Mohsin Hamid Explained

Mohsin Hamid
محسن حامد
Birth Date:23 July 1971
Birth Place:Lahore, Pakistan
Occupation:Novelist
Nationality:Pakistani
British
Alma Mater:Princeton University
Harvard Law School
Period:2000–present
Genre:Literary fiction
Notableworks:Moth Smoke
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Exit West
Spouse:Zahra
Children:Dina, Vali

Mohsin Hamid (Urdu: محسن حامد; born 23 July 1971) is a British Pakistani novelist, writer and brand consultant. His novels are Moth Smoke (2000), The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007), How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia (2013), Exit West (2017), and The Last White Man (2022).

Early life and education

Born to a family of Punjabi and Kashmiri descent,[1] Hamid spent part of his childhood in the United States, where he stayed from the age of 3 to 9 while his father, a university professor, was enrolled in a PhD program at Stanford University. He then moved with his family back to Lahore, Pakistan, and attended the Lahore American School.[2]

At the age of 18, Hamid returned to the United States to continue his education. He graduated summa cum laude with an A.B. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs[3] at Princeton University in 1993 after completing a 127-page-long senior thesis, titled "Sustainable Power: Integrated Resource Planning in Pakistan", under the supervision of Robert H. Williams.[4] While he was a student at Princeton, Hamid studied under Joyce Carol Oates and Toni Morrison. Hamid wrote the first draft of his first novel for a fiction workshop taught by Morrison. He returned to Pakistan after college to continue working on it.[5]

Hamid then attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 1997.[6] Finding corporate law boring, he repaid his student loans by working for several years as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company in New York City. He was allowed to take three months off each year to write, and he used this time to complete his first novel Moth Smoke.[7]

Work

Hamid moved to London in the summer of 2001, initially intending to stay only one year.[8] Although he frequently returned to Pakistan to write, he continued to live in London for eight years, becoming a dual citizen of the United Kingdom in 2006.[9] In 2004 he joined the brand consultancy Wolff Olins, working only three days a week so as to retain time to write.[10] He later served as managing director of Wolff Olins' London office, and in 2015 was appointed the firm's first-ever Chief Storytelling Officer.[11]

Hamid's first novel, Moth Smoke, tells the story of a marijuana-smoking ex-banker in post-nuclear-test Lahore who falls in love with his best friend's wife and becomes a heroin addict. It was published in 2000, and quickly became a cult hit in Pakistan and India. It was also a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award given to the best first novel in the US. It was adapted for television in Pakistan and as an operetta in Italy.[12]

Moth Smoke had an innovative structure, using multiple voices, second-person trial scenes, and essays on such topics as the role of air-conditioning in the lives of its main characters. Pioneering a hip, contemporary approach to English language South Asian fiction, it was considered by some critics to be "the most interesting novel that came out of [its] generation of subcontinent (English) writing."[13] In the New York Review of Books, Anita Desai noted:

One could not really continue to write, or read about, the slow seasonal changes, the rural backwaters, gossipy courtyards, and traditional families in a world taken over by gun-running, drug-trafficking, large-scale industrialism, commercial entrepreneurship, tourism, new money, nightclubs, boutiques... Where was the Huxley, the Orwell, the Scott Fitzgerald, or even the Tom Wolfe, Jay McInerney, or Brett Easton Ellis to record this new world? Mohsin Hamid's novel Moth Smoke, set in Lahore, is one of the first pictures we have of that world.[14]

His second novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, told the story of a Pakistani man who decides to leave his high-flying life in America after a failed love affair and the terrorist attacks of 9/11. It was published in 2007 and became a million-copy international best seller, reaching No.4 on the New York Times Best Seller list.[15] [16] The novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, won several awards including the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and the Asian American Literary Award, and was translated into over 25 languages. The Guardian selected it as one of the books that defined the decade.[17]

Like Moth Smoke, The Reluctant Fundamentalist was formally experimental. The novel uses the unusual device of a dramatic monologue in which the Pakistani protagonist continually addresses an American listener who is never heard from directly. (Hamid has said The Fall by Albert Camus served as his model.[18] [19]) According to one commentator, because of this technique:

maybe we the readers are the ones who jump to conclusions; maybe the book is intended as a Rorschach to reflect back our unconscious assumptions. In our not knowing lies the novel's suspense... Hamid literally leaves us at the end in a kind of alley, the story suddenly suspended; it's even possible that some act of violence might occur. But more likely, we are left holding the bag of conflicting worldviews. We're left to ponder the symbolism of Changez having been caught up in the game of symbolism—a game we ourselves have been known to play.[20]

In an interview in May 2007, Hamid said of the brevity of The Reluctant Fundamentalist: "I'd rather people read my book twice than only half-way through."[21]

His third novel, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, was excerpted by The New Yorker in their 24 September 2012 issue and by Granta in their Spring 2013 issue, and was released in March 2013 by Riverhead Books.[22] [23] As with his previous books, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia bends conventions of both genre and form. Narrated in the second person, it tells the story of the protagonist's ("your") journey from impoverished rural boy to tycoon in an unnamed contemporary city in "rising Asia," and of his pursuit of the nameless "pretty girl" whose path continually crosses but never quite converges with his. Stealing its shape from the self-help books devoured by ambitious youths all over "rising Asia," the novel is playful but also quite profound in its portrayal of the thirst for ambition and love in a time of shattering economic and social upheaval. In her New York Times review of the novel, Michiko Kakutani called it "deeply moving," writing that How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia "reaffirms [Hamid's] place as one of his generation's most inventive and gifted writers."[24]

Hamid has also written on politics, art, literature, travel, and other topics, most recently on Pakistan's internal division and extremism in an op-ed for the New York Times.[25] His journalism, essays, and stories have appeared in TIME, The Guardian, Dawn,[26] The New York Times, The Washington Post,[27] The International Herald Tribune,[28] the Paris Review, and other publications. In 2013 he was named one of the world's 100 Leading Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine.

Hamid's fourth novel, Exit West (2017), is about a young couple, Nadia and Saeed, and their relationship in a time when the world is taken by storm by migrants. It was shortlisted for the 2017 Booker Prize.

His novels have also been criticised for providing a limited, often one-dimensional representation of Muslim existence, invoking religious symbols/beliefs only to associate them with possibly fundamentalist or terror-sympathising leanings.[29]

Personal life

Hamid moved to Lahore in 2009 with his wife Zahra and their daughter Dina (born on 14 August 2009). He now divides his time between Pakistan and abroad, living between Lahore, New York, and London.[30] Hamid has described himself as a "mongrel"[31] and has said of his writing that "a novel can often be a divided man’s conversation with himself".[32] He is a dual British and Pakistani citizen.[33]

Bibliography

Novels

Short fiction

Stories[34]
width=25%TitleYearFirst publishedReprinted/collectedNotes
The face in the mirror2022Hamid, Mohsin . May 16, 2022 . . The New Yorker . 98 . 12 . 60–67 . 2023-08-10-->.

Non-fiction

———————

Notes

Awards and honours

Hamid has personally been rewarded a number of times. In 2013, Foreign Policy named him one of their "100 Leading Global Thinkers."[35] In 2018, he was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, as well as a Sitara-i-Imtiaz in Pakistan.

Awards and honours for Hamid's writing!Year!Work!Award/Honour!Result!Ref.
2000Moth SmokeThe New York Times Notable Book of the YearSelection[36] [37]
2001Betty Trask AwardWinner[38]
Hemingway Foundation/PEN AwardShortlist[39]
2007The Reluctant FundamentalistBooker PrizeShortlist[40]
New York Times Notable Book of the YearSelection
2008Ambassador Book Award of the English Speaking UnionWinner
Anisfield-Wolf Book AwardWinner
Arts Council England Decibel AwardShortlist
Asian American Literary AwardWinner[41]
Australia-Asia Literary AwardShortlist[42]
Commonwealth Writers Prize (Eurasia Region, Best Book) Shortlist[43]
Index on Censorship T R Fyvel AwardNominee[44]
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for FictionShortlist[45]
South Bank Show Annual Award for LiteratureWinner[46]
2009International Dublin Literary AwardShortlist[47]
Premio Speciale Dal Testo Allo Schermo
2013How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising AsiaDSC Prize for South Asian LiteratureShortlist[48]
Tiziano Terzani International Literary PrizeWinner[49]
2014International Literature AwardShortlist[50]
2017Exit WestKirkus PrizeShortlist[51]
Booker PrizeShortlist[52]
Neustadt International Prize for LiteratureShortlist[53]
New York Times Best Book of the YearTop 10[54]
Shortlist[55]
2018Aspen Words Literary PrizeWinner[56] [57]
British Science Fiction Association AwardShortlist[58]
Dayton Literary Peace PrizeShortlist[59]
LA Times Book PrizeWinner[60]
National Book Critics Circle AwardShortlist
Rathbones Folio PrizeShortlist[61]

Further references

External links

Official
Interviews

Notes and References

  1. News: After 60 Years, Will Pakistan Be Reborn?. Hamid. Mohsin. 15 August 2007. The New York Times. 7 November 2019.
  2. News: Mohsin Hamid: A Muslim novelist's eye on U.S. and Europe. Perlez. Jane. 12 October 2007. The New York Times. 13 November 2018.
  3. Web site: The Reluctant Fundamentalist . 2022-03-03 . Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards . en-US.
  4. Hamid. Mohsin. 1993. Sustainable Power: Integrated Resource Planning in Pakistan.
  5. News: Why I write: Mohsin Hamid. Kinson. Sarah. 6 June 2008. The Guardian. 13 November 2018.
  6. News: A Novel Idea. Rice. Lewis. 18 July 2000. Harvard Law Bulletin. 13 November 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181114100427/https://today.law.harvard.edu/book-review/novel-idea/. 14 November 2018. dead.
  7. News: Akhil and Mohsin Get Paid: Moonlighting Salomon Smith Barney, McKinsey Guys Write Novels. Thomas Jr.. Landon. 23 April 2001. Observer. 13 November 2018.
  8. News: Preston . Alex . 2018-08-11 . Mohsin Hamid: ‘It’s important not to live one’s life gazing towards the future’ . en-GB . The Observer . 2023-06-26 . 0029-7712.
  9. News: Mohsin Hamid on becoming a UK citizen. Hamid. Mohsin. 9 September 2007. The Guardian. 13 November 2018.
  10. Web site: Profile – Mohsin Hamid. 8 November 2007. Design Week. 13 November 2018.
  11. News: Why Companies Need Novelists. Grothaus. Michael. 1 May 2015. Fast Company. 13 November 2018.
  12. Web site: Anisfield-Wolf Award citation . 2 January 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090208013119/http://anisfield-wolf.org/Winners/Biography.aspx?id=942 . 8 February 2009 . dead .
  13. Basu, Shrabani (7 October 2007). "The Crescent and the Pen," The Telegraph (Calcutta)
  14. Desai, Anita (21 December 2000). "Passion in Lahore" New York Review of Books
  15. https://archive.today/20130721085533/http://x.dawn.com/2012/08/28/exclusive-taking-a-hermit-to-a-party-and-letting-him-dance "Taking a hermit to a party and letting him dance"
  16. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/books/bestseller/0429besthardfiction.html?_r=1 Best Sellers, Hardcover Fiction
  17. Web site: Books of the decade . 2009-12-05 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20230306042145/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/dec/05/books-of-the-noughties . 2023-03-06 . live .
  18. Freeman, John (30 March 2007). "Critical Outakes: Mohsin Hamid on Camus, Immigration, and Love", Critical Mass.
  19. News: The Stranger - Questions for Mohsin Hamid. Solomon. Deborah. 15 April 2007. The New York Times. 14 November 2018.
  20. Kerr, Sarah (11 October 2007). "In the Terror House of Mirrors". New York Review of Books.
  21. News: Mohsin Hamid - Pakistani writer Mohsin Hamid gets an enthusiastic welcome on his first visit to India.. Reddy. Sheela. 14 May 2007. Outlook India. 14 November 2018.
  22. The Third-Born. Hamid. Mohsin. 24 September 2012. The New Yorker. 14 November 2018.
  23. http://www.granta.com/Archive/122 Granta Issue 122: Betrayal
  24. News: Love and Ambition in a Cruel New World. Kakutani. Michiko. 21 February 2013. The New York Times. 13 November 2018.
  25. News: To Fight India, We Fought Ourselves. Hamid. Mohsin. 21 February 2013. The New York Times. 13 November 2018.
  26. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/editorial/Paying-for-Pakistan-750 "Paying for Pakistan"
  27. News: Why Do They Hate Us?. Hamid. Mohsin. 22 July 2007. The Washington Post. 13 November 2018.
  28. https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B06E4D6173FF93BA25750C0A96F9C8B63&sec=&spon= "Flailing, But Not Yet Failing"
  29. Web site: Mian. Zain R.. 2019-01-19. Willing representatives: Mohsin Hamid and Pakistani literature abroad. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20201220205908/https://herald.dawn.com/news/1398781. 2020-12-20. 2021-03-06. Herald Magazine. en.
  30. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/how-i-solved-it-new-york-or-lahore "How I Solved It: New York or Lahore?" The New Yorker 10 May 2017
  31. The Pathos of Exile. 18 August 2003. TIME.
  32. http://www.powells.com/essays/mohsin.html "My Reluctant Fundamentalist"
  33. News: Mohsin Hamid: A Muslim novelist's eye on U.S. And Europe . The New York Times . 12 October 2007 . Perlez . Jane .
  34. Short stories unless otherwise noted.
  35. https://foreignpolicy.com/2013_global_thinkers/public/hamid "Leading Global Thinkers of 2013"
  36. Web site: Mohsin Hamid - Literature . 2022-03-03 . British Council.
  37. News: The New York Times – Holiday Books 2000 . . 7 April 2015.
  38. Web site: Prizes, grants and awards: Betty Trask Prizes and Awards (past winners) . dead . The Society of Authors . London, UK . https://web.archive.org/web/20070927193150/http://www.societyofauthors.net/soa/page_id_sub.php4?parentid=7&pid=52&par_nm=Prizes,%20grants%20and%20awards . 27 September 2007.
  39. Web site: Desnoyers . Megan . News Release: 2001 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award and the L.L. Winship/PEN New England Award Recipients Announced . dead . John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum . https://web.archive.org/web/20070929104451/http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK+Library+and+Museum/News+and+Press/2001+Hemingway+Foundation+PEN+Award+and+the+LL+Winship+PEN+New+England+Award+Recipients+Announced.html . 29 September 2007.
  40. Web site: The Reluctant Fundamentalist . 2022-03-03 . The Booker Prizes . en.
  41. Web site: Awards . https://web.archive.org/web/20110718223825/http://www.aaww.org/aaww_awards.html . 2011-07-18 . 2022-03-03 . The Asian-American Writers' Workshop.
  42. Web site: Australia-Asia Literary Award . https://web.archive.org/web/20110219152920/http://dca.wa.gov.au/programs/Initiatives/australia-asia_literary_award . 2011-02-19 . 2022-03-03 . Government of Western Australia: Department of Culture and the Arts.
  43. Web site: Commonwealth Writers' Prize Shortlist Book awards . 2022-03-03 . LibraryThing.
  44. Web site: 2008-03-19 . PAST EVENT: Freedom of Expression Awards 2008: the nominees . 2022-03-03 . Index on Censorship . en-GB.
  45. Web site: 2016-04-14 . Top writers in running for literary prize . 2022-03-03 . The University of Edinburgh . en.
  46. Web site: 2009-01-01 . South Bank Show Awards 2008 . 2022-03-03 . West End Theatre . en-GB.
  47. Web site: Flood . Alison . 2009-06-11 . Debut novelist takes €100,000 Impac Dublin prize . 2022-03-03 . the Guardian . en.
  48. News: Ashlin Mathew . 22 November 2013 . Three Indians in race for DSC prize for South Asian Literature 2014 . . 22 November 2013.
  49. Web site: "Tiziano Terzani Prize" Press Release . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140728085717/http://www.vicinolontano.it/premio-terzani/edizione-2014/tiziano-terzani-prize-press-release-english/ . 28 July 2014 . 20 June 2014.
  50. News: Mankani . Mahjabeen . 20 June 2014 . Mohsin Hamid's novel shortlisted for International Literary Award . Dawn . 14 November 2018.
  51. Web site: 2016-12-06 . Exit West . 2022-03-03 . Kirkus Reviews.
  52. Web site: Exit West . 2022-03-03 . The Booker Prizes . en.
  53. Web site: 2017-09-05 . Finalists for the 2018 Neustadt International Prize for Literature . 2022-03-03 . Neustadt Prizes . en-US.
  54. News: 2017-11-30 . The 10 Best Books of 2017 . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-03-03 . 0362-4331.
  55. Web site: Kurt Andersen . 2017-08-21 . Awards: St. Francis College Literary . 2022-03-02 . Shelf Awareness.
  56. Web site: Schaub . Michael . 2022-02-28 . Finalists for Aspen Words Literary Prize Revealed . 2022-03-01 . Kirkus Reviews . en.
  57. Web site: Mohsin Hamid's 'Exit West' Wins First-Ever Aspen Words Literary Prize . Colin . Dwyer . . April 10, 2018 . December 12, 2023 . December 12, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231212122922/https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/04/10/600935188/watch-live-_____-wins-first-ever-aspen-words-literary-prize#:~:text=But%20just%20one%20work%20won,Tuesday%20in%20New%20York%20City. . live.
  58. Web site: 2020-03-22 . 2018 BSFA - Novel Winner and Nominees . 2022-03-02 . Awards Archive . en-US.
  59. Web site: 2018 . 2022-03-02 . Dayton Literary Peace Prize . en.
  60. Web site: BookPrizes by Award - 2019 . 2022-03-03 . Festival of Books . en-US.
  61. Web site: Announcing: the Rathbones Folio Prize 2018 Shortlist . 2022-03-03 . The Rathbones Folio Prize . en-GB.