Empire of the Soul

by Paul William Roberts

Book Overview

Paul William Roberts's journeys through India span twenty years, and in Empire of the Soul, he creates a dazzling mosaic, by turns tragic and comic, of the subcontinent and its people. From the crumbling palaces of maharajas to the slums of Calcutta; from the ashrams of holy men to a millionaire drug dealer's heavily guarded fortress on India's border with China, Roberts captures the lure of this enigmatic land--this empire of the soul. "India...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1573226351
• ISBN13: 9781573226356
• Release Date: December 1997
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

That Sense of Place

Roberts absolute tenacity regarding his subjects and complete dedication to every word he writes ensures readers feel themselves present in every encounter and experience. Availing himself full range of expression to write and live as cynic, mystic, adventurer, good friend, and seeker, Roberts takes us on strolls through the beautiful, humor-filled, and the bazarre. His concept of displaying in this work varying perspectives between two different trips to India that are seperated by decades of time as well as personal growth offers readers great awareness of the country and more so the man writing of it.

A different India...

This is a unique book. Racy, interesting and yet profound in some ways. Being an Indian, I have always been fascinated by how non-Indians view India. This book did not disappoint.It tells you vivid tales about spiritual India - many which even I dare not believe but can not dismiss either. Paul William Robert's account has a ring of sincerity and authenticity. Somehow we don't always realise what an interesting and unique place our country is. Things that we take to be ordinary, every-day happenings show up as unique through PWR's account. Is India really that strange?The book is difficult to put down, if you are interested or puzzled by India. And if you were born in India but live abroad, consider buying it as a gift for your children. Trust me, they will not be disappointed. This book may not show the complete picture, but it does show a very important part of the picture. That too, with honesty and some sympathy.

A truly remarkable book!

This is the third book by author Roberts which I have read, and as with his other works, it does not disappoint. He has a remarkable talent for writing about the places he visits, not only from a travelers perspective, but is also able to delve into the psychology of the peoples he writes about. His historical vignettes coupled with his ability to describe current events makes his books a joy to read. I can hardly wait for the next one on Iraq to be published.

A truly great travel book that captures the essence of India

India is a country that evokes very strong emotions. On any brief visit, one is enraged by the filth, the decay, the disorganization, not to speak of the heat and the dust. But when one has lived there for some time, a strange magic starts to work. It is like the seductive charm of a beautiful gypsy woman in rags! What secrets lie buried in her chest?India is more than a palimpsest. It is as if each layer were alive and continually changing right before your eyes. How does one write about such a land without a stereotypical juxtaposition of the old and the new? How does one communicate the horror and debasement that has entered the soul of urban India and still be able to speak of the ancient springwells of its culture? Well the task may appear impossible but it can be done as shown in this magnificent book by Paul William Roberts, a British-Canadian writer. Recounting several journeys made over an eighteen-year period, Roberts is able to draw a powerful pictu! re of India with its smells and sounds, bazaars and chai-shops, bug-infested cheap hotels and rationed electricity, gurus and drug-runners, penuried ex-rajas and movie-stars, country roads and camel rides, ashrams and whore-houses. But these are just the props for his marvellous gifts of story-telling. It is a very moving book which also manages to be funny and profound. Through his experiences he is not only able to describe the moods of the many Indias, he also paints the soul of the West. This book is not analytical like the travel books of Naipaul; for Roberts the story is told through suggestion and a torrent of feelings. In linear discourse, the same drama in the sky will be thunder to the blind and lightning to the deaf, but Roberts is able to capture in one sweep the many dimensions of his experience. This method literally transports us to India; we become his fellow-travellers. The journeys are peopled by fascinating characters: A seven-foot tall German ta! ntrik in loin-cloth; a 300-pound woman who actually cooks h! er lunch on a pressure-stove in a crammed bus; sex-crazed followers of Rajneesh; old aristocracy reduced to penury; hippies in Goa; the dom raja of the burning ghats of Benaras. Although the book has its gurus, the maharaja, the hippies and the movie-stars, it does not deal with hackneyed themes. Roberts brings a rare perception to his experience so that we are brought face to face with the universals of the human condition. Returning from India on his most recent trip, Roberts evokes an emotion familiar to expatriate Indians and others who have lived there for any length of time: ``As the plane left the ground, rising up over the central plains of India, heading out over Rajasthan, I gazed down at the fast-disappearing features of the land. The thousands of tiny villages; the mountains; the rivers; the jungles; the deserts; the temples; the great holy cities; and all these people---I was leaving them all yet again. On the headphones an Urdu ghazal singer

Excellent insight into the diverse aspects of India's people

I have traveled extensivly throughout the wolrd, yet I am still struck by the force which my time in India altered my perception of mankind. Roberts is able to convincingly convey the embodiment of this diverse culture and the effect that it can have on visitors from western culture. I must read for travelers contemplating a trip to India.