''Mappings'' is a first book of poems by
Vikram Seth
Vikram Seth (born 20 June 1952) is an Indian novelist and poet. He has written several novels and poetry books. He has won several awards such as Padma Shri, Sahitya Academy Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith Literary Award and Crosswor ...
originally published by the Writers Workshop, Calcutta (now
Kolkata), as a hand-set, hand-printed and hand-bound volume ("in Hardback or Flexiback") in 1980 or 1981 (the Flexiback edition copyright date is 1981). With the growth of Seth's reputation, the volume has been reprinted by mainstream publishers ().
Original poems range from a cautionary tale in rhyming couplets ("The Tale Of Melon City"), through Seth's characteristic musings - some serious and some light-hearted - on life, love and landscape, to the title poem reflecting on the different selves "mapped" by his earlier writings. Interspersed with these are translations (one each) from the Chinese of
Du Fu
Du Fu (; 712–770) was a Tang dynasty poet and politician. Along with his elder contemporary and friend Li Bai (Li Po), he is frequently called the greatest of the Chinese poets.Ebrey, 103. His greatest ambition was to serve his country as ...
, the Urdu of
Faiz Ahmed Faiz, the German of
Heinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...
and the Hindi of
Suryakant Tripathi Nirala. Other poems include 'The Frog and the Nightingale'.
1980 poetry books
Indian English poetry collections
Poetry by Vikram Seth
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