kolkata an extract from jhumpa lahiris the lowland published recently in the new yorker previews the pulitzer prizewinning authors new novel as a story of brotherly love in a calcutta buffeted by the revolutionary winds of naxalbari the book to be released in september coincides with renewed interest in indian and global literary circles in the 1967 uprising as the fountainhead of the maoist insurgency in india and the keystone in the understanding of conflicts that batter a country positioning itself as an economic superpower and making the transition from the third world to the first a major work of fiction by a novelist of lahiris stature academics and writers feel could serve to enhance understanding of the complex subject and kindle global interest in the conflicts within india which could ultimately lead to a solution its a critical phase of bengals history and with jhumpa lahiri writing it should make for intense and powerful fiction says supriya chaudhuri professor of english literature at jadavpur university while it may not change the way the world looks at the naxalbari movement it will help refocus attention on it she adds pointing out that nobel laureate v s naipaul too touched upon the leftwing rebellion in andhra pradesh in half a life the maoists themselves inadvertently or otherwise drew attention to naxalbari earlier this year when they launched their biggest attack ever on the political class killing former union minister v c shukla salwa judum founder mahendra karma and other congress leaders crossing a forested area of chhattisgarh in a convoy the date was may 25 the same as 1967 when the killing of peasants in naxalbari gave birth to the movement spearheaded by charu majumdar naxalbari and naxalism have over the years however stayed in collective consciousness due to a large body of work at the head of it books like mahasweta devis hajaar churashir maa and films like mrinal sens padatik and calcutta 71 ritwik ghataks jukti tokko aar goppo buddhadeb dasguptas andhi gali and more recently sudhir mishras hazaaron khwaishein aisi and prakash jhas chakravyuh the lowland could however broaden the dimension of the discourse says red sun author sudeep chakravarti who chronicled his travel to naxalbari in the book chakravarti who is touring the us to discuss the maoist rebellion says jhumpa lahiri being who she is i am sure many in north america will now order her book along with their morning latte that will be wonderful actually as it could broaden horizons in those insular lands i have not read her new work but i gather it is set in the 1960s a time long past in terms of leftwing rebellion in india but fiction has a natural charm which could endear a historical yet often understated moment in modern indias evolution swapan chakraborty former director general of the national library says its effect on the discourse will depend on the quality of the book if its well written it will certainly reach