What do you think?
Rate this book
The Best of Quest
In 1954, a new magazine appeared out of Bombay with Nissim Ezekiel at its helm, titled Quest (“a quarterly of inquiry, criticism and ideas”) and it went on to live a respectable two decades and some, until Indira Gandhi’s
emergency caused it to collapse. Quest was an intellectual rite of passage: many of the boldface names that light up newspapers, magazines, academic journals and even television screens today, first made their mark with a piece in here. The Best of Quest is a collection of some of the most striking essays, poems and stories to have
appeared in the pages of the magazine. In an era not long past, Quest was the sign of the times. But such a sign and such a time it was that reading the magazine now is illuminating in an absolutely contemporary
sense. Like its counterparts across the world – Transition in Africa, Encounter in the USA/UK, Quadrant in Australia, and its fellow publication, Imprint in India – Quest was ideologically free-wheeling and stood
for “cultural freedom”, a term not free of complication, given the dirty tricks of the cold war. What endures from that era is this: a testament to a time when writers and readers were renaissance people; a time when
independent thought reigned supreme.
emergency caused it to collapse. Quest was an intellectual rite of passage: many of the boldface names that light up newspapers, magazines, academic journals and even television screens today, first made their mark with a piece in here. The Best of Quest is a collection of some of the most striking essays, poems and stories to have
appeared in the pages of the magazine. In an era not long past, Quest was the sign of the times. But such a sign and such a time it was that reading the magazine now is illuminating in an absolutely contemporary
sense. Like its counterparts across the world – Transition in Africa, Encounter in the USA/UK, Quadrant in Australia, and its fellow publication, Imprint in India – Quest was ideologically free-wheeling and stood
for “cultural freedom”, a term not free of complication, given the dirty tricks of the cold war. What endures from that era is this: a testament to a time when writers and readers were renaissance people; a time when
independent thought reigned supreme.
694 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
10 people are currently reading
33 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 20, 2015
In my opinion, though a bit verbose (essays) and with a couple of archaic topics, The Best of Quest will leave a reader like me happy, content and maybe even a tad evolved. All in all, the collection should make its editors proud of all the hard work because they have given today’s reader a gem from a time that seems enormously distant in some ways and extremely tantalizing in every way possible. If I had to sell this book in one line, I would tell you to read it because it “...tell(s) us how our time became our time”
Read detailed review here: http://damonologue.blogspot.in/2011/1...
Read detailed review here: http://damonologue.blogspot.in/2011/1...
Displaying 1 of 1 review