Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South AsiaSheldon Pollock A grand synthesis of unprecedented scope, Literary Cultures in History is the first comprehensive history of the rich literary traditions of South Asia. Together these traditions are unmatched in their combination of antiquity, continuity, and multicultural complexity, and are a unique resource for understanding the development of language and imagination over time. In this unparalleled volume, an international team of renowned scholars considers fifteen South Asian literary traditions—including Hindi, Indian-English, Persian, Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Urdu—in their full historical and cultural variety. The volume is united by a twofold theoretical aim: to understand South Asia by looking at it through the lens of its literary cultures and to rethink the practice of literary history by incorporating non-Western categories and processes. The questions these seventeen essays ask are accordingly broad, ranging from the character of cosmopolitan and vernacular traditions to the impact of colonialism and independence, indigenous literary and aesthetic theory, and modes of performance. A sophisticated assimilation of perspectives from experts in anthropology, political science, history, literary studies, and religion, the book makes a landmark contribution to historical cultural studies and to literary theory in addition to the new perspectives it offers on what literature has meant in South Asia. (Available in South Asia from Oxford University Press--India) |
Contents
| 1 | |
PART 1 GLOBALIZING LITERARY CULTURES | 37 |
PART 2 LITERATURE IN SOUTHERN LOCALES | 269 |
PART 3 THE CENTRALITY OF BORDERLANDS | 501 |
Other editions - View all
Literary Cultures In History: Reconstructions From South Asia Sheldon I. Pollock No preview available - 2003 |
Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia Sheldon Pollock No preview available - 2003 |
Common terms and phrases
ŞAbd ŞAli aesthetic aiva al-Din anthology Apabhramsha Asian Bangla bhakti Brahman British Buddhist Calcutta Caminataiyar chapter Cilappatikaram colonial commentary composed context cosmopolitan court critical Delhi discourse earlier early Edited eighteenth English epic erary example genre ghazal grammar Gujarati Hindi Hindu Indian Indian-English inscriptions Iranian Islamic Jain Kannada Kavirajamarga kavya Kerala king language later learned linguistic liter literary history literature Mahabharata Malayalam Manipravalam meaning medieval meter modern Mughal Muhammad Muslim Na3ir Nannaya narrative oral Pali period Persian poem poet’s poetic poetry poets political Pollock practice Prakrit premodern produced prose Qa{i Rama Ramayana regional religious Sahitya Sanskrit literary culture scholars script Shah Sindhi Sinhala Sinhala literary skrit social South Asia Sri Lanka story style Tamil literary tazkirah Telugu temple texts textual themes Tibet Tibetan Tikkana tion tradition translation ture University Press Urdu vacanakaras Vai3nava vernacular verse Vira4aiva vols words writing wrote