That was the way life was: it lay so quiet, so still that y… - Anita Desai

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That was the way life was: it lay so quiet, so still that you put your fingers out to touch it, to stroke it. Then it leapt up and struck you full in the face so that you spun about and spun about, gasping. The flames leapt up all around, rising by inches every minute, rising in rings.”

Anita Desai

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About Anita Desai

Anita Desai, born Anita Mazumdar (born 24 June 1937), is an Indian novelist and the Emerita John E. Burchard Professor of Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One of her daughters, Kiran Desai, is also a writer.

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Alternative Names: Anita Mazumdar Desai

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Louise Erdrich Amit Chaudhuri V. S. Naipaul Virginia Woolf Nadine Gordimer

Additional quotes by Anita Desai

...the moon that hung over the garden like some great priceless pearl, flawed and blemished with grey shadowy ridges as only a very great beauty can risk being.

My style of writing is to allow the story to unfold on its own. I try not to structure my work too rigidly.

I do not recognise India of the present time where, under the banner of 'Hindutva,' intimidation and bigotry seek to silence writers, scholars and all who believe in secular and rational thought.

That was the way life was: it lay so quiet, so still that you put your fingers out to touch it, to stroke it. Then it leapt up and struck you full in… - Anita Desai

About Anita Desai

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