The Memory of Elephants: A Novel

by Boman Desai

Overview

Spurned by his first love, Homi Seervai, the Parsi genius from Bombay, creates a machine that lets him scan his brain for memories of the time he spent with her. The machine malfunctions, propelling him instead into his collective unconscious where he encounters ancestors and relatives, both dead and alive. In this wildly inventive book--available for the first time in the United States--Homi, blessed with the memory of elephants, discovers the splendor of his heritage as well as hope for the future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226143811
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	10/01/2001
Series:	Phoenix Fiction
Edition description:	1
Pages:	424
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Boman Desai is a writer who has worked as an auditor, secretary, farmhand, bartender, musician, and teacher. He is also the author of Asylum, USA.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Prologue

BAPAIJI

Navsari
Adhi Ghadiali
Hormusji Behramji Seervai
The Mother
The Emancipation of Women
Maharani Is Coming
Simply Cleaning House
Between the Mosque and the Temple

GRANNY

The Long Dining Table
Cambridge
Nawaz
Rustomji Jamshedji Cama
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Legitimate Heir
The Episode of the Vase

MOM AND DAD

Froglegs
Edinburgh
Ratilal
Baksheesh, Seth, Baksheesh
Land of Forefathers
The Two Firls Huddleed Together Like Monkeys
First Class! Absolutely A-Number One-First Class!
Joyride
Her Mona Lisa Smile
The Greater of His Two Loves
Nehru and Lady Mountbatten Had an Affair
The Towers of Silence

RUSI

Maybe If I Had Been a Quadriplegic
Stupid Bloody Bawaji Bastard
You Think This Is Bloody Communist Russia
You Can Just Walk into My Room
Look at His Hair, Like a Gollywog
Chicago
Jan Schultz

HOMI

Penny
Penny: Corollaries
Aquihana
Va-Va-Va-Voom
Manasni, Gavasni, Kunasni
On the Wings of a Dragon

Epilogue
Glossary