50 Amitava Kumar Quotes for You to Enjoy

Amitava Kumar

Indian Writer

Born: Mar 17, 1963

Me Think World Writer Writing You

Related authors: Aravind Adiga Bharati Mukherjee Munshi Premchand Neel Mukherjee Om Malik Pico Iyer Shakuntala Devi

Culture survives in smaller spaces - not in the history books that erect monuments to the nation's grand history but in cafes and cinema houses, village squares, and half-forgotten libraries. Amitava Kumar

History Culture Cinema Nation Books Monuments Libraries Smaller Houses Erect History Books Squares Survives Spaces Grand Village

Each employed immigrant has his or her place of work. It is only the taxi driver, forever moving on wheels, who occupies no fixed space. He represents the immigrant condition. Amitava Kumar

Mistaken identity, of course, has been the province of much postcolonial fiction. An important feature of this writing is the manner in which misrecognition has haunted all cognition. Amitava Kumar

Writing Important Has-Been Haunted Feature Identity Mistaken Course Been Province Fiction Which Manner Much Cognition

Imagination makes us shape better stories, sure, but it also allows us to multiply possibilities. Amitava Kumar

Better Imagination Possibilities Shape Also Sure Makes Stories Us Multiply

For some members of the radical Left, particularly in the West, people in developing countries are an ideological abstraction, on whom fantasies of liberation are projected from a comfortable distance. Amitava Kumar

People Radical Distance Projected Liberation Members Some Developing Abstraction Developing Countries Countries Particularly Ideological Comfortable West Left Fantasies Whom

In the way in which we are living in a much more explosive and more tension-filled society, a society that is driven with more and more contradictions, it is but unavoidable that some of this will also come into cinema. I would, in fact, argue that a part of it is borrowed from Hollywood. It's as if Quentin Tarantino has come to Mumbai. Amitava Kumar

Cinema Will Living Society Way Would Unavoidable Some Borrowed More More And More Fact Argue Driven Part Come Also Quentin Tarantino Tarantino Contradictions In Fact Which Hollywood Much Explosive Mumbai

Hindi writing, as well as Hindi journalism, is a great gift to Indian writing. Amitava Kumar

Great Writing Gift Great Gift Indian Journalism Well Hindi

My own personal conviction is that if I were writing without thinking about how images or how journalism is creating a world for us, I would not be happy about it. Amitava Kumar

Be Happy Happy Writing World Own Conviction Thinking Would About My Own Journalism Without How Were Personal Us Creating Images

For years, in the wake of Rushdie, I had imagined magical realism to be the last refuge of the non-resident Indian. Amitava Kumar

Indian Magical Had Years Wake Refuge Realism Last Imagined

I enjoy the inventive ways in which language is manipulated to make meaning. Amitava Kumar

Language Enjoy Ways Inventive Make Which Manipulated Meaning

To my mind, a journalist needs to espouse objectivity and distance, while a writer practises an art that is more free. Amitava Kumar

Art Needs Mind Free Journalist Distance Objectivity More Writer While

For me to say that all novels in English written by Indians are all alike would be a bit like saying that all the cows in India look the same and have identical horns. Amitava Kumar

Saying Me Say Alike Bit Would Would-Be India Indians Horns Written Like Look Identical Cows Same English Novels

Does the entry of Indian H-1B worker augur a change in the relations of production in the world of cybertechnology? No, but the presence of such workers - their skills and their histories - introduce contradictions into the system that are not always easily absorbed or dissolved. Amitava Kumar

Change World Relations Dissolved Easily System Introduce Indian Entry Absorb Does Always Histories Contradictions Worker Workers Skills Production Presence

What is the difference between the novelist and the liar? At some moments, I have often wondered. Amitava Kumar

Liar Some Between Wondered Often Difference Moments Novelist

If the 20th century was marked by travel - planes in flight - then the events of 9/11 ushered in the age of the burning aftermath. Amitava Kumar

Travel Age Events Marked Burning Aftermath Century Planes Then Flight

My favourite writer is John Maxwell Coetzee. Amitava Kumar

Favourite John Writer Maxwell

Much of what we regard as truth in the war on terror is actually rather suspect. Amitava Kumar

Truth War Rather Terror Suspect Regard Much Actually

You ask a politician a question, like, why they ran in an election, and you'll hear, I assume, something about wanting to contribute to the community or bring about social justice. I had no such high goals. Amitava Kumar

You Justice Goals Election Politician Community Assume Ran High High Goals About Something Had Like Hear Question Contribute Wanting Social Ask Social Justice Why Bring

We take literature too seriously. Amitava Kumar

Seriously Too Take Literature

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