Kirjahaku

A wild, bomb-throwing teenage revenge plot that skewers the cults of consumerism and the body beautiful. Ananda Devi's protagonist is tormented at school because of her weight and is haunted by the sister her father believes she devoured in the womb. This, she thinks, is how he accounts for her enormous size: she is not one but two. Her father is gleefully devoted and plies her with increasingly indulgent feasts; at school her fellow students and even teachers seek to humiliate her with an almost demonic insistence; in the midst of all this she struggles to see who she is beyond the world's perceptions of her and her size. When she gets an unexpected, heady taste of the other pleasures of the body, she briefly feels the radiant possibility of another kind of life. But the great eye of the mob turns on her once more and she devises one drastic, final, self-destroying way to turn the tables on her persecutors and the whole unjust world. In Devouring Bodies, Devi deploys keenly lyrical prose to stage a revenge plot with dark humor that tears apart the hypocrisies around how we talk about bodies, women, beauty, obsession, and consumption, and how society consumes, obsesses over, and vilifies the Other.

Two girls: Eve, whose body is her only weapon and source of power; Savita, Eve’s best friend and the only one who loves her selflessly, planning to leave, but not without Eve. Two boys: Saadiq, gifted would-be poet, deeply in love with Eve; Clelio, the neighbourhood tough, waiting without hope for his brother to send for him from France. All are desperate to escape the cycle of fear and violence in which they are trapped.

A poetic, autobiographical collection from famed Mauritian writer Ananda Devi, engaging with loneliness, desire, violence, and aging. “I’m sick of biting off and chewing this dust, of scratching with my thin claws, searching for some chunk of literary gold to hell with all the disarrayed images of our homelands reflections of our particular misery.” From eminent Mauritian writer Ananda Devi, a collection that transgresses genre lines with poetic, autobiographical flow. The pieces herein address the resonance of personal memories and regrets, the political world, and sexuality. In light of the complexity of human identity, Devi emphasizes the importance of each word chosen, speaking directly to the reader and asking them to “peel back my skin. Unclothe me of myself.”

Two girls: Eve, whose body is her only weapon and source of power; Savita, Eve's best friend and the only one who loves her selflessly, planning to leave, but not without Eve. Two boys: Saadiq, gifted would-be poet, deeply in love with Eve; Clelio, the neighbourhood tough, waiting without hope for his brother to send for him from France. All are desperate to escape the cycle of fear and violence in which they are trapped. Winner of the Prix des cinq continents de la Francophonie 2006, shortlisted for the Best Translated Book Award 2017, the Albertine Prize 2018 and the inaugural First Translation Prize 2018, Eve out of Her Ruins was published in English for the first time in 2016.

This novel of post-9/11 London is a masterful dissection of racism, aging, and the perturbing nature of desire. Ananda Devi's fluid, poetic language memorably conjures a union of two outcasts (The New Yorker). A chance encounter on Portobello Road incites an unsettling, magnetic attraction between Mary, a seventy-five-year-old white British spinster, and Cub, a thirteen-year-old Jamaican boy from Brixton. Mary increasingly clings to phantoms as dementia overtakes her reality, latching on to Cub and channeling all of her remaining energy into their relationship. But their macabre romance comes to a horrific climax, as white supremacy, poverty, and class conflict explode on the streets of London. Through exquisite juxtaposition, Devi uses lush prose to confront the tensions of an increasingly nationalistic metropolis, and the queasy nature of desire muddled with power. "A gorgeously written, profoundly upsetting fairy tale of race, class, power, and desire." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review Brutal and entirely believable, a gorgeous and haunting depiction of London and the real lives and memories of those unseen within it. --Publishers Weekly

"Devi writes about terrible and bitter events with a soft, delicate voice." ? Le FigaroIncluded in World Literature Today's "75 Notable Translations of 2016"With brutal honesty and poetic urgency, Ananda Devi relates the tale of four young Mauritians trapped in their country's endless cycle of fear and violence: Eve, whose body is her only weapon and source of power; Savita, Eve's best friend, the only one who loves Eve without self-interest, who has plans to leave but will not go alone; Saadiq, gifted would-be poet, inspired by Rimbaud, in love with Eve; Clélio, belligerent rebel, waiting without hope for his brother to send for him from France.Eve out of Her Ruins is a heartbreaking look at the dark corners of the island nation of Mauritius that tourists never see, and a poignant exploration of the construction of personhood at the margins of society. Awarded the prestigious Prix des cinq continents upon publication as the best book written in French outside of France, Eve Out of her Ruins is a harrowing account of the violent reality of life in her native country by the figurehead of Mauritian literature.The book featurues an original introduction by Nobel Prize winner J.M.G. Le Clézio, who declares Devi "a truly great writer."Ananda Devi (b. 1957, Trois-Boutiques, Mauritius) is a novelist and scholar. She has published eleven novels as well as short stories and poetry, and was featured at the PEN World Voices Festival in New York in 2015. She was made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government in 2010.

A chance encounter on Portobello Road incites an unsettling, magnetic attraction between Mary, an elderly white woman, and Cub, a British-Jamaican boy, and drives her crumbling world into heightened delusion. The two struggle to keep their footing as white supremacy, desperation and class conflict collide on the streets of London. Through exquisite juxtaposition, Ananda Devi exposes the tensions of an increasingly nationalistic and polarised metropolis. At once realistic and fantastical, The Living Days encapsulates Devi's daring, unflinching talent and paints an unforgettable portrait of London at it's most bewitching, and most dangerous.

»Det handlar om ett betydande författarskap Romanen Eva ur spillrorna är, för att säga något i kritikersammanhang banalt, den bästa roman jag läst på länge.« Kaj Schueler i Svenska Dagbladet 10/10 dagensbok.comEvas liv är i spillror. Hon lever i den fattiga förorten Troumaron utanför Mauritius huvudstad Port Louis, där hon tidigt fick lära sig att andra ser hennes kropp som en handelsvara. Här har textilfabriken där kvinnorna arbetade lagts ned, och männen försöker återvinna sin auktoritet genom att dricka. Här en evighet från paradisstränderna är de unga utlämnade åt sig själva. Poeten Sad, rebellen Clélio, den ambitiösa Savita: alla bär de på drömmar, och alla vill de rädda Eva men för de fyra vännerna framstår den spiral av våld och hämnd de dragits in i som omöjlig att ta sig ur. Ananda Devis Eva ur spillrorna är en omskakande och dramatisk roman om fyra vänner som berövats såväl barndom som framtid, framberättad på ett språk som är lika sparsmakat som det är vackert. Ananda Devi föddes 1957 på ön Mauritius utanför Afrikas östkust, ett land präglat av sin våldsamma koloniala historia och med en stor mångfald av etniska, kulturella och ­språkliga identiteter. Devi kommer från en indiskättad familj men skriver huvudsakligen på franska, ibland med inslag av kreolska. Hon har ett tjugotal böcker bakom sig, såväl romaner som novell- och diktsamlingar. Eva ur spillrorna blev en stor framgång när den gavs ut i Frankrike och tilldelades ett flertal priser, bland annat det prestigefyllda Prix des cinq continents de la franco­phonie. Romanen har också filmatiserats. Maja Thrane är författare, översättare och litteraturkritiker.

Mauritiuksen hiostavan turistisaaren hämärillä kujilla pelko, väkivalta ja loputon kaupankäynti pyörittävät neljän nuoren kertojan maailmaa. Eve, josta kaikki alkaa ja johon kaikki loppuu, valitsee aseekseen vartalonsa. Sadiq elää sekä jengien yössä että Rimbaudin sanojen innoittamassa päivässä ja yrittää suojella Eveä aamunkoiton rajan kummallakin puolen. Clelion kapina on näyttävää, mutta hänkin on vain seitsemäntoista. Ja Savita, Savita on ainoa, jonka Eve päästää lähelleen.Näistä raunioista on vimmainen ja runollinen tarina siitä, miten raadollisia seurauksia voi tavallisilla kasvukivuilla rikkinäisessä yhteiskunnassa olla.Ananda Devi (s. 1957) on Mauritiuksen merkittävimpiä kirjailijoita, jolta on 1970-luvulta lähtien julkaistu lukuisia romaaneja sekä runo- ja novellikokoelmia. Näistä raunioista (Eve de ses decombres, 2006) on voittanut lukuisia palkintoja, muun muassa arvostetun Prix des cinq continents de la Francophonie -palkinnon. Kirjasta tehtiin vuonna 2012 elokuva Les enfants de Troumaron, joka on nähty elokuvafestivaaleilla myös Suomessa.

A child is born with an insatiable hunger. As a ravenous infant she is the undoing of her mother; under her father's adoring gaze, her body grows and grows. Her father claims she devoured her twin sister in the womb. Her classmates delight in tormenting her for her size. And inside this girl, so alone and so enraged, another hunger is born-for revenge. Bizarrely poetic and grotesquely humorous, All Flesh is a twisted fairy tale that tears apart hypocrisies around beauty, gender and a culture that relentlessly consumes the marginalized.