Colonizing the realm of words : the transformation of Tamil literature in nineteenth-century South India / Sascha Ebeling.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ebeling, Sascha.

Series:

SUNY series in Hindu studies.

SUNY series in Hindu studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

Tamil literature.

Literature and society--India, South--History--19th century.

Literature and society.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (382 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

A true tour de force, this book documents the transformation of one Indian literature, Tamil, under the impact of colonialism and Western modernity. While Tamil is a living language, it is also India's second oldest classical language next to Sanskrit, and has a literary history that goes back over two thousand years. On the basis of extensive archival research, Sascha Ebeling tackles a host of issues pertinent to Tamil elite literary production and consumption during the nineteenth century. These include the functioning and decline of traditional systems in which poet-scholars were patronized by religious institutions, landowners, and local kings; the anatomy of changes in textual practices, genres, styles, poetics, themes, tastes, and audiences; and the role of literature in the politics of social reform, gender, and incipient nationalism. The work concludes with a discussion of the most striking literary development of the time—the emergence of the Tamil novel.

Contents:

Introduction

Mapping the universe of the pulavar

Pulavars and potentates : structures of literary patronage at the Zamindars' courts and beyond

Towards the modern Tamil author : the colonial critique of the "vernacular" and mayuram

The emergence of the Tamil novel

Epilogue.

Notes:

Based on the author's thesis (doctoral)--Universitat zu Koln, 2005.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 299-340) and index.

ISBN:

9781438432014

1438432011

9781441674098

1441674098

OCLC:

670429592