Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction: Multicultural Comparatism Part I: India and the Study of Comparative Literature 1 Beauty, Politics, and Cultural Otherness: The Bias of Literary Difference Patrick Colm Hogan Part II: Theorizing Cultural Difference and Cross-CulturalInvariance: Authors, Readers, and Literary Language 2 The Question of Authorship in Indian Literature Jeffrey Ebbesen 3 The Genre Theory in Sanskrit Poetics V. K. Chari 4 The Yolk in the Pea-Hen's Egg: Language as the Ultimate Reality W. P. Lehmann Part III: Interpreting Cultural Difference and Cross-Cultural Invariance: Precolonial, Colonial, and Postcolonial 5 Patriarchy and Paranoia: Imaginary Infidelity in Uttararamacarita and The Winter's Tale Lalita Pandit 6 Ray's Devi Norman N. Holland 7 The Poetics of Exile and the Politics of Home Una Chaudhuri Part IV: Hybridity and Universals: An Interlude 8 A Sense of Detail and a Sense of Order: Anita Desai Interviewed by Lalita Pandit Part V: Interpreting Literary Contact: Translation, Influence, and Writing Back 9 Translating Indian Literary Texts into English P. K. Saha 10 Nautanki and the Struggle for Independence, National Integration, and Social Change: A Brechtian Analysis Darius L. Swann 11 Caste, Race, and Nation: History and Dialectic inRabindranath Tagore's Gora Lalita Pandit Part VI: Theorizing Colonial Contact: Hybrid Identities and the Possibility of Postcolonial Culture 12 The Postcolonial Critic: Homi Bhabha Interviewed by David Bennett and Terry Collits 13 Culture, State, and the Rediscovery of Indian Politics Ashis Nandy Notes on Contributors Index

About the Author

Patrick Colm Hogan is Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Connecticut. Lalita Pandit is Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse.

Reviews

"The breadth of discussion of Indian literature is impressive. Texts analyzed range from classical Sanskrit works to contemporary films. Moreover, the use of comparative literature methodologies is certainly illuminating for those who have been schooled mainly in English literature or South Asian Studies. Comparatist approaches offer rich, new possibilities for literary and cultural analysis." - Janet M. Powers, Gettysburg College "In all essays India and its cultural concerns are firmly anchored in global cultural and theoretical perspectives. This focus makes for originality and insight." - Steven F. Walker, Rutgers University