Author: Arundhati Roy
Several Contributors/
Contributor(s)/Artis: S Anand/Anthony Arnove/David Barsamian et al
Publisher: Penguin/Viking
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: 271
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9780670082070
Description
The Shape of the Beast is our world laid bare, with great courage, passion and eloquence, by a mind that has engaged unhesitatingly with its changing realities, often anticipating the way things have moved in the last decade.
In the fourteen interviews collected here, conducted between January 2001 and March 2008, Arundhati Roy examines the nature of state and corporate power as it has emerged during this period, and the shape that resistance movements are taking. As she speaks, among other things, about people displaced by dams and industry, the genocide in Gujarat, Maoist rebels, the war in Kashmir and the global War on Terror, she raises fundamental questions about democracy, justice and non-violent protest.
Unabashedly political, this is also a deeply personal collection. Through the conversations, Arundhati talks about the necessity of taking a stand, as also the dilemma of guarding the private space necessary for writing in a world that demands urgent, unequivocal intervention. And in the final interview, she discusses with rare candour her ambiguous feelings about success and both the pressures and the freedom that come with it.
AN EXCERPT FROM AUTHOR'S STATEMENT:
What does a writer do?
A writer hones his or her language, makes it as clear and private and individual as possible. And then you look around and see what’s happening to millions of people. You find yourself in the heart of the crowd, saying things that millions of people are saying and it’s not private and individual any more. How do you hold those two things down? These are very fundamental questions. This is why so many writers are frightened of political engagement. They feel it is a risk, and it is a risk, and yet I would rather do it than not.
Contents
SCIMITARS IN THE SUN
SCIMITARS IN THE SUN
In conversation with N. Ram
THE CHEQUEBOOK AND THE CRUISE MISSILE
THE COLONIZATION OF KNOWLDGE
In conversation with David Barsamian
TERROR AND MADDENED KING
In conversation with David Barsamian
DEVELOPMENT NATIONALISM
In conversation with David Barsamian
GLOBALIZATION OF DISSENT
In conversation with David Barsamian
SEIZE THE TIME!
In conversation with David Barsamian
THE SHAPE OF THE BEAST
THE OUTLINE OF THE BEAST
In conversation with Anthony Arnove
THE WAR THAT NEVER ENDS
In conversation with Anthony Arnove
INDEPENDENCE DAY SPECIAL
In conversation with S. Anand
THE QUESTION OF VIOLENCE
In conversation with Amit Sengupta
I HOPE KASHMIR WILL IN ALL THE BOOKS I WRITE…
In conversation with P.G. Rasool
THERE’S A FURY BUILDING UP…
In conversation with Shoma Chaudhury
CHOOSING OUR WEAPONS
In conversation with Shoma Chaudhury
TEN YEARS ON…
In conversation with Shoma Chaudhury
NOTES
NOTES ON THE INTERVIEWERS
INDEX