Explore Robert Fay’s interview with Indian novelist and diplomat Navtej Sarna, who talks about his literary childhood in 1960s India, writing historical fiction, meeting with the renowned Indian novelist Khuswant Singh, and how 20th century English novels of the British Raj are now received in India.

Ambassador Sarna served in the Indian Foreign Service for 38 years, serving as India’s Ambassador to Isreal, India’s Ambassador to the U.S. under the first Trump Administration, and India’s High Commission to the U.K.

He has written 11 books, including novels, short story collections, histories, and translations. His most recent novel is Crimson Spring, which tells the story of the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre during the British Raj.

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During our interview, we referenced the following books:

·       Alexander, Michael, and Sushila Anand. Queen Victoria’s Maharajah: Duleep Singh, 1838–93. 1980.

·       Byron, Robert. The Road to Oxiana. 1937.

·       Campbell, Christie. The Maharaja's Box. 2000.

·       Dalrymple, William. The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company. 2019.

·       Farrell, J. G. The Siege of Krishnapur. 1973.

·       Forster, E. M. A Passage to India. 1924.

·       Hotchner, A. E. Hemingway in Love. 2015.

·       Kerouac, Jack. On the Road. 1957.

·       Kissinger, Henry. White House Years. 1979.

·       Le Carré, John. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. 1963.

·       Masters, John. Bhowani Junction. 1954.

·       Nabokov, Vladimir. Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited. 1966.

·       Sarna, Mohinder Singh (trans. Navtej Sarna). Savage Harvest. 2013.

·       Sarna, Navtej. Crimson Spring. 2022.

·       Sarna, Navtej. The Exile. 2008.

·       Sarna, Navtej. Second Thoughts. 2015.

·       Sarna, Navtej. We Weren't Lovers Like That. 2003.

·       Sarna, Surjit (trans.). Fire on the Mountain (Punjabi translation), by Anita Desai. 1995.

·       Scott, Paul. The Raj Quartet (Omnibus Edition). 1976.

·       Singh, Khushwant. A History of the Sikhs (Vols. 1 & 2). 1963–1966.

·       Singh, Khushwant. Train to Pakistan. 1956.

Explore this interview with Colombian novelist Santiago Gamboa as he talks movingly about his friendship with the Chilean master Roberto Bolaño, his years of exile in Europe, why intellectuals and writers in Latin America are close to political power, and how great novelists handle politics in their work. He also talks about a recent lunch he had with the Chinese Nobel Laureate Mo Yan, who wanted to talk endlessly about Gamboa’s friendship with Bolaño.

The interview is also important because it is one of Gamboa’s first major English-language interviews on YouTube.

Gamboa left Colombia during its darkest days in the 1980s when he was just 19 years old. He went on to live and publish books while living in Spain, France, and Italy. He finally returned to Colombia after 30 years. Gamboa is the author of 11 novels, plus a collection of short stories and a travel memoir. Some of his key novels translated into English include Necropolis, Night Prayers, and Return to the Dark Valley.

Santiago Gamboa’s books are available in English translations from Europa Editions:
https://www.europaeditions.com/author...

During our interview, we referenced the following works of literature:

· Bolaño, Roberto. The Savage Detectives.
· Bolaño, Roberto. 2666.
· Carpentier, Alejo. Explosion in a Cathedral.
· Carpentier, Alejo. The Lost Steps.
· Conrad, Joseph. The Heart of Darkness.
· Conrad, Joseph. Lord Jim.
· Gamboa, Santiago. Colombian Psycho.
· García Márquez, Gabriel. One Hundred Years of Solitude.
· Greene, Graham. The End of the Affair.
· Greene, Graham. The Quiet American.
· Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
· Knausgaard, Karl Ove. My Struggle.
· Mann, Thomas. Doctor Faustus.
· Tolstoy, Leo. War and Peace.
· Vergil. The Aeneid.
· Vargas Llosa, Mario. Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter.
· Zola, Émile. J’Accuse…!

Sign up for the free Literature & Geopolitics newsletter focused on literary taste, current affairs, and history’s curious turns. And to help support my work, do consider making a pledge when you sign up: https://literaturegeopolitics.substac

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Music credit: "Afternoon Tea" by Mona Wonderlick — bit.ly/youtube-monawonderlick
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0

Explore the podcast

Discover why English novelist Anthony Powell deserves to be remembered as one of Britain’s great 20th-century novelists. He wrote the 12-volume masterpiece “A Dance to the Music of Time” that explores the lives of a group of British characters from the 1920s, through World War II, and deep into middle age.

I talk with Harry Mount, who is the great nephew of Anthony Powell, and the editor of The Oldie Magazine. He is also a distinguished writer in his own right, having written 10 non-fiction books, including a popular guide to learning Latin, called “Carpe Diem: Put a Little Latin in Your Life”.

In the interview, we talk about why Powell matters, if he should be considered, “the English Proust,” and whether it is fair to criticize Powell for focusing too much on the upper classes.

In the first episode of the Literature & Geopolitics podcast, Indian Ambassador and poet Abhay K. discusses diplomacy, poetry, Octavio Paz, Buddhist thought, Nalanda University, and why he chose to write about Africa. We also discuss the long and rich writer-diplomat tradition and why so many writers, including Dante, Chaucer, Pablo Neruda, Sergio Pitol, and many others, have been both writers and diplomats.