The Setting Sun
A Memoir of Empire and Family Secrets
Published on 13. May 2014
288 pages
978-1-78168-646-1 (ISBN)
Description
When a letter from an Indian historian arrives out of the blue and informs leading academic Bart Moore-Gilbert that his beloved deceased father, a member of the Indian Police before Independence, took part in the abuse of civilians, his world is shaken as cherished childhood memories are challenged. He sets out in search of the truth-discovering much about the end of empire, the state of India today, and whether his father, as one of the many characters on his quest claims, really was a terrorist.
Crisscrossing western India, and following leads from bustling Mumbai to remote rural locations, Moore-Gilbert pieces together the truth, discovering that the story of his father's life links today's politics with the past's, colonial India with its modern incarnation, terrorism across the ages, and father with son. The Setting Sun is at once an extraordinary meditative voyage across India, a story of the dying days of an empire, and a gripping family history.
Crisscrossing western India, and following leads from bustling Mumbai to remote rural locations, Moore-Gilbert pieces together the truth, discovering that the story of his father's life links today's politics with the past's, colonial India with its modern incarnation, terrorism across the ages, and father with son. The Setting Sun is at once an extraordinary meditative voyage across India, a story of the dying days of an empire, and a gripping family history.
More details
Edition
Ebook UK & RoW
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Reflowable
ISBN-13
978-1-78168-646-1 (9781781686461)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
05/2014
Verso Books
€25.50
Article not available at the moment
Person
Bart Moore-Gilbert was born in Tanzania and studied in Britain. He is currently a Professor of Postcolonial studies at Goldsmith's College, London, and the author of, among others, Postcolonial Theory and Hanif Kureishi.
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Map
- Prologue
- 1. The Father I Did Not Know
- 2. Picking Up the Trail
- 3. Memory and Doubt
- 4. Glimpses of Bill
- 5. My Father's Friend?
- 6. Bill or 'Bill'
- 7. The Pendulum Shifts
- 8. The Ghosts of Satara
- 9. Against the Tide
- 10. A History Play
- 11. Terrorism, Old and New
- 12. Respect Between Enemies
- 13. Like Father, Like Son
- 14. An Act of Restitution
- 15. Two Farewells
