Auf ein Miniaturbild klicken, um zu Google Books zu gelangen.
Lädt ... The Siege of Krishnapur (Original 1973; 2002. Auflage)von J G Farrell
Werk-InformationenThe Siege of Krishnapur von J. G. Farrell (1973)
Booker Prize (87) » 19 mehr Top Five Books of 2016 (142) THE WAR ROOM (81) Top Five Books of 2019 (199) All Things India (80) Historical Fiction (762) Folio Society (725) 1,001 BYMRBYD Concensus (521) Asia (46) Franklit (46) My TBR (184) Lädt ...
Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. I enjoyed this book. Though a work of fiction, JG Farrell made extensive use of contemporary diaries and accounts written by English residents at the time of the Indain Mutiny, to enable him to write authentically about the imaginary siege which is the subject of this book. At times I found it hard to believe that he had not passed significant periods of his life in India. His account of day-to-day life, and specifically his feel for the lives of the British in 19th century colonial India seemed authentic (as if I know anything much myself!). Though his characters are drawn with affection, there is something of the feeling of caricature in many of them, and in particular for the very few Indians depicted in the book. Several of the personalities are at once heroic and near-insane, but the abiding impression is that The Empire doesn't come out of this at all well, though individuals may. ( ) Fantastic read... I had this book my kindle for about half a decade but could never manage to go beyond a couple of pages. I decided to persist and finished reading it in a couple of days. I loved it. The book has all the hallmarks that would one expect from British Raj era and it is also a treatise on the White Man's Burden. This is the only time I sided with the British despite being an Indian :) This was enjoyable reading, based on the true story of the mutiny at Cawnpur. I'm surprised any English People survived at all, so vastly were they outnumbered. I can't help but wonder what did the English think would happen? Taking away a people's culture and freedom and letting them know you believe they are inferior to you? Come on!
Farrell is the funniest novelist in English since Evelyn Waugh, with the same eye for the absurd as Tom Sharpe. This is the fictitious account, hilarious and horrifying by turns, of a besieged British garrison which held out for four months in the summer of 1857, the year of the Great Indian Mutiny, against a horde of native Sepoys. Despite the omens, the young British cavalry officers continue to indulge their taste for galloping into the nearest memsahib's drawing room, jumping over the sofas and then filling their sola topis with champagne instead of water to quench their horses' thirst. It is left to the Governor of Krishnapur, a sensitive, cultured man with a collection of treasures in his residence, to prepare for the siege. By the end of it cholera, starvation and the Sepoys have done for most of the inhabitants, who are reduced to eating beetles and, in the absence of powder and shot, loading their cannons with monogrammed silver cutlery and false teeth. The final retreat of the British, still doggedly stiff-upper-lipped, through the pantries, laundries, music rooms and ballroom of the residency, using chandeliers and violins as weapons, is a comic delight. And so is the usually serious Tim Pigott-Smith, whose repertoire of characters, from petulant maharajas to pink-faced subalterns - "I say, may we come in, we've come to relieve you" - is dazzling. 1974-09-30 Farrell can write with a fury to match his theme. As spectacle, The Siege of Krishnapur has the blaze and the agony of a scenario for hell. But as moral commentary, it is overcalculated—and its ironies unsuitably neat. Gehört zur ReiheGehört zu VerlagsreihenIst enthalten inHat als Erläuterung für Schüler oder StudentenAuszeichnungenBemerkenswerte Listen
Nach "Troubles" (ID-B 25/13) ist nun der 2. Band von Farrells Trilogie, die den Niedergang des Britischen Imperiums beschreibt, auf Deutsch erschienen. Mit viel ironischem Humor, historischer Kenntnis und grosser Detailtreue schildert Farrell den blutigen Sepoy-Aufstand gegen die Briten im Indien des Jahres 1857. Eine eitle Gesellschaft britischer Kolonialherren wird in Krishnapur eingekesselt und muss 4 Monate ausharren bevor Hilfstruppen eintreffen. Obwohl sich der physische und psychische Zustand der Eingeschlossenen mit der Zeit extrem verschlechtert und grosse Verluste hingenommen werden müssen, halten die grotesk überzeichneten Charaktere am Glauben an ihre naturgegebene Überlegenheit fest. Ihr absurdes Verhalten steht in immer schärferem Kontrast zu ihrer misslichen Lage. So macht der Autor seine Kritik am Kolonialismus und der Überheblichkeit der viktorianischen Gesellschaft deutlich, die vorgab, Indien die Zivilisation bringen zu wollen. Obwohl der umfangreiche Roman in ein eher unpopuläres historisches Thema eingebettet ist, wird auch dieses eindrucksvolle Buch seine Leserschaft finden Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
Aktuelle DiskussionenKeineBeliebte Umschlagbilder
Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.914Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999Klassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
Bist das du?Werde ein LibraryThing-Autor. |