Raj

by Gita Mehta

Rudyard Kipling, E. M. Forster, John Masters, Paul Scott... É infindável a lista de autores famosos que se debruçaram sobre a vida na Índia dominada pelo império britânico. Mas a visão de todos eles é inevitavelmente britânica e quase sempre reflete os preconceitos do imperialismo. Raj nos traz como heroína não uma inglesa perdida entre as paixões ameaçadoras do subcontinente, mas uma princesa indiana que se depara com as violentas mudanças que sacudiram o país na primeira metade do século XX. Filha de marajá, criada no estrito regime de reclusão feminina da purdah , Jaya Singh, lançada num casamento de conveniência, é forçada a enfrentar as profundas contradições culturais entre as milenares tradições indianas e o Ocidente moderno. Comovente e preciso painel pintado de dentro, do lado indiano da questão, Raj é fruto de rigorosa e ampla pesquisa, mas vai além do romance histórico. Sempre surpreendente, é um mergulho no choque de culturas, na arrogância ocidental que conduz ao preconceito e à violência característicos do imperialismo, que ainda hoje continua fazendo vítimas.

502 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2008

About the author

Gita Mehta (born in 1943) is an Indian writer and was born in Delhi in a well-known Odia family. She is the daughter of Biju Patnaik, an Indian independence activist and a Chief Minister in post-independence Odisha, then known as Orissa. Her younger brother Naveen Patnaik has been the Chief Minister of Odisha since 2000. She completed her education in India and at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.

She has produced and/or directed 14 television documentaries for UK, European and US networks. During the years 1970-1971 she was a television war correspondent for the US television network NBC. Her film compilation of the Bangladesh revolution, Dateline Bangladesh, was shown in cinema theatres both in India and abroad.

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Her books have been translated into 21 languages and been on the bestseller lists in Europe, the US and India. The subject of both her fiction and non-fiction is exclusively focused on India: its culture and history, and the Western perception of it. Her works reflect the insight gained through her journalistic and political background.

Gita Mehta divides her time between New York, London and New Delhi.

(from Wikipedia)