Aniruddha Bahal’s The Emissary is a rocking chariot ride
Aniruddha Bahal’s The Emissary has grand ambitions. Pretty much as grand as one of the historical figures who appears in the book – Alexander The Great. Bahal, whose earlier effort Bunker 13 (an espionage thriller) found a worldwide audience (and also fetched him the Bad Sex writing award; consequently taken very sportingly in his stride by the author) writes this time on a slice of history in ancient Olympia exploring the universal and timeless theme of love and betrayal. He reasons that “The basic human emotions still remain the same. Adventure, revenge, hate, love, war. We haven’t transcended these categories to a robotic existence yet.”
The Emissary opens in Macedonia in ancient Greece during the time of Alexander the Great. Nicanor, an ace chariot racer, is killed by his own horses in a plot hatched by rival charioteer Argus. That leaves Seluecus (who’s also the narrator of the tale) distraught and in his quest for revenge he gets sucked into the mire that is the world of deceit and politics. The presence of Alexander The Great in the backdrop of the narrative makes it riveting reading. Basically, history suddenly seems intriguing and fun. Bahal tells Business and Economy that the idea was “sparked off (after) a conversation with Sir V S Naipaul who strongly urged me to read a lot of history to refine my fiction.” The conversation and the challenge laid by Sir Vidia “speed tracked” Bahal “towards the process of reading the history of ancient Greece.” He confesses that “the period had an existent charm for me. It was while reading about that period in the works of Thucydides, Arrian and Herodotus that the idea started evolving in my head of setting something in the time of Alexander The Great.” What results is a very good and eminently enjoyable piece of historical fiction, narrated in fairly contemporary language keeping the readability high.
Aniruddha Bahal’s The Emissary has grand ambitions. Pretty much as grand as one of the historical figures who appears in the book – Alexander The Great. Bahal, whose earlier effort Bunker 13 (an espionage thriller) found a worldwide audience (and also fetched him the Bad Sex writing award; consequently taken very sportingly in his stride by the author) writes this time on a slice of history in ancient Olympia exploring the universal and timeless theme of love and betrayal. He reasons that “The basic human emotions still remain the same. Adventure, revenge, hate, love, war. We haven’t transcended these categories to a robotic existence yet.”
The Emissary opens in Macedonia in ancient Greece during the time of Alexander the Great. Nicanor, an ace chariot racer, is killed by his own horses in a plot hatched by rival charioteer Argus. That leaves Seluecus (who’s also the narrator of the tale) distraught and in his quest for revenge he gets sucked into the mire that is the world of deceit and politics. The presence of Alexander The Great in the backdrop of the narrative makes it riveting reading. Basically, history suddenly seems intriguing and fun. Bahal tells Business and Economy that the idea was “sparked off (after) a conversation with Sir V S Naipaul who strongly urged me to read a lot of history to refine my fiction.” The conversation and the challenge laid by Sir Vidia “speed tracked” Bahal “towards the process of reading the history of ancient Greece.” He confesses that “the period had an existent charm for me. It was while reading about that period in the works of Thucydides, Arrian and Herodotus that the idea started evolving in my head of setting something in the time of Alexander The Great.” What results is a very good and eminently enjoyable piece of historical fiction, narrated in fairly contemporary language keeping the readability high.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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