The mystical masseur
The Mystic Masseur ( English : The Mystic Masseur , first published in 1957) is the first novel by the Trinidadian Nobel Prize laureate V. S. Naipaul .
action
In colonial Trinidad in the 1940s, the half-educated Indian-born Ganesh Ramseyor ended his short career as a teacher out of self-conceit and moved to the country with his wife Leela with the aim of becoming a famous writer. Apart from a simple-minded treatise on Hinduism , which he has printed at his own expense, nothing comes of it. After long frustrations, Ganesh decides, on the advice of his friend Beharry, to try his luck as a "masseur" (miracle healer). With some healing success (usually through charlatanry ) and the display of his impressive private library, Ganesh gains popularity and feels encouraged to get into politics. He manages to outdo his rival, the pundit Narayan, and to be elected chairman of an influential Hindu organization. Ganesh's career culminated with his election to the Colony's Legislative Council .
Release history
After reading the manuscript of Naipaul's short story collection Miguel Street , the London publisher André Deutsch encouraged the still unknown author to first publish a short novel. The mystical masseur was published by Deutschs Verlag in 1957. A year after publication, Naipaul was awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for the masseur . The German translation by Karin Graf was published in 1984 by Kiepenheuer und Witsch .
The novel was filmed in 2001 by Ismail Merchant .
expenditure
- The Mystic Masseur . André Deutsch, London 1957. (first edition)
- The mystical masseur . Translated from English by Karin Graf . Kiepenheuer and Witsch, Cologne 1984, ISBN 9783462016567 .
Individual evidence
- ^ French, Patrick (2008): The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of VS Naipaul . New York: Alfred Knopf, ISBN 978-0-307-27035-1
- ↑ The Mystic Masseur in the Internet Movie Database