The recent convergence of literary and historical theory has made literary history one of the most exciting fields in the humanities. New frameworks for understanding literature and its relation to history have emerged. The cultural conditions of creating texts as well as the textual production of cultural meaning are now important aspects of literary history. This book, the first major reassessment of literary history in nineteenth-century India for a generation, opens up this emerging field of literary history to nineteenth-century India. It essays emphasise the making of literary history, the process of canonisation, the reinvention of literary tradition, and the writing of literary history itself. A central premise of the book is that when European literary cultures arrived in India, they came into contact with popular performance forms and complex literary cultures that had their own histories. The essays also reach beyond the obvious genres and include little-known texts, situating them within a wider debate about national origins, linguistic identities, and political entitlements. Spanning a range of topics—print culture and oral tales, drama and gender, library use and publishing history, theatre and audiences, detective fiction and low-caste novels—this book will appeal to historians, cultural theorists, sociologists, and all interested in understanding the multiplicity of India’s cultural traditions and literary histories.
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