Vikram Seth: The Performing Wanderer and Transnational Disintegration

Abstract

In this chapter, my study of the various aspects of Vikram Seth’s transnational form, and the relationship between his travel writing and transnational literature, starts with a focus on the ways in which the author presents himself and his surroundings in the 1983 travelogue From Heaven Lake: Travels through Sinkiang and Tibet. I take as a starting point the above descriptions of this work as ‘engaging’ and ‘enjoyable’, literally attached — in the form of cover copy — to the text: it is the performative, entertaining qualities of Seth’s work that interest me in particular. In a change from my approach at the beginning of my analysis of Ondaatje, I do not necessarily disagree with these criticisms: it is clear that the reading pleasure generated by the literariness of this ‘elegantly written’ travelogue and the engaging self-presentation of the author are central to the text’s critical reception. The same issues as were raised in the previous chapter — the concept of transnational textuality; a concern with the relationship between transnational identity and transnational writing, mediated by a focus on transnational geography; the importance of a consideration of the geopolitical relations between countries — will all recur throughout my analysis in this chapter, but in a different form, as my focus will be on Seth’s travel, his writing, and his identity, all as various species of performance.

If there were a prize for the most engaging and unexpected travel book of the year Vikram Seth should get it. (Keay, 1983)

Enormously enjoyable ... elegantly written. (Radford, 1983)