The Road

by Mulk Raj Anand

111 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Mulk Raj Anand was an Indian writer in English, notable for his depiction of the lives of the poorer castes in traditional Indian society. One of the pioneers of Indo-Anglian fiction, he, together with R.K. Narayan, Ahmed Ali and Raja Rao, was one of the first India-based writers in English to gain an international readership. Anand is admired for his novels and short stories, which have acquired the status of being classic works of modern Indian English literature, noted for their perceptive insight into the lives of the oppressed and their analyses of impoverishment, exploitation and misfortune. He is also notable for being among the first writers to incorporate Punjabi and Hindustani idioms into English.

Reviews

[S · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book highlights the caste system in Hinduism and how the beliefs literally draw a boundary between those who are the 'untouchables', the chamars of the lowest caste who are not allowed to touch, eat with, sit or breed with those born in higher caste (such as Brahmans). The extent of this visible divide is shown when the chamars cannot set foot in the Hindu temple to worship the Krishna god.
I was not as shocked as I would've liked while reading this book because I've already been introduced to this divide by my Brahman friend; the stories filled my ears with shock. In contrast, this book was a gentle lull for my palate.

[Jane Wilson-Howarth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite my familiarity with a lot of the concepts, culture and vocabulary I found this novel quite heavy-going. Anand is to be admired as someone who has not shied away from writing about tough issues including caste and inter-religious prejudice (an aunt was ostracized by the family and committed suicide after admitting to sharing a meal with a Muslim woman) and he was one of the first Indian novelists to use Hindi words in his English writing, so I guess I was a bit disappointed by "The Road", especially as this work was published well on into his career - in 1961. His first was "Untouchable" (1935).