All About H. Hatterr by G.V. Desani | Characters, Summary, Analysis

G.V. Desani was a British-Indian writer, novelist, educator, and lecturer. His full name was Govindas Vishnoodas Desani. He was born in 1909 in Kenya in an Indian family. His family moved back to India in 1917. At the age of 17, Desani left his home and traveled to England. He was not well-educated and couldn’t speak English but soon he learned well and was befriended by several prominent Londoners. He joined the British Museum Library as a reader and worked as an artist, model, and correspondent for Reuters, Times of India, and The Associated Press. G.V. Desani is known for his only novel, All About H. Hatter, published in London in 1948. All About H. Hatterr chronicles the adventures of an AngloMalaya man who calls himself, Hindustaniwallah Hatterr. Like the classical Bildungsroman, the plot of Desani’s novel revolves around its protagonist H. Hatterr in search of wisdom and enlightenment. The novel has seven chapters and it deals with his search for the self. He visits seven cities and consults seven sages, each of whom has specialized in a different aspect of “living”. The novel is a comic extravaganza. The character of Hatterr is presented in a comic vein. The charm, vitality, and linguistic humor created a unique hero with dazzling and puzzling prose. The novel gained instant fame and was praised by the likes of T.S. Eliot, Salman Surshdie, Anthony Burgess who wrote the Introduction to the 1970 edition of All About H. Hatter, and many others. Salman Rushdie praised the nativization or Indianization of the English language in the novel and mentioned it as the “chutney-fication” of English. G. V. Desani’s All About H. Hatter has been compared to Laurence Stern’s Trishtam Shandy and James Joyce’s Ulysses. . . . So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the History of Indian English Literature as we strive to offer a complete course for the preparation of UGC NET English literature, NTA NET English literature, PGTRB English,, SET English literature, TGT PGT English, GATE English Literature, and other exams, please stay connected with the Discourse, Thanks, and Regards!