LEADER 00000pam  2200349 a 4500 
001    ocn694829927 
003    OCoLC 
005    20141231184043.0 
008    110728s2011    maua   e      000 1 eng   
010    2011028560 
020    9780547577456 
020    0547577451 
035    (OCoLC)694829927 
040    DLC|cDLC|dNjBwBT|dUtOrBLW|erda 
042    pcc 
043    a-ii--- 
082 00 823/.914|223 
092    |fF|aDESAI 
100 1  Desai, Anita,|d1937- 
245 14 The artist of disappearance :|bthree novellas /|cAnita 
       Desai. 
250    First U.S. edition. 
264  1 Boston :|bHoughton Mifflin Harcourt,|c2011. 
300    156 pages :|billustrations ;|c22 cm 
336    text|btxt|2rdacontent 
337    unmediated|bn|2rdamedia 
338    volume|bnc|2rdacarrier 
505 00 |tThe museum of final journeys -- |tTranslator translated 
       -- |tThe artist of disappearance. 
520    "Written late in Anita Desai's illustrious career, these 
       three novellas ruminate on art and memory, illusion and 
       disillusion, and the sharp divide between life's 
       expectations and dreams and its realities. Set in India in
       the not too distant past, the stories' diverse 
       surroundings and dramas frame universal themes, which 
       illuminate the ways in which various aspects of the Indian
       culture can nourish or suffocate. All are served up with 
       Desai's characteristic perspicuity, subtle humor and quiet,
       sensitive writing. Overwhelmed by their own lack of 
       purpose, the men and women who populate these tales set 
       out on unexpected journeys that present them with a fresh 
       sense hope and opportunity. In "The Museum of Final 
       Journeys," a bored and officious junior civil servant 
       imagines he's about to discover a museum filled with 
       priceless treasures; in "Translation," a middle-aged woman
       has the chance to translate an unknown writer and in the 
       process, impress the woman she most admires; in "The 
       Artist of Disappearance," a documentary film crew, looking
       to expose the ecological havoc of illegal mining and 
       logging, stumbles upon an artistic creation of unspeakable
       beauty, hidden from the world by its creator, a local 
       recluse. But these are not heroic characters, and when 
       confronted with defining moments, they struggle against 
       their circumstances, their passivity and the 
       disappointments of their daily lives, like so many flies 
       in a spider's web. An impeccable craftsman, Desai remains 
       evenhanded, elegantly setting the stage for all attendant 
       human frailties to play out." --|cProvided by publisher. 
651  0 India|vFiction. 
655  0 Short stories.