M. M. Kaye (1908–2004)
Auteur de Pavillons lointains
A propos de l'auteur
M. M. Kaye was born on August 21, 1908 in Simla, India to British parents. She wrote numerous books during her lifetime including Death Walks in Kashmir, Later than You Think, Shadow of the Moon, Trade Wind, The Far Pavilions, The Sun in the Morning, Golden Afternoon, and Enchanted Evening. She afficher plus also wrote and illustrated children's books including The Ordinary Princess. She died on January 29, 2004 at the age of 95. (Bowker Author Biography) afficher moins
Séries
Œuvres de M. M. Kaye
M. M. Kaye. Le Disque brisé : Later than you think, traduit de l'anglais par Marie-Claude Morel (1958) 313 exemplaires
House of Shade Omnibus: Death in Zanzibar, Death in Andamans, and, Death in Kashmir (1959) 15 exemplaires
[Unknown works] 2 exemplaires
THE SUN IN THE MORNING by M.M. KAYE (1990-08-01) 1 exemplaire
Insel im Sturm 1 exemplaire
Potter Pinner Meadow 1 exemplaire
BLACK BRAMBLE WOOD 1 exemplaire
Oeuvres associées
The Golden Calm: An English Lady's Life in Moghul Delhi (1980) — Directeur de publication — 81 exemplaires
Étiqueté
Partage des connaissances
- Nom légal
- Kaye, Mary Margaret
- Autres noms
- Kaye, Mollie
- Date de naissance
- 1908-08-21
- Date de décès
- 2004-01-29
- Sexe
- female
- Nationalité
- UK
- Lieu de naissance
- Simla, India
- Lieu du décès
- Lavenham, Suffolk, England, UK
- Lieux de résidence
- India
Kenya
Zanzibar
Egypt
Cyprus
Germany (tout afficher 7)
Pevensey, Sussex, England, UK - Professions
- historical novelist
mystery writer
illustrator
autobiographer - Relations
- Kaye, Sir John William (grandfather's cousin)
- Prix et distinctions
- Colonel James Tod International Award, Maharana Mewar Foundation (2003)
- Courte biographie
- Mary Margaret ("Mollie") Kaye was born in India into a family of military officers and statesmen that had served the British government for many generations. Sir John William Kaye, one of her grandfather's cousins, was Political Secretary of the India Office and the author of the classic histories of the Indian Mutiny and the First Afghan War. Another cousin, Edward Kaye, commanded a battery at the 1857 Siege of Delhi and was later made a Lieutenant General. Mollie Kaye was born in Simla, the summer capital of the Raj, and spent the cool months of the year living in Delhi. In her obituary, the Guardian said, "[S]he was raised by servants, speaking Hindustani before English, while playing around gun emplacements and dodging her ayah to listen to storytellers in the Delhi bazaar. Like Kipling's Kim, she thought herself Indian, 'just a member of a different caste in a land of castes'. " After education at boarding school in England, Mollie returned to India. In 1945, she married Major-General Goff Hamilton of Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides; the couple had two daughters. Her husband's military postings took Mollie all over the world, and she juggled her duties as a mother and an officer's wife with her writing under the pen name M.M. Kaye. Her 3-volume autobiography is called Share of Summer and comprises The Sun In The Morning (1990), Golden Afternoon (1997), and Enchanted Evening (1999).
Membres
Discussions
April 2022: M. M. Kaye à Monthly Author Reads (Juillet 2022)
Critiques
Come ho scritto a suo tempo nello scegliere Padiglioni lontani la mia più grande paura era quella di trovarmi a leggere un romanzo con un punto di vista colonialista, visto che l’autrice proveniva da una famiglia con stretti legami con l’impero anglo-indiano e abbia vissuto diversi anni in India.
Per fortuna, in gran parte si trattava di una paura ingiustificata. Gli unici momento in cui Kaye mi ha infastidito il mio culo bianco sono quelli nei quali professa le opportunità della collaborazione tra culture diverse (in questo caso quella inglese con quelle presenti in India), dimenticando che il Regno Unito non era andato in India per collaborare e che i rapporti tra i due popoli non possono essere ridotti a relazioni tra persone. L’idea che tutto sarebbe andato meglio scremando persone violente e razziste mi è sembrata molto naïf.
Accanto a questa ingenuità, però, c’è un ritratto dell’India e della sua complessità davvero molto interessante, dettato evidentemente da un grande amore per questa nazione. C’è molto rispetto per le sue tradizioni e questo fa sì che non vengano risparmiate delle stoccate agli aspetti che non funzionano, ma senza opporre una presunta superiorità inglese (che per Kaye non esiste, visto che diversi esponenti del Regno Unito non fanno una bella figura).
Per il resto la storia ha un gusto epico ed è di quelle che divori perché ti affezioni ai vari personaggi (pure ai cavalli, in effetti) e devi assolutamente sapere al più presto come evolveranno le loro vite. È di quei mattoni che non fanno pesare il loro numero di pagine, pieni di avventura, amore (meno di quanto pensassi, e per fortuna, perché la prima notte di passione tra Ash e Juli è una delle cose più creepy che abbia mai letto e pare uscita dal più brutto degli Harmony), intrighi, amicizie e eroismo. Se adesso avete lunghe giornate da passare a casa, direi che Padiglioni lontani può essere un buon libro da recuperare (adesso edito da E/O).… (plus d'informations)
Per fortuna, in gran parte si trattava di una paura ingiustificata. Gli unici momento in cui Kaye mi ha infastidito il mio culo bianco sono quelli nei quali professa le opportunità della collaborazione tra culture diverse (in questo caso quella inglese con quelle presenti in India), dimenticando che il Regno Unito non era andato in India per collaborare e che i rapporti tra i due popoli non possono essere ridotti a relazioni tra persone. L’idea che tutto sarebbe andato meglio scremando persone violente e razziste mi è sembrata molto naïf.
Accanto a questa ingenuità, però, c’è un ritratto dell’India e della sua complessità davvero molto interessante, dettato evidentemente da un grande amore per questa nazione. C’è molto rispetto per le sue tradizioni e questo fa sì che non vengano risparmiate delle stoccate agli aspetti che non funzionano, ma senza opporre una presunta superiorità inglese (che per Kaye non esiste, visto che diversi esponenti del Regno Unito non fanno una bella figura).
Per il resto la storia ha un gusto epico ed è di quelle che divori perché ti affezioni ai vari personaggi (pure ai cavalli, in effetti) e devi assolutamente sapere al più presto come evolveranno le loro vite. È di quei mattoni che non fanno pesare il loro numero di pagine, pieni di avventura, amore (meno di quanto pensassi, e per fortuna, perché la prima notte di passione tra Ash e Juli è una delle cose più creepy che abbia mai letto e pare uscita dal più brutto degli Harmony), intrighi, amicizie e eroismo. Se adesso avete lunghe giornate da passare a casa, direi che Padiglioni lontani può essere un buon libro da recuperare (adesso edito da E/O).… (plus d'informations)
The beginning was bumpy but a fun read when you're in the mood for a 50s-era romantic suspense mystery. It has lots of rich people, colonialism, brash Americans, plucky young woman in a bind, communists - all set in foreign airports and an exotic island (I'm imagining Grace Kelly and William Holden in the movie...)
Listes
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Princess Tales (1)
Read These Too (1)
All Things India (1)
Comfort Reads (1)
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1970s (1)
Sense of place (3)
Nifty Fifties (2)
My TBR list (2)
Female Author (2)
Favourite Books (1)
Allie's Wishlist (1)
Murder Mysteries (3)
Prix et récompenses
Vous aimerez peut-être aussi
Auteurs associés
Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 32
- Aussi par
- 7
- Membres
- 8,280
- Popularité
- #2,921
- Évaluation
- 4.1
- Critiques
- 214
- ISBN
- 328
- Langues
- 15
- Favoris
- 37
Don't get me wrong, the book has merit. It's a gripping story right from the start--I felt immediately invested in the protagonist, Ash, and his surrogate mother, Sita, and could not put the book down until I knew what happened to them. Once the narrative gets its traction, it doesn't slow down (with one notable exception, which I'll get to later). It's a 955-page novel, and I finished it in a week.
It also beautifully evokes the time and place in which it is set. I think that's the novel's greatest strength: it brings the India of the 1860's - 1870's to life by weaving together fictional elements with historical events, cultural/religious traditions, and geographical details. It's the richness of those details and the complex portrayal of historical events that make this book worth reading. For example, I was surprised by how the novel treated the British colonization of India--how through Ash (who, because of his situation, has "one foot in each camp") we see the systemic violence and arrogance of colonization, the way in which it damages the colonized country/peoples; but we also see the inherent humanity of the colonizers. That same complexity is brought to bear on other historical events throughout the book, and that is the book's great strength.
That being said, the book also has a great and glaring weakness: the aforementioned badly-developed romance. If the rest of the book is complex, the romance is quite the opposite. And the problem is, the romance isn't just bad, it's lengthy. The narrative spends a good two-thirds of its time on "developing" this angst-ridden romance between Ash and his childhood friend, Anjuli ("Juli" for short). It's a shallow, melodramatic affair that would only be a minor drawback if it weren't so damn long. But because the book spends so much time on it, it's impossible to ignore it and focus on other (far more interesting) events. This is where the story dragged the most for me.
Worse than that, their relationship is... well, gross, for lack of a better term. At best it's highly unhealthy, and at worst it's downright abusive. In practically every scene they have together, Ash gets physically domineering and abusive with Juli (the number of times he's described as shaking her by the shoulders until her teeth rattle would actually be laughable if it weren't horrible). He thinks and speaks a great deal about how much he loves her, and then proceeds to treat her with little to no respect. Ash is definitely at his worst in his scenes with Juli, and their relationship marred my experience with the rest of the book. Individually, they're both interesting characters, but together... yikes.
As I said at the beginning, it's a decent book that, were it not for the badly done romance, could have been a great book. It's a worthwhile read if you can stomach the romance.
… (plus d'informations)