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Mapping
Mapping by Jeremy Crampton. Blackwell Pub,2009
Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1980
7 people are currently reading
292 people want to read
About the author
Vikram Seth
60 books1,699 followersVikram Seth is an Indian poet, novelist, travel writer, librettist, children's writer, biographer and memoirist.
During the course of his doctorate studies at Stanford, he did his field work in China and translated Hindi and Chinese poetry into English. He returned to Delhi via Xinjiang and Tibet which led to a travel narrative From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet (1983) which won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award.
The Golden Gate: A Novel in Verse (1986) was his first novel describing the experiences of a group of friends who live in California. A Suitable Boy (1993), an epic of Indian life set in the 1950s, got him the WH Smith Literary Award and the Commonwealth Writers Prize.
His poetry includes The Humble Administrator's Garden (1985) and All You Who Sleep Tonight (1990). His Beastly Tales from Here and There (1992) is children's book consisting of ten stories in verse about animals.
In 2005, he published Two Lives, a family memoir written at the suggestion of his mother, which focuses on the lives of his great-uncle (Shanti Behari Seth) and German-Jewish great aunt (Henny Caro) who met in Berlin in the early 1930s while Shanti was a student there and with whom Seth stayed extensively on going to England at age 17 for school. As with From Heaven Lake, Two Lives contains much autobiography.
An unusually forthcoming writer whose published material is replete with un- or thinly-disguised details as to the personal lives of himself and his intimates related in a highly engaging narrative voice, Seth has said that he is somewhat perplexed that his readers often in consequence presume to an unwelcome degree of personal familiarity with him.
During the course of his doctorate studies at Stanford, he did his field work in China and translated Hindi and Chinese poetry into English. He returned to Delhi via Xinjiang and Tibet which led to a travel narrative From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet (1983) which won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award.
The Golden Gate: A Novel in Verse (1986) was his first novel describing the experiences of a group of friends who live in California. A Suitable Boy (1993), an epic of Indian life set in the 1950s, got him the WH Smith Literary Award and the Commonwealth Writers Prize.
His poetry includes The Humble Administrator's Garden (1985) and All You Who Sleep Tonight (1990). His Beastly Tales from Here and There (1992) is children's book consisting of ten stories in verse about animals.
In 2005, he published Two Lives, a family memoir written at the suggestion of his mother, which focuses on the lives of his great-uncle (Shanti Behari Seth) and German-Jewish great aunt (Henny Caro) who met in Berlin in the early 1930s while Shanti was a student there and with whom Seth stayed extensively on going to England at age 17 for school. As with From Heaven Lake, Two Lives contains much autobiography.
An unusually forthcoming writer whose published material is replete with un- or thinly-disguised details as to the personal lives of himself and his intimates related in a highly engaging narrative voice, Seth has said that he is somewhat perplexed that his readers often in consequence presume to an unwelcome degree of personal familiarity with him.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
February 20, 2015
Dear Mr Seth,
How shall I review
This set of poems written by you?
While some of them talk of the ways,
You took (and so did I!) in the Oxford days,
There are others that talk of how you felt,
When you saw how people in Indian slums dwelt
With an empty stomach filled with empty hopes,
With their lives tied down by Poverty's ropes.
You talk of life in India after Inglistan
Of mangoes, marigolds, Panipat and paan,
Of experiences I eventually shared,
The feeling on staying away from all those who really cared!
And then there were some that talked of
Falling deeply, and irrevocably in love,
Sometimes with a person, at times with a place,
And at other times being caught somewhere between Straights and Gays,
Mr dear Mr Seth, please do allow me,
To tell you that it isn't your orientation but your poetry,
You words that carry such enormous weight
Truly define you as both Stray and Great!
Stray because your poems show how far you've travelled,
How many places you've been to, how many mysteries you've unravelled
Through the things you've seen, the people you've met.
You've written about the sights you have seen and things you have said.
Yes, these stray wanderings, unmapped or mapped,
Have created so many poems that have trapped
Me on and off and on again
While sunshine, thunder, wind and rain
Lit my windows and darkened them
While people around me muttered, "Ahem!
Don't you have work to do, missy?
Why does that little book keep you so busy,
When you're moving out and we need a hand
To safely transport your stuff across the land?"
And despite their chidings, I sat coiled like a cat
Oblivious to the bare walls of my empty new flat,
With your book in my hand, my dear Mr Seth,
Reading the words of a man who is truly Great!
How shall I review
This set of poems written by you?
While some of them talk of the ways,
You took (and so did I!) in the Oxford days,
There are others that talk of how you felt,
When you saw how people in Indian slums dwelt
With an empty stomach filled with empty hopes,
With their lives tied down by Poverty's ropes.
You talk of life in India after Inglistan
Of mangoes, marigolds, Panipat and paan,
Of experiences I eventually shared,
The feeling on staying away from all those who really cared!
And then there were some that talked of
Falling deeply, and irrevocably in love,
Sometimes with a person, at times with a place,
And at other times being caught somewhere between Straights and Gays,
Mr dear Mr Seth, please do allow me,
To tell you that it isn't your orientation but your poetry,
You words that carry such enormous weight
Truly define you as both Stray and Great!
Stray because your poems show how far you've travelled,
How many places you've been to, how many mysteries you've unravelled
Through the things you've seen, the people you've met.
You've written about the sights you have seen and things you have said.
Yes, these stray wanderings, unmapped or mapped,
Have created so many poems that have trapped
Me on and off and on again
While sunshine, thunder, wind and rain
Lit my windows and darkened them
While people around me muttered, "Ahem!
Don't you have work to do, missy?
Why does that little book keep you so busy,
When you're moving out and we need a hand
To safely transport your stuff across the land?"
And despite their chidings, I sat coiled like a cat
Oblivious to the bare walls of my empty new flat,
With your book in my hand, my dear Mr Seth,
Reading the words of a man who is truly Great!
March 6, 2015
Vikram Seth wrote this as a 20-something, and the yet-developing nature of views is clear from his work. He hadn't yet undertaken his more phenomenal works, or his travel and extensive learning in other languages.
There is a certain rawness about the poems in this collection. The author's mixed feelings about a lot of issues surface - being away from home, of love, of poverty, of sexuality.
There is also a certain jagged edge felt to his rhyme scheme and poem composition, which is lacking in later, wiser and more polished works.
If you would like an insight into what made the author what he is today, you ought to read these.
The poems are also an important artifact because they belong to a different time altogether.
A word of caution: might induce rushes of nostalgia.
There is a certain rawness about the poems in this collection. The author's mixed feelings about a lot of issues surface - being away from home, of love, of poverty, of sexuality.
There is also a certain jagged edge felt to his rhyme scheme and poem composition, which is lacking in later, wiser and more polished works.
If you would like an insight into what made the author what he is today, you ought to read these.
The poems are also an important artifact because they belong to a different time altogether.
A word of caution: might induce rushes of nostalgia.
June 19, 2023
Mappings - Vikram Seth
Rating 3.5/5
My review is going to be short and precise. This poetry book is probably one of the earliest books published by Vikram Seth. Once again, I chose to read this book because it was less than 100 pages to complete, hoping for a quick finish!
The themes of the poem include dealing with pain, homecoming, longing for home, love, being in love. Few poems dealt with the contemporary world which we live in. There are few translations too!
I have to admit, I did like a few poems, not all, but a few. Rest few just went over head. I could not understand them. I did not know that Seth shared a 'not so smooth' relationship with his father during his teenage and early adult years.
Few of the poems I could not understand or relate to. I believe, in order to understand and appreciate the poetry, one needs adequate time and patience alongside good command of English vocab.
To re-create every other emotion the author goes through while framing sentences needs equally good amount of 'undisturbed and undivided' time. I with whatever resources and time I had on my hand - may be - could do only mediocre justice to the book. That doesn't imply that I am not going to read any more poetry books. I shall, may be a little slowly too!
Hence the rating of 3.5 is owing to my own ability!
Cheers,
Rating 3.5/5
My review is going to be short and precise. This poetry book is probably one of the earliest books published by Vikram Seth. Once again, I chose to read this book because it was less than 100 pages to complete, hoping for a quick finish!
The themes of the poem include dealing with pain, homecoming, longing for home, love, being in love. Few poems dealt with the contemporary world which we live in. There are few translations too!
I have to admit, I did like a few poems, not all, but a few. Rest few just went over head. I could not understand them. I did not know that Seth shared a 'not so smooth' relationship with his father during his teenage and early adult years.
Few of the poems I could not understand or relate to. I believe, in order to understand and appreciate the poetry, one needs adequate time and patience alongside good command of English vocab.
To re-create every other emotion the author goes through while framing sentences needs equally good amount of 'undisturbed and undivided' time. I with whatever resources and time I had on my hand - may be - could do only mediocre justice to the book. That doesn't imply that I am not going to read any more poetry books. I shall, may be a little slowly too!
Hence the rating of 3.5 is owing to my own ability!
Cheers,
Read
August 28, 2023shows some really simple yet super expressive and hard-hitting sentiment, yet falters w unnecessary and tired structure choices at others. beautiful nature imagery, loved the descriptions and drawing out of moments. will definitely revisit many of these poems sometime.
January 8, 2010
A very comforting book if you wanna be a Poet. All of these different styles tried out, structure overpowering theme sometimes, etc. And this collection has some really delightful poems, the one composed of different poets' lines on the sea is pure joy. Some poems are banal [ the truly AWFUL 'Rakhi for my sister Aradhana' must be read to be believed :].
October 18, 2016
A Seth book never disappoints. One of the best poetry collections ever.
January 24, 2022
Seth's rhyming poems are hit and miss. At this point, reading rhyming poetry feels anachronistic... Especially when that poetry was written post-1970. That said, I was able to overcome my bias and enjoy a few of Seth's rhyming poems...
Not surprisingly, my favourite poems are those with little or no rhyming...
I especially like Seth's translations, included in this volume. Here is a translation of a poem by Faize Ahmed Faize...
Here is a translation of a poem by Heinrich Heine...
I had forgotten the time
Of year. Your rakhi came
Showing how things have changed
And are the same.
It was a contract of trust
With more than you. I know
I left my home too many
Year ago.
I place the golden thread
Across my wrist; that done
Struggle with my left hand
To tie it on.
You should have done that; I
Too have lost half the rite.
I promise you your gift
In '78.
Those future numerals
Look curious; and your brother
Too will be strange when next
We meet each other.
How we must both have changed
Only the custom stays,
Educing from the past
The undying days.
- Rakhi, for Aradhana
Wake up! The smudge of dawn
Low on the hills has shot
The bay with light. Don't miss
These minutes. This is not
Pure altruism, though.
I grant I want to see
Your face against the dawn.
Wake up, therefore, for me.
- Aubade
Yes, yes, thank you, thank you, yes, it has been
A very pleasant forty . . . fifty years.
Quite so, sir; how time does fly. I have seen
So many changes that the world appears
Peculiar now. But this place, not much change.
Well, yes, sir, that's correct, the lighting's new.
And now we're particular about checking; strange,
Recently, though, we have lost quite a few.
Marx? . . . Marx? . . . well, there was someone of that name;
Old gentleman he was. Sat at 10A,
Writing, writing, writing, always the same,
And foreign languages too, day after day,
Year after year. One say he left, and since then
No-one has ever heard of him again.
- Party for the Retirement of the Oldest-Serving British Museum Reading Room Book Attendant
Not surprisingly, my favourite poems are those with little or no rhyming...
Cold cold friend, Frost -
Night comes, and I
Am dispossessed.
Most cold, cold,
Is this night;
And my youth old,
My spirit lost.
I cannot rest.
I walk alone.
Frost, burn upon
My every bone.
- A Winter Word
I especially like Seth's translations, included in this volume. Here is a translation of a poem by Faize Ahmed Faize...
Last night your faded memory came to me
As in the wilderness spring comes quietly,
As, slowly, in the desert, moves the breeze,
As, to a sick man, without cause, comes peace.
- Last Night
Here is a translation of a poem by Heinrich Heine...
How similar they are, these two
Beautiful young figures, though one is far
Paler, sterner than the other; one might
Almost say, far more distinguished than him
Who held me in his arms - how gentle was
His smile, how blessed his gaze. It might have been
The poppies wreathing his brow touched my brow too
And strangely fragrant drove all pain from my soul.
But such reprieve is brief. I will be cured
Only when he, the other brother, so
Serious and pale, lowers his torch. Sleep
Is good, Death better; of course the best would be
ever to have been born.
- Sleep and Death
October 8, 2017
Progress Report
My need has frayed with time; you said it would.
It has; I can walk across the flood
Of gold silk popples on the straw-gold hills
Under a deep Californian sky that expels
All truant clouds; watch squads of cattle graze
By the radio-telescope; blue-battered jays
Flash raucous squawking by my swivelling head
While squirrels sine-wave past over the dead
Oak-leaves, and not miss you- although I may
Admit that near the telescope yesterday
By a small bush-covered gully I blundered on
Five golden fox-cubs playing in the sun
And wished you had been there to see them play;
But that I only mention by the way.
I love these poems!
My need has frayed with time; you said it would.
It has; I can walk across the flood
Of gold silk popples on the straw-gold hills
Under a deep Californian sky that expels
All truant clouds; watch squads of cattle graze
By the radio-telescope; blue-battered jays
Flash raucous squawking by my swivelling head
While squirrels sine-wave past over the dead
Oak-leaves, and not miss you- although I may
Admit that near the telescope yesterday
By a small bush-covered gully I blundered on
Five golden fox-cubs playing in the sun
And wished you had been there to see them play;
But that I only mention by the way.
I love these poems!
August 21, 2024
Seth’s use of metre and rhyme really adds to the humorous effect of some of these poems. This is some of his earlier work so it’s not as good as his other stuff though. I also would have enjoyed the experience of reading this more if the poems were grouped together thematically.
April 10, 2025
Early poems from the author of my favorite book. They're poems, so if you like poems, there you go.
Biggest revelation for me is the reveal of Seth's sexuality, because I can't remember hearing about it/knowing it until much later, so to find it was out there in the eighties was a fun surprise.
Biggest revelation for me is the reveal of Seth's sexuality, because I can't remember hearing about it/knowing it until much later, so to find it was out there in the eighties was a fun surprise.
October 28, 2019
Seth is a good writer — expressive, of course — and considering the fact that this was where he began, Mappings also deserves real applause.
July 3, 2020
A slim volume of Seth's early poetry.
January 14, 2022
Rating: 3.5
February 1, 2022
This collection of poetry includes the writer who wrote in his 20s. Some of the translations of other poets' works are included from different languages.
February 20, 2013
completely unappealing
May 28, 2016
Each poem is so original. Delightful read.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews