A Tale with Seven Answers

by G P Pradhan

A Tale with Seven Answers can be read on various planes – as a political novel, as a psychological study of Characters with different ideological moorings, as a sociological analysis of public life in India and more interestingly as an autobiographical novel. First published in Marathi in 1981, it depicts primarily the course of life of seven friends who represent seven different discourses in the Nationalist freedom movement in India and post independence developments. Employing the methods of deconstruction, as it were, the novel not only unfolds the dilemmas, contradictions, dialogue, stories of love.Longing, friendships and personal character of the lead players through an omnipresent narrator as well through exchange of letters, entries in diaries etc., it also details out the variety of choices and trajectories discussed, weighed and chosen during the freedom movement and after independence. An instructive and delightful read and an important contribution to the growing body of Indian fiction in English translation, the novel is a rare offering from one of the eminent political leaders of contemporary times.

471 pages, Paperback

Published August 5, 2015