G. V. Desani
G. V. Desani | |
|---|---|
Desani in 1970 | |
| Born | Govindas Vishnoodas Dasani 8 July 1909 Nairobi, Kenya |
| Died | 15 November 2000 (aged 91) Fort Worth, Texas |
| Occupation | Author, educator |
| Language | English, Hindi, Urdu, Sindhi, Sanskrit, Pali |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Citizenship | U.S. |
| Education | Autodidactic (expelled, age 13) |
| Genre | Novel, short story, essay, lecture |
| Notable works | All About H. Hatterr (1948, 1951, 1970, 1972, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1998, 2007, 2018, 2020 [German].) Hali: A Play (1952) Hali and Collected Stories (1991) |
| Signature | |
Govindas Vishnoodas Desani (1909–2000), known as G.V. Desani, was a British-Indian journalist, lecturer, writer and educator. Desani is best known for his novel All About H. Hatterr, first published in Great Britain in 1948, which cast an absurdist, comedic light on the plight of a common man in a multicultural, pan-ethnic world.
Hatterr is notable for its many revised editions and attendant reviews received over seven decades which describe the book as … "a genuine literary rarity, the lost-and-found masterpiece," "a lost classic", and, of the author, an "elusive talent of the Fifties."
Post 40, Desani became a seeker, devotee, adept, reporter and lecturer on ancient Indian traditions — including obscure mantric and tantric crafts — to Eastern and Western audiences.