Award-winning author and scholar Manil Suri discussed how fiction can illuminate a culture\u2019s richness during a presentation at the University of Central Florida.<\/p>\n
Suri spoke to an audience of more than 100 people on Tuesday. His presentation, \u201cCapturing India,\u201d was organized by the 麻豆原创 Global Perspectives Office as a part of the 2010-2011 \u201cIndia Speaker Series.\u201d<\/p>\n
Writing novels is a hobby for Suri, who was named by Time<\/em> magazine as a \u201cPerson to Watch\u201d in 2000. Fiction is as useful as non-fiction, he said, noting they both have the power to provide a \u201ckaleidoscope of different feelings, characters and events that might emerge from a culture or country.\u201d<\/p>\n Suri told the audience that while growing up in Mumbai, formerly Bombay, he noticed a constant mingling of new and old traditions. He intends for his novels to be a snapshot of India and Indian life.<\/p>\n His first novel, \u201cThe Death of Vishnu,\u201d recounts the fight over space in an apartment building in Mumbai. His second novel, \u201cThe Age of Shiva,\u201d focuses on India\u2019s historical development and is largely based on Suri\u2019s parents\u2019 experience in post-independence India.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Age of Shiva\u201d is about women asserting themselves in a male-dominated society and India\u2019s \u201cgrowing up\u201d and coming out in the international sphere, he said.<\/p>\n Suri said he had no intention of writing a trilogy from the outset, but found through research that his first novel\u2019s main character roughly embodied one of the gods of the Hindu trinity. The theme lent itself to a second book, and a third that will focus on India\u2019s future is in the works.<\/p>\n His forthcoming novel will be set in the future, and will include Suri’s ideas of what India’s future might look like.<\/p>\n Suri also spoke to the audience about the ongoing clash in India between tradition and modernity. In India, Suri said, it is hard to tell where religion starts and culture ends.<\/p>\n In addition to the Global Perspectives Office, sponsors and partners of this event included The India Program at 麻豆原创, The Anil and Chitra Deshpande India Program Endowed Fund, Lawrence J. Chastang and the Chastang Foundation, LarsonAllen LLP, the 麻豆原创 Global Peace and Security Studies Program, the 麻豆原创 Political Science Department, the 麻豆原创 International Services Center, 麻豆原创 LIFE and the Global Connections Foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Award-winning author and scholar Manil Suri discussed how fiction can illuminate a culture\u2019s richness during a presentation at the 麻豆原创. Suri spoke to an audience of more than 100 people on Tuesday. His presentation, \u201cCapturing India,\u201d was organized by the 麻豆原创 Global Perspectives Office as a part of the 2010-2011 \u201cIndia Speaker Series.\u201d Writing novels is a…","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":22463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[],"tags":[2945,4907],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-22462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-manil-suri","tag-ucf-office-of-global-perspectives"],"yoast_head":"\n