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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{short description|book by Mulk Raj Anand}}
{{Infobox book| 
| name = Across the Black Waters
| title_orig =
| translator =
| image = Across the Black Waters.jpg
| image_caption = First edition
| author = [[Mulk Raj Anand]]
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| country = [[India]]
| language = [[English language|English]]
| series =
| genre =
| publisher =
| release_date = 1939
| english_release_date =
| media_type = Print
| pages =
| isbn =
| oclc = 4513599
| preceded_by = [[The Village (Anand novel)|The Village]]
| followed_by = [[The Sword and the Sickle]]
}}

'''''Across the Black Waters''''' is an [[English language|English]] novel by the [[India]]n writer [[Mulk Raj Anand]] first published in 1939. It describes the experience of Lalu, a [[sepoy]] in the [[Indian Army]] fighting on behalf of [[United Kingdom|Britain]] against the [[Germans]] in [[France]] during [[World War I]]. He is portrayed by the author as an innocent peasant whose poor family was evicted from their land and who only vaguely understands what the war is about. The book has been described as Anand's best work since the ''[[Untouchable (novel)|Untouchable]]''.<ref name="wadehra">{{cite news|last=Wadehra|first=Randeep|title=The war novel by Mulk Raj Anand|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2000/20000806/spectrum/books.htm|accessdate=9 December 2011|newspaper=Tribune of India|date=6 August 2000}}</ref>
<blockquote>In Lalu's tragedy lied the tragedy of the Indian village and Anand dramatizes a poignant truth: to disposses any one of land is to deny him an identity.—Basavaraj Naikar<ref name=naikar/></blockquote>
The book is part of a trilogy (along with ''[[The Village (Anand novel)|The Village]]'' and ''[[The Sword and the Sickle]]'') that chronicles the life of Lalu as he struggles to rise from the bottom of Indian society. In the background is [[Indian independence movement|India's fight for independence]].<ref name="mannmuseum">{{cite web|title=Anand wrote his Village trilogy: The Village, Across the Black Waters), and The Sword and the Sickle|url=http://www.mannmuseum.com/anand-wrote-his-village-trilogy-the-village-across-the-black-waters-and-the-sword-and-the-sickle/|publisher=mannmuseum.com/|accessdate=9 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111117162116/http://www.mannmuseum.com/anand-wrote-his-village-trilogy-the-village-across-the-black-waters-and-the-sword-and-the-sickle/|archive-date=17 November 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>
This book is the only Indian English novel that is set in World War I and portrays the experiences of Lalu, who only wants to reclaim the piece of land his family lost as a reward for serving. But when he returns from war, he finds his family destroyed and his parents dead.<ref name="naikar">{{cite book|last=Naikar|first=Basavaraj|title=Indian English literature, Volume 7|year=2008|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distributors|isbn=978-81-7373-441-0|pages=116–121|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_eFX0DpGlRYC&q=Across+the+Black+Waters&pg=PA112}}</ref> The novel's larger themes are that of war and death Lalu encounters Western culture.<ref name="Ramakrishna">{{cite book| last = Ramakrishna| first = D.| title = Anand's Vision of War and Death in ''Across the Black Waters'| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=rkLrzGUU9vUC&pg=PA95| year = 2007| publisher = Atlantic Publishers & Dist| isbn = 978-81-269-0399-3| pages = 96–104 }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* {{cite book| author = Mulk Raj Anand| title = Across the Black Waters| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=F1Rm3UchPEsC| year = 2008| publisher = Orient Paperbacks| isbn = 978-81-222-0258-8 }}
* {{cite journal | url=http://www.rupkatha.com/0102mulkrajanandspunjabtrilogy.pdf | title=Finding the Voice of the Peasant: Agriculture, Neocolonialism and Mulk Raj Anand's Punjab Trilogy | first=Jonathan | last=Highfield | journal=Rupkatha Journal | volume=1 | issue=2 | accessdate=27 June 2020 | via=rupkatha.com}}

{{Mulk Raj Anand}}

[[Category:Novels by Mulk Raj Anand]]
[[Category:1939 novels]]
[[Category:Indian English-language novels]]
[[Category:Novels set during World War I]]
[[Category:Novels set in France]]

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Across the Black Waters - Revision history

CleanupBot at 03:51, 2 June 2021