5 Contemporary Artists on the Books That Inspire Them

Leading Indian artists such as Shilpa Gupta, Anju Dodiya and Thukral & Tagra share their favourite recent reads

- Shaikh Ayaz

ANJU DODIYA
The Professor and the Siren and The Leopard, by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
“It struck me that many of these modern Italian writers continue to use ancient mythology or the images from the art and literature of their ancestors, to evoke new, difficult, dark expressions. One story that was mesmerising was Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s The Professor and the Siren. An aging professor recalls an erotic encounter of his youth with Lighea, a sea creature, the muse of epic poetry. The exquisite, sensual narration is seeped in the knowledge of mortality, the deep hold of the attachments of human beings and nostalgia for a lost youth. The poetry and disturbing languor of this story made me want to read the same writer’s The Leopard (first published in 1958), made famous in the film version by Luchino Visconti.