Shortly after the release of his widely acclaimed debut novel, The Guru of Love , in 2003, Samrat Upadhyay mused over his philosophy of writing and teaching.

"A lot of my younger students are told to 'only write whatyou know,' and this is mostly true," he said then. "Butthis advice confuses them in the sense that they only feel theycan write about the experiences of their own lives. The Chinesewriter Ha Jin said literature brings people together. It doesn'tdivide them. I believe that the recognition of self in othersis the primary function of literature."

The recognition of self in others. In Guru ,the Nepalese-born Upadhyay, now a professor of creative writingat Indiana University in Bloomington, explores the universalstruggles facing his native countrymen. Think Nepal, and you'relikely to envision a mysterious, faraway land with Buddhist temples,snow-covered mountain peaks, monsoons, and the mythical Kathmandu.But Upadhyay focuses less on the exotic and more on daily dealingslike falling in love, getting married, lusting after the forbidden,staying faithful, and finding happiness.

"The problems I write about in the book are universal eventhough they are specific. People want love. They want to marry.People are surprised to find that (the Nepalese people) strugglewith the same things they do," says Upadhyay, who is thefirst Nepalese-born fiction writer to be published in the West.

Critics have been nearly universal in their praise of Upadhyay'swork. Guru has been named a New York Times NotableBook, the San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of theYear, a Book Sense 76 pick, and a finalist for the Kiriyama Prize.This recognition came after the success of Upadhyay's first book,the short story collection Arresting God in Kathmandu ,which earned him the 2001 Whiting Writers' Award, given annuallyto emerging poets and fiction writers.

Upadhyay, who was born and raised in Kathmandu and lived thereuntil he turned 21, says Guru , which chronicles a doomedlove affair between an unhappy and overworked math teacher andone of his students, addresses how individuals negotiate withinthe constraints placed upon them by society, the workings ofthe male-female relationship, and "the back and forth" betweenthe two sexes.

Set in Kathmandu in the 1990s against a tumultuous landscape,the book reflects Upadhyay's growing political sensibilitiesand concern about the attack on democracy currently being wagedby a violent Maoist insurgency. The rebellion has left thousandsdead and has crippled an economy heavily dependent on tourism.

"With Guru , I was just touching upon things,but lately because of the current situation in Nepal, I havebecome much more interested in not only the social fabric, butalso the political fabric and how individuals respond to it," hesays.

While the political situation in Nepal has caused his languageto become "a bit harsher," Upadhyay doesn't see himselfbecoming a political spokesperson. He says, "I'm still notwriting political stories in the overt sense. Politics interestsme only in terms of how it affects the lives of individuals."

Upadhyay's forthcoming work The Royal Ghosts: Stories ,due out in early 2006, examines Kathmandu during political crisisas well as the effects of the city on the individual.

NOTE: Listen to Samrat Upadhyay read from his debut novel, The Guru of Love , at http://www.nytimes.com/audiopages/2003/01/12/books/audio-upadhyay.html

Other IU novelists and poets will take part in the 65th IU Writers Conference, June 5-10. For more, see http://www.indiana.edu/~writecon