The Buddha from the suburbs

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The Buddha from the suburbs (Original: The Buddha of Suburbia ) is an educational novel by the British writer Hanif Kureishi . It was first published in 1990 ( ISBN 978-0-571-14274-3 ). The book won the Whitbread Book Award for Best First Novel . It has been translated into over 20 languages.

Content and topics

The suburban Buddha is very autobiographical . It's about Karim Amir, a 17-year-old half-Indian-half-Englishman. Because of his origins, he finds it difficult to find his identity and therefore has new experiences in London in the 1970s.

His story, how he got to know the city and had cultural as well as heterosexual and homosexual experiences, is portrayed like an odyssey .

Pop music plays a significant role in the novel. In the book, Karim also speaks of a sound that London has.

Class differences in England are also an important issue. Karim meets a Welshman who is a supporter of Trotskyism and tries to persuade Karim to join the party. At the same time, Karim is dating Eleanor, who belongs to the upper middle class. Karim learns from the fact that people speak differently because of their different educational backgrounds.

The novel also portrays the emerging conservatism that anticipates Thatcherism . A time when foreigners in the UK were often treated as intruders and marginalized.

Mini series

In 1993, the BBC converted the novel into a mini-series for television by director Roger Michell . The role of Karim Amir is played by Naveen Andrews .

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for the mini-series The Buddha of Suburbia is from David Bowie . With the exception of the theme song The Buddha of Suburbia , the songs on the released album differ from those played in the series.

The song reached number 35 on the UK singles chart .

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  1. ↑ Simon Robb: The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi. In: The Guardian . October 4, 2009, accessed July 22, 2011 .
  2. ^ David Bowie : The Buddha of Suburbia Liner Notes. (No longer available online.) January 15, 1993, archived from the original on January 22, 2016 ; accessed on July 22, 2011 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.algonet.se
  3. ↑ The Buddha of Suburbia in the UK charts (Official Charts Company)

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