Contemporary Indian Writers in English CIWE) is a series that presents critical commentaries on some of the best-known names in the genre. With the high visibility of Indian writing in English in academic, critical, pedagogic and reader circles, there is a perceivable demand for lucid yet rigorous introduction of several of its authors and genres. The CIWE texts cater to a Contemporary Indian Writers in English CIWE) is a series that presents critical commentaries on some of the best-known names in the genre. With the high visibility of Indian writing in English in academic, critical, pedagogic and reader circles, there is a perceivable demand for lucid yet rigorous introduction of several of its authors and genres. The CIWE texts cater to a wide audience - from the student seeking information and critical material on particular works to the general, informed reader who might want to know a little more about an author she has just finished reading. Cast in a user-friendly format, and written with a high degree of critical and theoretical rigour, the texts in the series will provide astute, accessible, informed entry-points into a wide range of works and writers. CIWE, we hope, will further strengthen the interest in and readership of one of the most significant components of world literatures in English. Amitav Ghosh, a novelist with an extraordinary sense of history and place, is indisputably one of the most important novelists and essayists of our time. In this volume, John Hawley provides a lucid, friendly and thorough introduction to the fiction and essays of Ghosh.