I didn’t know V. S. Naipaul very well, and to a large extent, my acquaintance with him was limited to meetings at literary festivals. Amitava Kumar Read Quote
Everything in American public life, when it comes to race relations, serves as a frame for a history of violence and degrading humiliation. Amitava Kumar Read Quote
A wonderful innovation of the Occupy Wall Street movement was the use of the human microphone – the name given to the body of the audience repeating, amplifying, each statement made by the speaker. Amitava Kumar Read Quote
In academe, we ought to temper our criticism of the idea of self-help because, in a more complex way, it is precisely what we offer our students through our teaching. Amitava Kumar Read Quote
Like every other self-respecting academic, I’m distrustful of self-help books. Amitava Kumar Read Quote
In 1997, Alain de Botton published his book ‘How Proust Can Change Your Life.’ I was charmed by it. I remember using it in a course on cultural criticism for a graduate class that had a mix of theorists and creative writers. Amitava Kumar Read Quote
I have long held that many of the writers and artists working in the aftermath of 9/11 have presented a faux familiarity with the so-called terrorist mind. Amitava Kumar Read Quote
Our public culture is one in which only the young and the beautiful will succeed. If you’re forty, you’re finished. Amitava Kumar Read Quote
Each employed immigrant has his or her place of work. It is only the taxi driver, forever moving on wheels, who occupies no fixed space. He represents the immigrant condition. Amitava Kumar Read Quote
If India breaks your heart with untold inequalities, it also surprises you with the unheralded achievements of its most humble citizens. Amitava Kumar Read Quote
