Unlike all of Ghosh’s previous works,

(2004) is set in a single place, the Sundarbans, or “tide country”, region of West Bengal, a unique landscape of mangrove-forested islands and mudflats at the mouth of Ganges Delta. The novel includes numerous quotations from the

and Rilke’s belief that “life is lived in transformation” (

7) is central to Ghosh’s representation of the area. He accentuates the extent to which the Sundarbans undergoes constant metamorphoses, both because of daily tidal flows, with sections of land being temporarily submerged and with seawater and freshwater intermingling, and because of the periodic devastation wrought by extreme monsoon and cyclonic weather. At the same time the novel also depicts the tide country as the…

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Citation: Thieme, John. "The Hungry Tide". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 December 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=19302, accessed 27 November 2024.]