{"id":6323,"date":"2001-06-01T11:31:46","date_gmt":"2001-06-01T15:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bookdragon.si.edu\/?p=6323"},"modified":"2015-08-17T10:38:52","modified_gmt":"2015-08-17T14:38:52","slug":"the-glass-palace-by-amitav-ghosh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/the-glass-palace-by-amitav-ghosh\/","title":{"rendered":"The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh [in aMagazine: Inside Asian America]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Glass<\/a>A startlingly complex novel, The Glass Palace<\/em> opens with a literal bang, as British cannons thunder over the noise of a busy Burmese marketplace in 1885. A historical work that sweeps over a century through Burma, Mandalay, and India, Palace <\/em>introduces Rajkumar, an 11-year-old orphan presciently named “Prince” by his dead mother.\u00a0As the British storm Burma, overtaking the famed Glass Palace, home of the final Burmese king, Rajkumar has a chance encounter with Dolly, a 10-year-old royal servant. Years later, as a man made wealthy by the Burmese teak trade, Rajkumar seeks and marries Dolly.<\/p>\n

While the first part of the novel reads like a major epic \u2013\u00a0you can just imagine the violin scores and the hero riding off in the sunset! \u2013\u00a0the second half turns intellectual and overtly political, almost didactic with characters like Arjun, an officer in the British Army, the product of the mighty British Empire cloning themselves in Indians who are only Indian in color and name. Arjun is in sharp contrast to his fellow officer Hardy, who, in spite of his ironic nickname, is the less polished, the less Anglicized, even defective version of the Imperial clone. But then it’s Hardy who’s ready to desert the Empire and free India from British rule.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, when Ghosh was recently named the Eurasia regional winner for the 2001 Commonwealth Writers Prize, he asked that his name be withdrawn, due to objections he had about the classification of books like his under the term “Commonwealth Literature,” explaining, “[I]t is completely unlike any other literary term (would it not surprise us, for instance, if that familiar category ‘English literature’ were to be renamed ‘the literature of the Norman Conquest’?).” He’s got quite the point there, not to mention a matching sense of humor to go with!<\/p>\n

Review<\/strong>: “Bolo! Bolo! Tell Me! South Asian writers move into the literary spotlight,” a<\/strong>Magazine: Inside Asian America<\/em>, June\/July 2001<\/a><\/p>\n

Readers<\/strong>: Adult<\/p>\n

Published<\/strong>: 2001<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"GlassA startlingly complex novel, The Glass Palace<\/em> opens with a literal bang, as British cannons thunder over the noise of a busy Burmese marketplace in 1885. A historical work that sweeps over a century through Burma, Mandalay, and India, Palace <\/em>introduces Rajkumar, an 11-year-old orphan presciently named “Prince” by his dead mother. As the British storm Burma, overtaking the famed Glass Palace, home of the final Burmese king, Rajkumar has a chance encounter with Dolly, a 10-year-old royal servant. Years later, as a man made wealthy by the Burmese teak trade, Rajkumar seeks and marries Dolly.<\/p>\n

While the first part of the novel reads like a major epic \u2013 you can just imagine the violin scores and the hero riding off in the sunset! \u2013 the second half turns intellectual and overtly political, almost didactic with characters like Arjun, an officer in the British Army, the product of the mighty British Empire cloning themselves in Indians who are only Indian in color and name. Arjun is in sharp contrast to his fellow officer Hardy, who, in spite of his ironic nickname, is the less polished, the less Anglicized, even defective version of the Imperial clone. But then it’s Hardy who’s ready to desert the Empire and free India from British rule.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, when Ghosh was recently named the Eurasia regional winner for the 2001 Commonwealth Writers Prize, he asked that his name be withdrawn, due to objections he had about the classification of books like his under the term “Commonwealth Literature,” explaining, “[I]t is completely unlike any other literary term (would it not surprise us, for instance, if that familiar category ‘English literature’ were to be renamed ‘the literature of the Norman Conquest’?).” He’s got quite the point there, not to mention a matching sense of humor to go with! <\/p>\n

Review<\/strong>: “Bolo! Bolo! Tell Me! South Asian writers move into the literary spotlight,” a<\/strong>Magazine: Inside Asian America<\/em>, June\/July 2001<\/a><\/p>\n

Readers<\/strong>: Adult<\/p>\n

Published<\/strong>: 2001<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,52,53,726,6535,17,18,136],"tags":[4822,1210,83,6608,22,341,11,4891,68,51,13,28,29,45],"class_list":["post-6323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adult-readers","category-fiction","category-indian","category-indian-american","category-myanmarese-burmese","category-repost","category-south-asian","category-south-asian-american","category-southeast-asian","tag-amagazine-inside-asian-america","tag-amitav-ghosh","tag-assimilation","tag-bookdragon","tag-civil-rights","tag-colonialism","tag-friendship","tag-glass-palace","tag-haves-vs-have-nots","tag-identity","tag-love","tag-politics","tag-race-racism","tag-war"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh [in aMagazine: Inside Asian America] - BookDragon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/the-glass-palace-by-amitav-ghosh\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh [in aMagazine: Inside Asian America] - BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A startlingly complex novel, The Glass Palace opens with a literal bang, as British cannons thunder over the noise of a busy Burmese marketplace in 1885. A historical work that sweeps over a century through Burma, Mandalay, and India, Palace introduces Rajkumar, an 11-year-old orphan presciently named "Prince" by his dead mother. As the British storm Burma, overtaking the famed Glass Palace, home of the final Burmese king, Rajkumar has a chance encounter with Dolly, a 10-year-old royal servant. Years later, as a man made wealthy by the Burmese teak trade, Rajkumar seeks and marries Dolly. While the first part of the novel reads like a major epic \u2013 you can just imagine the violin scores and the hero riding off in the sunset! \u2013 the second half turns intellectual and overtly political, almost didactic with characters like Arjun, an officer in the British Army, the product of the mighty British Empire cloning themselves in Indians who are only Indian in color and name. Arjun is in sharp contrast to his fellow officer Hardy, who, in spite of his ironic nickname, is the less polished, the less Anglicized, even defective version of the Imperial clone. But then it's Hardy who's ready to desert the Empire and free India from British rule. Not surprisingly, when Ghosh was recently named the Eurasia regional winner for the 2001 Commonwealth Writers Prize, he asked that his name be withdrawn, due to objections he had about the classification of books like his under the term "Commonwealth Literature," explaining, "[I]t is completely unlike any other literary term (would it not surprise us, for instance, if that familiar category 'English literature' were to be renamed 'the literature of the Norman Conquest'?)." He's got quite the point there, not to mention a matching sense of humor to go with! Review: "Bolo! Bolo! Tell Me! South Asian writers move into the literary spotlight," aMagazine: Inside Asian America, June\/July 2001 Readers: Adult Published: 2001\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/the-glass-palace-by-amitav-ghosh\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2001-06-01T15:31:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-08-17T14:38:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2001\/06\/Glass-Palace.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"951\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1416\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SmithsonianAPA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh [in aMagazine: Inside Asian America] - BookDragon","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/the-glass-palace-by-amitav-ghosh\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh [in aMagazine: Inside Asian America] - BookDragon","og_description":"A startlingly complex novel, The Glass Palace opens with a literal bang, as British cannons thunder over the noise of a busy Burmese marketplace in 1885. A historical work that sweeps over a century through Burma, Mandalay, and India, Palace introduces Rajkumar, an 11-year-old orphan presciently named \"Prince\" by his dead mother. As the British storm Burma, overtaking the famed Glass Palace, home of the final Burmese king, Rajkumar has a chance encounter with Dolly, a 10-year-old royal servant. Years later, as a man made wealthy by the Burmese teak trade, Rajkumar seeks and marries Dolly. While the first part of the novel reads like a major epic \u2013 you can just imagine the violin scores and the hero riding off in the sunset! \u2013 the second half turns intellectual and overtly political, almost didactic with characters like Arjun, an officer in the British Army, the product of the mighty British Empire cloning themselves in Indians who are only Indian in color and name. 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South Asian writers move into the literary spotlight,\" aMagazine: Inside Asian America, June\/July 2001 Readers: Adult Published: 2001","og_url":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/the-glass-palace-by-amitav-ghosh\/","og_site_name":"BookDragon","article_published_time":"2001-06-01T15:31:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-08-17T14:38:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":951,"height":1416,"url":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2001\/06\/Glass-Palace.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@SmithsonianAPA","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/the-glass-palace-by-amitav-ghosh\/","url":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/the-glass-palace-by-amitav-ghosh\/","name":"The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh [in aMagazine: Inside Asian America] - BookDragon","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/#website"},"datePublished":"2001-06-01T15:31:46+00:00","dateModified":"2015-08-17T14:38:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/#\/schema\/person\/a00f6dcfcb279c75f3f992ad2919d51d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/the-glass-palace-by-amitav-ghosh\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/the-glass-palace-by-amitav-ghosh\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/the-glass-palace-by-amitav-ghosh\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh [in aMagazine: Inside Asian America]"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/#website","url":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/","name":"BookDragon","description":"Books for the Diverse Reader","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/#\/schema\/person\/a00f6dcfcb279c75f3f992ad2919d51d","name":"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/79b5f08575e8962bd00388cd126d374b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/79b5f08575e8962bd00388cd126d374b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/@SmithsonianAPA"],"url":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/author\/riemert\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6323"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6323"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38946,"href":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6323\/revisions\/38946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}