The Siege of Krishnapur (Empire Trilogy)

First of all, put aside all preconceived notions, based on the title, as to what this book is about. That would give you such a narrow view. I am hardly the type to seek out military-type novels; I simply refuse to think of wars as glorious. There are battles and fighting in this book, but they are not a major part of it, and they are not glorious, and much more realistic than otherwise expected. This is a beautifully written and vastly entertaining book that can be read on so many levels and should appeal to a great many people. Why it is not more well known, I can’t imagine. I suppose the easiest way to describe it is saying that it combines dark humor with dark horror, but is also romantic, adventurous, and satirical, poking a few holes in British pomp and empire.The book concentrates on a small British enclave within the fictional Krishnapur in India prior to and during the Indian Rebellion in 1857. The Indian population remains a blur; we don’t meet them except in passing or reference because that is largely how they are viewed by the British (one fellow does not know the names of his Indian servants and simply calls them by animal names, like “rat”). Despite the fact that some of them have come to India at least in part to convert the native population to their religious or technological or other standards, they make no effort to know or understand the people and culture and the driving forces that turn against them. In fact, when they hear rumors of fighting in other areas, they are dismissed as impossible. Rebel against their superiors? Preposterous! They are simply clueless. The one person who prepares for an attack is ridiculed.When the rebellion finally comes, they are besieged for what seems like an eternity. How they manage to hold out against all odds is vividly described and absolutely amazing.The writing is simply marvelous. This is an incredibly talented author, who, unfortunately, died young. Perhaps his works would be more well known if he had lived longer and published more.I'll also mention that this is the second of a series of three novels he did publish. Knowledge of the first novel is not required, and I understand the three books have common themes but not common characters.I highly, highly recommend reading this book in general, and specifically on a Kindle. There are words and places mentioned that I was not in the least familiar with, and a few quick clicks let me look them up. It added greatly to the understanding and appreciation of the book.

The Seige of krishnapur won't be everyone's cup of tea, but what book is? I see by the 2/3 star critiques that there were persons who felt it was boring.Well, it could be seen as long winded and it doesn't have the swashbuckling affects of some "page turners" so if that is what you are looking for this is not the book for you. On the other hand if you enjoy history, humour, great characters, philosophy and you appreciate the skills of a great writer you will love this book.I loved the "so British" characterizations and the change in their attitude once faced with the truth of their situation. Bringing civilization to India was a noble thing until it became evidentthe natives didn't want it, didn't need it and furthermore the British were simply a thorn in their side. I didn't laugh out loud but I certainly smiled a lot at the well meaning but blustering and idiotic conception the British had of India and what would be best for the country.The reverse side of this was the brutality served out by the British overlords in their arrogance and superior attitude towards the people of India and in fact any nation they conquered. Well, unfortunately this was the way for the conquerors of any country and whether right or wrong, it becomes part of history and we can only look back in hindsight and regret the wrongs that were done in the name of colonization.A wonderful book I will recommend to a select few of my friends.

… is one of the themes of JG Farrell’s Booker Prize winning novel, as indicated by Pankaj Mishra in the introduction. But there were numerous other themes that also resonated. I knew of the Indian rebellion against British rule which occurred in 1857, but knew virtually no details, and felt I was long overdue to decrease the width of that lacunae. Farrell’s novel, which was written in 1973 is modeled to a large degree on the siege of Lucknow. This work is part of a trilogy which take a jaundiced view of the British Empire, with the other two being The Singapore Grip (New York Review Books Classics) and "Troubles".The novel is set in India, but there are virtually no Indians in Farrell’s account. They are simply “the other,” with a common designation being that of “sepoy.” And they are “howling at the gates,” trying to upset a comfortable lifestyle. Their reasons are never explicitly stated, but can be deduced from the attitudes of their white English rulers, now besieged. The sole Indian that is developed as a character, at least to some degree, is Hari, the son of the local Maharaja. He is trying to straddle both cultures, both for cultural and political reasons.Farrell develops a fair and representative sampling of characters that reflected the attitude of the British ruling class. The ultimate cynic is the Magistrate, a retired judge. The leader of the besieged British community is the “Collector,” Mr. Hopkins, so called due to his vast collection of European and Indian items. Both are “old Indian hands.” “Youth” is represented by Fleury, who had just arrived in India the previous winter, and Harry, the son of Dr. Dunstaple. There is the “padre,” interpreting “God’s Will” in the continued developments of the siege. There are three memorable women: Louise Dunstaple, daughter of the doctor, and a wonderful “catch” that Fleury has his eyes on. There is Fleury’s sister, Miriam, who arrives in India with him, a young widow due to the loss of her husband in the Crimean War. And there is Lucy Hughes, a “fallen woman” for having had one sexual relationship, ever so briefly (this was the Victorian era!), and how she is shunned by her fellow women for “breaking ranks” (?)Hubris takes many forms, and certainly a dominant theme is that British rule was justified by the amount of “good” they were bringing to the natives, often called a “civilizing mission.” In part, that civilizing mission involved the production of opium, and its export to China, which was the matter of a couple of wars. But one of the sub-themes I found most interesting was the conflict between the community’s only two doctors, culminating in very different theories about what caused cholera. Men of medicine, and therefore men of science? Hardly. Their egos become wrapped around certain hunches, and no amount of “objective facts” will change their minds. Ancient history? More than a 150 years later, though the cause and treatment of cholera is well-known, hubris was a contributing factor to the death of 7,500 Haitians from cholera in 2010.In terms of memorable scenes, it would be hard to beat the “attack” of the black bugs, the cockchafers, which occurred in conjunction with the on-set of the monsoons. I sensed much research on Farrell’s part, over a wide range of topics, from the flora and fauna of India at the time, to military tactics and weapons, as well as the psychology of individuals in besieged settings. Bon mots? In speaking of The Collector, the author writes: “At the same time he realized with a shock how much his own faith in the Church’s authority, or in the Christians’ view of the world in which he had hitherto lived his life, had diminished since he had last inspected them. From the farmyard in which his certitudes perched like fat chickens, every night of the siege, one or two were carried off in the jaws of rationalism and despair.”Ancient history? I think not. In fact, it seems to have only become worse. In terms of isolation from the natives one is ruling, it would be hard to beat the “Emerald City” of the Green Zone inside Iraq. Padres no longer carry the gospel, it is the economists of the International Monetary Fund who know that the natives will be much happier with a flat-rate income tax. Plus ca change… As for Farrell’s excellent historical reconstruction of an uprising on the plains of northern India more than a century and a half ago, when India’s population was less than half that of the United States today, 5-stars, plus.

A fantastic blend of history and fiction served with humour and philosophy! Loved it.

I purchased this on the premise that a Booker Prize book would be a high quality work.I was sorely disappointed to say the least.Whilst I appreciate that the use of archaic language fits the narrative, the whole thing became tedious and predictable .There are many better accounts of the Indian Mutiny. Not recommended.

Le récit tellement drôle et acerbe d'une des tragédies de la colonisation britannique s. Toute la mauvaise foi des soi-disant "gens supérieurs" mise à nu.

Die Geschichte, die uns J.G. Farrell hier ausbreitet, gründet lose auf der realen Belagerung Lucknows während des Sepoy-Aufstands 1857/8 in Indien und zeichnet ein eindrucksvolles Bild davon, wie Menschen sich in Ausnahmesituationen verändern können.Zu Anfang der Lektüre scheint die Welt allerdings noch in feinster britischer Ordnung zu sein und die Protagonisten werden uns als kultivierte, zivilisierte Exemplare der Britischen Upper-Middle-Class vorgestellt. Der verweichlichte, dem Romantizismus anhängende Fleury, der Collector, der von der Great Exhibition schwärmt, Dr. Dunstaple, der noch der alten medizinischen Schule angehört und der Padre sind nur einige der Figuren, die uns in diesem Buch begegnen und eine unabdingbare Rolle spielen.Auf den Inhalt möchte ich an dieser Stelle allerdings gar nicht weiter eingehen (den können Sie auch anderswo lesen), sondern ich möchte lieber darauf hinweisen, dass Farrell hier mit kleineren Abzügen ein ähnlich interessantes Buch gelungen ist wie William Golding mit Herr der Fliegen". Farrell allerdings kombiniert die Beschreibung individueller Personenentwicklungen mit dem Zeichnen und kritisch-unter-die-Lupe-Nehmen verschiedener Denkmuster der damaligen, aber auch heutigen Zeit.Farrell gelingt ein ausgewogener Querschnitt durch die britische Gesellschaft das 19. Jh. und lässt uns die Denkmuster der einzelnen Charaktere sehr gut nachvollziehen. Dies gelingt ihm oftmals mit einem leicht ironischen Unterton, der einen immer wieder schmunzeln lässt. Interessant ist hierbei auch, dass Farrell einen größtenteils viktorianischen Schreibstil nachahmt und Themen wie sexuelle Erregung dementsprechend verpackt, was für den heutigen Leser sehr amüsant ist. Gleichzeitig kommentiert er unterschwellig die Meinungen der Figuren aus unserer heutigen Weltanschauung.Es werden Themen und Diskussionen verarbeitet, die zu der damaligen Zeit auch thematisiert wurden. Z.B. spielt die Great Exhibition eine wichtige Rolle und nachdem im Lager die Cholera ausgebrochen ist, diskutieren Dr. Dunstaple (der an eine Cholerawolke glaubt) und Dr. McNab, wie die Krankheit verbreitet würde und wie man sie am besten behandeln sollte. Dies wird öffentlich diskutiert, vor den Ohren all der anderen Belagerten, die selber in Furcht leben, angesteckt zu werden, und sich während des hitzigen Schlagabtauschs immer wieder umentscheiden, von welchem Arzt sie behandelt werden wollen, und dies auf kleinen Kärtchen vermerken und verbessern. Farrells Buch bietet einige solcher aberwitzigen Situationen, die sich mit den ernsteren Beschreibungen der Charakterwandlungen und dem Sich-Zuspitzen der Situation vermischen.Und je mehr die zivilisierte Gesellschaft durch die Belagerung zerbricht, wird einem klar, welch oberflächliche Fassade das doch nur war. Zudem wird einem auch klar, dass diese britische Gesellschaft zu der indischen, die die Briten ständig als minderwertig und hinterwäldlerisch abtun, doch einige Parallelen aufweist. So lässt sich das Kastensystem einfach mit dem Klassensystem vergleichen, das mit der Figur Lucy (einer jungen Frau, die sich mit einem Herren wohl zu sehr vergnügt hat) sogar seine Unantastbare hat.Mir fallen allerdings auch zwei kleinere Schwächen des Buchs ins Auge. Zum einen habe ich an einigen (wenigen) Stellen das Gefühl, dass Farrell dem Leser nicht zutraut bestimmte Situationen/ Aussagen richtig zu deuten und einem die Interpretationen vorausnimmt. Das passiert nicht am laufenden Band, aber doch oft genug und teils recht auffällig.Zum anderen finde ich es ab und an ein wenig verwunderlich, wie bestimmte Charaktere plötzlich bestimmte Gefühle für andere entwickeln. Vielleicht erklärt der Autor sowas absichtlich nicht (Farrell scheint sich durchaus sehr genaue Gedanken dazu gemacht zu haben, in welche Personen er uns wann Einblick gewährt und welche wir lange nur durch die Beschreibungen anderer charakterisieren können).Nichtsdestotrotz würde ich dieses Buch aus vollem Herzen weiterempfehlen. Die Thematik fand ich sehr interessant, genauso wie die Charaktere und ihre Entwicklung und auch den leisen ironischen Humor. Und auch wenn man das Buch wohl als Historien-Roman bezeichnen würde, ist die Geschichte nicht so trocken, wie man glauben könnte, und auch für Leute geeignet, die kein Vorwissen zum Sepoy-Aufstand oder dem Victorianischen England haben (auch wenn ich behaupten möchte, dass sich das volle Potenzial des Buches erst fassen lässt, wenn man die Hintergründe ein wenig besser kennt).

Readers of fiction are herd animals, creatures of habit - we follow particular writers and we are reluctant to venture from them. But stray once to Farrell and the reader is richly rewarded for his intrepidness.One of three works of fiction by J. G. Farrell which were together dubbed "The Empire Trilogy" for their colonial settings, The Siege of Krishnapur is masterful, though - I would argue - no more accomplished than the other two ("The Singapore Grip" and "Troubles") despite having won the Booker. Indeed, the fact it won the Booker is, if anything, misleading as to its merits, as the book does not conform with the norms for Booker winners: as one of the other reviewers observed, and if I may paraphrase him, Booker winning books are perceived by many to be overly dense, highly intellectual, and not particularly entertaining. In 'Krishnapur' Farrell's intellect remains firmly in the background, modestly concealed behind a captivating and charming ensemble of characters in an exotic and detailed setting. The result is always entertaining and never onerous.It is a wise book too, rich with observations about human nature which the reader instinctively recognises and knows to be valid, though it remains positive to the end, and does not arrive at the gloomy conclusions which might have been provided by the setting of a starving garrison under siege. Instead, in 'Krishnapur' Farrell takes the opportunity to explore the different forms which courage, dignity, sacrifice and humour can take.Another theme of this and his other books is an evident and profound affection for women. Never salacious or patronising, his characterisations of females are multifaceted, diverse, alluring and edifying. His biographer says he knew many women - certainly the richness of his observations upon the fairer sex evinces a life of long and careful observation. 'Krishnapur' was written in a more innocent age, before feminism in its more militant forms brought relations between the sexes to their present pitch of automatic suspiciousness, and it is unafraid to admire femininity and make a proper show of its unique charm.Farrell was a master of 'never tell when you can show' and in consequence his writing is highly visual and evocative. Put simply, 'Krishnapur' is a superb account of how a group of people behave under appalling pressure, conveyed not in an intellectually self-conscious way, but by shrewd and telling demonstration.Farrell was just emerging as a very important writer when he was drowned in 1979 while fishing off the coast of Ireland (some 29 Fastnet Race participants would also perish 24 hours later in the storm which killed Farrell). For those who have 'discovered' Farrell his death is an awful, awful pity. His published works - their small number particularly - stand as a sad reminder that a great talent was here struck down very prematurely. It is especially poignant that the book he was working on at the time of his death ("The Hill Station") was published incomplete. What could be more emblematic of a writing career abruptly interrupted?