantic Monthly Press in 2006 and was awarded the Man Booker Prize in the same year. It was also shortlisted for the Orange Prize in 2007. Desai’s second novel, it “registers the multicultural reverberations of the new millennium with the sensitive instrumentality of fiction” (Ezard). Its invested engagement with the experiences of colonialism, post-coloniality and globalization, its interested exploration of meta-narratives and minor histories, and its celebratory …

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2719 words

Citation: Alterno, Letizia. "The Inheritance of Loss". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 April 2015 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=24329, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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