The Golden Gate

The Golden Gate is a verse novel composed of 590 Onegin stanzas, each a sonnet written in iambic tetrameter. Set in San Francisco during the 1980s, it follows the lives of yuppies—young urban professionals in their twenties and thirties, belonging to the upper middle class. These ambitious individuals are portrayed as being in constant pursuit of love, success, and adventure.

Vikram Seth captures their emotions and aspirations with remarkable skill. The novel was later adapted into an opera, with music by Conrad Cummings. For this work, Seth received widespread recognition, including the Sahitya Akademi Award for English in 1988.