At first sight

(1992) appears to be both generically and thematically different from Ghosh's two preceding works, the novels

and

. An apparently factual “history in the guise of a traveller's tale” (the sub-title of one of the editions of the text), it moves between two narratives. The more extensive is ostensibly a travel-book, in which a Ghosh persona, engaged in anthropological research in Egypt, describes his experiences living in a fellaheen village. In the shorter narrative, a version of which has also been published in

as “The Slave of MS. H. 6”, the persona pursues the fugitive traces of the “slave” of a twelfth-century Jewish merchant – in Egypt, the Malabar coast of India, the U.K. and…

1372 words

Citation: Thieme, John. "In an Antique Land". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 March 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4512, accessed 18 December 2024.]