Gender, sex, and the city : Urdu Rekhtī poetry in India, 1780-1870 / Ruth Vanita.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Vanita, Ruth.

Series:

Literatures and cultures of the Islamic world

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Urdu poetry--18th century--History and criticism.

Urdu poetry.

Urdu poetry--19th century--History and criticism.

Physical Description:

xii, 296 pages ; 25 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.

Summary:

"This book explores the urban, cosmopolitan sensibilities of Urdu poetry written in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in Lucknow, which was the center of a flourishing Indo-Islamic culture. Ruth Vanita analyzes Rekhti, a type of Urdu poetry distinguished by a female speaker and a focus on women's lives, and shows how it became a catalyst for the transformation of the ghazal"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1 Women in the City: Fashioning the Self 41

2 Eloquent Parrots: Gender and Language 75

3 Servants, Vendors, Artisans: The City's Many Voices 97

4 Neither Straight nor Crooked: Love and Friendship in the City 115

5 Playfully Speaking: Transforming Literary Convention 145

6 "I'm a Real Sweetheart": Masculinity and Male-Male Desire 175

7 Styling Urban Glamour: Courtesan and Poet 189

8 Camping It Up: Jan Sahib and His School 213

9 A Poetics of Play: Hybridity, Difference, Modernity 233.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780230340640

0230340644

OCLC:

744287262