The Calcutta Chromosome

The Calcutta Chromosome
First UK edition
AuthorAmitav Ghosh
LanguageEnglish
GenreThriller, speculative fiction
PublisherPicador
Publication date
1996
Publication placeIndia
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages309
ISBN0-330-34758-6
OCLC35759000

The Calcutta Chromosome is a 1996[1] English-language novel by Indian author Amitav Ghosh. The book, set in Calcutta and New York City at some unspecified time in the future, is a medical thriller that dramatizes the adventures of people who are brought together by a mysterious turn of events. The book is loosely based on the life and times of Sir Ronald Ross, the Nobel Prize–winning scientist who achieved a breakthrough in malaria research in 1898.[2][3][4][5] The novel was the recipient of the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1997.[6]

Ghosh employs a factual background for the invented events in the novel, drawing upon Ross's Memoirs which were published in 1923.

  1. ^ Ghosh, Amitav (1996). The Calcutta Chromosome. London: Picador. p. iv. ISBN 0 330 34758 6.
  2. ^ Diane M. Nelson (July 2003). "A Social Science Fiction of Fevers, Delirium and Discovery: "The Calcutta Chromosome", the Colonial Laboratory, and the Postcolonial New Human". Science Fiction Studies. 30 (2): 246–266. JSTOR 4241172.
  3. ^ Ghosh, Amitav (2009). The Calcutta Chromosome : a Novel of Fevers, Delirium, and Discovery. Delhi: Penguin Books. ISBN 9780143066552.
  4. ^ Tiwari, Shubha (2003). Amitav Ghosh: A Critical Study. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. pp. 51–65. ISBN 9788126902996.
  5. ^ Ruby S. Ramraj (2012). "The Calcutta Chromosome : a Novel of Fevers, Delirium, and Discovery". In Chitra Sankaran (ed.). History, Narrative, and Testimony in Amitav Ghosh's Fiction. Albany: SUNY Press. pp. 191–204. ISBN 9781438441825.
  6. ^ Goyal, Kritika (2013). "The Calcutta Chromosome". Annals of Neurosciences. 20 (1): 36. doi:10.5214/ans.0972.7531.200112. PMC 4117097.