Extraordinary Experiences of an Ordinary Man
Malashri Lal
LORENZO SEARCHES FOR THE MEANING OF LIFE by By Upamanyu Chatterjee Speaking Tiger Books, 2024, 317 pp., INR 699.00
October 2024, volume 48, No 10

‘The whispering of none be heard…’ —St. Benedict

Upamanyu Chatterjee has spun an eloquent novel using different threads of silence. The principal site is a Benedictine monastery outside Padua in Italy. In the foyer stands an ancient statue of Time displaying ‘the physique of a young man who spends twenty hours a day at the gym’, but the figure sports a ‘hoary old head’ (p. 17), and his hand holds a skull and a holy book, Memento Mori. Such an opening chapter presages what the reader might expect: spiritual mystique, cultural transitions, inner quest, rituals and philosophies of introspection, and an ironic authorial voice. It takes a brilliant writer to weave these intrinsic silences into a gripping tale.
Nineteen-year-old Lorenzo Senesi of our modern times is strangely drawn to the Benedictine Order of the Praglia Abbey, founded in 1080, and still guided by the strict Rule of St. Benedict which is often quoted in the novel. Lorenzo appears as a casual visitor but leaves as an acolyte, quite convinced that his search for a meaningful life will be channelled through this monastery. He surrenders all ‘for monks should not even count their own bodies and wills as their own’ (p. 68), and submits to the rigour of study, silence, and manual work at the abbey, mainly focusing on theological concepts.

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