A blistering novel about fake news, memory, and the ways in which truth gives over to fiction
When Satya, a professor and writer, attends a prestigious artist retreat, he finds the pressures of the outside world won't let up: the president rages online; a dangerous virus envelopes the globe; and the twenty-four-hour news cycle throws fuel on every fire. For most of the retreat fellows, such stories are unbearable distractions, but for Satya, who sees them play out in both America and his native India, these Orwellian interruptions begin to crystalize into an idea for his new novel, Enemies of the People, about the lies we tell ourselves and one another. Satya scours his life for instances in which truth bends toward the imagined and misinformation is mistaken as fact.
Braiding Satya's experiences – as a father, husband, author, and teacher – with newspaper clippings, the president's tweets, and observation on famous works of art, A Time Outside This Time captures a feverish political moment with intelligence, beauty, and an eye for the uncanny. It is a brilliant interrogation on life in a post-truth era and an attempt to imagine a time outside of this one. Amitava Kumar is a writer and journalist. He was born in Ara, India, and grew up in the nearby town of Patna, famous for its corruption, crushing poverty, and delicious mangoes. Kumar is the author of the novel Immigrant, Montana, as well as several other books of nonfiction and fiction. He lives in Poughkeepsie, New York, where he is Helen D. Lockwood Professor of English at Vassar College. A 'non-fiction novel' about lies and violence, ranging across Trump and Modi, the narrator's childhood experience of communal violence in India and his wife's work as a psychologist.
