Frontier cultures : a social history of Assamese literature / Manjeet Baruah.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baruah, Manjeet.

Contributor:

Dr. Craig Baxter Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Assamese literature--19th century--History and criticism.

Assamese literature.

Assamese literature--20th century--History and criticism.

Literature and society--India--Assam--History--19th century.

Literature and society.

Literature and society--India--Assam--History--20th century.

History.

Assam (India)--Intellectual life--19th century.

Assam (India).

Assam (India)--Intellectual life--20th century.

India--Assam.

Physical Description:

xiii, 205 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New Delhi : Routledge, 2012.

Summary:

This book looks at literature as a source of social history and region formation, focusing on the literary oeurve in and around the Brahmaputra Valley in Assam. In locating literature in the wider matrix of its historical geography, the author situates Assamese literature alongside the transformation that the region underwent from being a continental crossroad to a frontier.

In different chapters, the authors discusses how writers of modern Assamese literature between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries engaged with the ideal of 'Assamese' identity and the debates on what comprises 'Assamese' identity and the debates on what comprises 'Assamese' language and narratives. He also interrogates the manner in which such narratives have addressed the problem of literature, accommodating or representing multiple senses of belonging and identities in the context of region formation. Based on recent trends in Assamese literature, the author critically explores the possibility of developing 'frontier narratives' in modern Assamese fiction.

The book will be of interest to those in the fields of comparative literature, literary studies, sociology, history and postcolonial studies. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part I Situating the Problem

Introduction 3

1 The Valley, Frontier and the Question of 'Order' 15

2 Buranjis and Sankari Culture: Language and Narrative in Pre-colonial Textual Traditions 41

3 Language Shift and Narrative: Pre-colonial Continential Crossroad to Colonial Frontier 76

Towards a Conclusion 98

Part II Literature and Socio-spatial Relations

Introduction 109

4 Language and Narrative: Negotiating between Difference and Contradiction 113

5 Narrative and Social Base: The Irony of Breakdown 140

6 Reinventing Frontier Narrative 155

Conclusion 169.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [193]-200) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Dr. Craig Baxter Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

041550080X

9780415500807

OCLC:

783522611

Publisher Number:

99948023797