The Invention of Private Life: Literature and Ideas

Sudipta Kaviraj

Published by Columbia University Press 2015

The Invention of Private Life

Literature and Ideas

Sudipta Kaviraj

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780231539548

Overview
Contents

About this book

The essays in this volume, which lie at the intersection of the study of literature, social theory, and intellectual history, locate serious reflections on modernity's complexities in the vibrant currents of modern Indian literature, particularly in the realms of fiction, poetry, and autobiography. Sudipta Kaviraj shows that Indian writers did more than adopt new literary trends in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They deployed these innovations to interrogate fundamental philosophical questions of modernity. Issues central to modern European social theory grew into significant themes within Indian literary reflection, such as the influence of modernity on the nature of the self, the nature of historicity, the problem of evil, the character of power under the conditions of modern history, and the experience of power as felt by an individual subject of the modern state.

How does modern politics affect the personality of a sensitive individual? Is love possible between intensely self-conscious people, and how do individuals cope with the transience of affections or the fragility of social ties? Kaviraj argues that these inquiries inform the heart of modern Indian literary tradition and that writers, such as Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay, Rabindranath Tagore, and Sibnath Sastri, performed immeasurably important work helping readers to think through the predicament of modern times.

Author / Editor information

Sudipta Kaviraj is professor of Indian politics and intellectual history at Columbia University.

Reviews

Partha Chatterjee, Columbia University:
Sudipta Kaviraj is one of the foremost scholars anywhere in the world working on South Asia. A master of the essay form, his writings on political theory and Indian politics show him to be a scholar of vast erudition, subtle analytical skill, and brilliant humor.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction: Literature as the Mirror of Modernity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. On the Advantages of Being a Barbarian Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	11
2. Literature and the Moral Imaginations of Modernity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	22
3. The Two Histories of Literary Culture in Bengal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	40
4. A Strange Love of Abstractions The Making of a Language of Patriotism in Modern Bengali Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	119
5. Tagore and Transformations in the Ideals of Love Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	160
6. The Poetry of Interiority The Creation of a Language of Modern Subjectivity in Tagore’s Poetry The Creation of a Language of Modern Subjectivity in Tagore’s Poetry Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
7. Laughter and Subjectivity The Self-Ironical Tradition in Bengali Literature Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
8. Reading a Song of the City Images of the City in Literature and Films Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	253
9. The Art of Despair The Sense of the City in Modern Bengali Poetry Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	274
10. The Invention of Private Life Reading of Sibnath Sastri’s Autobiography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	303
11. The Second Mahabharata Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	337
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	361

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Edition: Pilot project. eBook available to selected US libraries only
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 376

eBook

Published: March 30, 2015
ISBN: 9780231539548