Aubrey Menen

Salvator Aubrey Clarence Menen was an English writer of Irish and Malayali parentage who was primarily a satirist. He was also a drama critic, theater director, advertising agency executive, and an alumnus of University College London. His essays and novels explore the nature of nationalism and the cultural contrast between his own Irish-Indian ancestry and his traditional British upbringing. The first sentence of "Dead Man in the Silver Market" offers an example of his good-humored approach to this contentious topic: "Men of all races have always sought for a convincing explanation of their own astonishing excellence and they have frequently found what they were looking for."

Aubrey Menen
Born(1912-04-22)April 22, 1912
London
DiedMarch 13, 1989(1989-03-13) (aged 76)
Thiruvananthapuram
NationalityEnglish
OccupationAuthor
Notable work
Rama Retold(1954)

Menen's 1954 retelling of the classic Hindu epic Ramayana meant as a funny and readable version of the work was banned in India for some years, as devout Hindus were horrified by the liberties Menen took with a sacred text.[1] Menen states that his goal is to, "aim at reviving," Valmiki's, "attitude of mind."[2] Menen's humor did not undercut his love for India, however, as can be seen in his book on Hindu mystics and his text to Roloff Beny's great book of photographs of India (India, 1969).

Works

Novels
  • The Prevalence of Witches (1947)
  • The Stumbling-Stone (1949)
  • The Backward Bride: A Sicilian Scherzo (1950)
  • The Duke of Gallodoro (1952)
  • The Ramayana, As Told by Aubrey Menen (1954)
  • The Abode of Love: The Conception, Financing and Daily Routine of an English Harem in the Middle of the 19th Century (1956)
  • The Fig Tree (1959)
  • SheLa: A Satire (1962)
  • A Conspiracy of Women (1965)
  • Fonthill: A Comedy (1974)

Travel
  • Rome Revealed (1960)
  • Speaking the Language Like a Native (1962)
  • India, with Roloff Beny (1969)
  • Upon This Rock (1972)
  • London (1976)
  • Venice (1976)

Other non-fiction
  • Dead Man in the Silver Market (1953)
  • The Space within the Heart (1970)
  • Cities in the Sand (1972)
  • The New Mystics and the True Indian Tradition (1974)
  • Four Days of Naples (1979)
  • Art and Money (1980)

References
  1. Pillai, Manu S. (24 August 2017). "A Sita we must not know". LiveMint.
  2. Menen, Aubrey (1954). "Introduction", The Ramayana, p.4. Charles Scribner's Sons: New York. [ISBN unspecified]. LCC 54-5919. LCCN 54-35716.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.