In an antique land

393 pages

English language

Published Jan. 4, 1994 by Vintage Books.

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5 stars (3 reviews)

7 editions

Review of 'In an Antique Land' on Goodreads

5 stars

Well-woven and closely-told personal tales of field anthropology amidst 80s Egyptian Muslim peasants and archival anthropology tracing a 12th century Jewish merchant through the middle east, with constant thoughts on outsiders, progress, pre- and post-colonial experience, religion and family.

Review of 'In an antique land' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Amitav Ghosh is essayist and blogger as well as novelist, and it was the sheer pleasure from some of his essays and blog posts that induced me to take on one of his novels.

Of his work this book appealed to me most, due to half-remembered reviews describing it as a melange of genres, of nationalities, of languages, cultures, professions, and eras. And because Ghosh in "Confessions of a Xenophile" says his time in Egypt was "my equivalent of writing school. While living in [the governorate of] Beheira I maintained a detailed journal, in which I made extensive notes about my conversations with people, and the things I saw around me. Not only did this teach me to observe what I was seeing; it also taught me how to translate raw experience on to the page. It was the best kind of training a novelist could have and it has …

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rated it

4 stars

Subjects

  • Ghosh, Amitav -- Travel -- Egypt
  • Ben Yijû, Abraham, 12th cent
  • Bomma, 12th cent
  • Jewish merchants -- Egypt -- Biography
  • Slaves -- Egypt -- Biography