In an Antique Land: History in the Guise of a Traveler’s Tale

Once upon a time, an Indian writer named Amitav Ghosh set out as an Indian slave, name unknown, who some seven hundred years before had traveled to the Middle East. The journey took him to a small village in Egypt, where medieval customs coexist with twentieth-century desires and discontents. But even as Ghosh sought to re-create the life of his Indian predecessor, he found himself immersed in those of his modern Egyptian neighbors.

Combining shrewd observations with painstaking historical research, Ghosh serves up skeptics and holy men, merchants and sorcerers. Some of these figures are real, some only imagine, but all emerge as vividly as the characters in a great novel. In an Antique Land is an inspired work that transcends genres as deftly as it does eras, weaving an entrancing and intoxicating spell.

Author: Amitav Ghosh
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 03/29/1994
Series: Vintage Departures #0000
Pages: 400
Weight: 0.66lbs
Size: 7.84h x 5.66w x 0.88d
ISBN: 9780679727835
Language: English