The Serpent and the Rope
by Raja Rao
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At a glance:
- Author: Raja Rao
- First Published: 1960
- Type of Work: Philosophical romance
- Time of Work: The early 1950’s, ending about one year after the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
- Setting: Aix-en-Provence, Paris, India, and London
- Characters: Rama, Madeleine, Savithrl
- Genres: Long fiction, Philosophical realism, Novel
- Subjects: 1950's, Culture, Self-discovery, Perception, France or French people, Love or romance, Race, Marriage, 1940's, Paris, Truth, India or East Indian people, London, Mysticism, Hindus or Hinduism, Transcendentalism
- Locales: France, Europe, Asia, Paris, France, London, England, India, Aix-en-Provence, France, United Kingdom
The Novel
Every incident or conversation that Rama describes in this semi-autobiographical story is presented as it furthers or hampers his search for “Truth” and self-knowledge—a quest which is the very heart of the book. “I was born a Brahmin,” says Rama, “that is, devoted to Truth and all that.” Rama is a gentle young student, somewhat frail because of tubercular lungs, who has been living in France for some years. Married to a Frenchwoman, Madeleine, Rama plans, after finishing his thesis on the Albigensian heresy, to accept a teaching post in India and then...
(The entire page is 1849 words.)
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