''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
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
), 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, the Urdu of
Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Faiz Ahmad ''Faiz'' (13 February 1911 – 20 November 1984; Urdu, Punjabi:
فیض احمد فیض) was a Pakistani poet, and author of Urdu and Punjabi literature. Faiz was one of the most celebrated Pakistani Urdu writers of his time. Out ...
, the German of
Heinrich Heine and the Hindi of
Suryakant Tripathi Nirala
Suryakant Tripathi "Nirala" (21 February 1897 – 15 October 1961) was an Indian poet, novelist, essayist and story-writer who wrote in Hindi. He was also an artist, who drew many contemporary sketches.
Biography
Tripathi was born on 2 ...
. Other poems include 'The Frog and the Nightingale'.
1980 poetry books
Indian English poetry collections
Poetry by Vikram Seth
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