Friday, October 15, 2010

Novels At Work

My Yahoo India column on fiction that deals with, in Alain de Botton's words, "the intelligence, peculiarity, beauty, and horror of the workplace".

7 comments:

GRP said...

The kind of politics & power struggles that happen at almost all white-collar workplaces is rivaled only by our politicians. It surely is a goldmine for any writer. Closer home, we have few noteworthy novels of the white-collar variety. While Chetan Baghat makes only passing references to work-life in his novels, 'If God was a Banker' by Ravi Subramanian is quite riveting with a portrayal of the gory side in glorious detail.

And, by the way: i began following you on twitter only recently & find your tweets & posts very interesting.

Unknown said...

Thanks. Yes, I think Ashok Banker too, in one of his early novels, features a crime in an advertising agency (much like Sayers' Murder Must Advertise).

sabupaul said...

There's also this novel called 'e', set in an ad agency. It's a comic novel that's very, very funny.

Unknown said...

Oh yes, that's the one by Matt Beaumont written entirely in e-mails, isn't it?

sabupaul said...

Yup, that's the one.

I too find your tweets very interesting. Do keep them coming.

Anonymous said...

Max Barry has written what is called the definitive workplace novel, called Company, which is excellent. Jennifer Government by the same author is good too, though it can’t be totally classified as a workplace novel.
I loved e, as also Then we came to the end.

Attempted a workplace novel myself, but clearly that’s easier said than done!

Unknown said...

Thanks for the Max Barry tip, must seek out that title. Interesting how so many of such books are satires. And good luck with your own novel.