Kama's Flowers

Ritter, Valerie:
Kāma's flowers : nature in Hindi poetry and criticism, 1885-1925 / Valerie Ritter. - Albany : State University of New York Press, 2011. - xxv, 340 S. - (SUNY series in Hindu studies)
ISBN 978-1-4384-3565-7
US$ 80,00
ISBN 978-1-4384-3567-1
US$ 20,00 (Ebook)
DDC: 891.43150936
-- Angekündigt für September 2011 --

Beschreibung
Kama's Flowers documents the transformation of Hindi poetry during the crucial period of 1885–1925. As Hindi was becoming a national language and Indian nationalism was emerging, Hindi authors articulated a North Indian version of modernity by re-visioning Nature. While their writing has previously been seen as an imitation of European Romanticism, Valerie Ritter shows its unique and particular function in North India. Description of the natural world recalled traditional poetics, particularly erotic and devotional poetics, but was now used to address socio-political concerns, as authors created literature to advocate for a “national character” and to address a growing audience of female readers.
   Examining Hindi classics, translations from English poetry, literary criticism, and little-known popular works, Ritter combines translations with fresh literary analysis to show the pivotal role of nature in how modernity was understood. Bringing a new body of literature to English-language readers, Kama's Flowers also reveals the origins of an influential visual culture that resonates today in Bollywood cinema. [Verlagsinformation]

Inhalt
Preface. ix
Acknowledgments. xix
Transliteration Conventions and Abbreviations. xxi
Note on Translations. xxiii
Abbreviations. xxv
1. Terms of Engagement: A Guide to the Assumptions of Hindi Poetics. 1
2. Critical Nature : Defining Hindi Poetic Modernity. 33
3. Nature in Translation: Goldsmith and Pope in Hindi. 65
4. Realizing Classical Poetics: Recasting Sanskritic Landscapes. 91
5. Independent Subjects: Modern Modes of Nature as a Literary Subject. 117
6. Embodying the World: A Macrocosm of Natural Objects. 143
7. Women Problems: Poetics without Śṛṅgāra. 161
8. A Critical Interlude: Rāmacandra Śukla and Natural Scenes in Poetry (1923). 195
9. The Prospect of Chāyāvād, 1920–25: Developing Perspectives on Natural Poetics. 219
Concluding Remarks. 243
Notes. 251
Bibliography. 297
Index. 309

Autorin
VALERIE RITTER received her PhD in Asian Languages and Literature from the University of Washington and has taught at the University of Chicago and the University of Virginia.

Quellen: State University of New York Press; Library of Congress; WorldCat; Amazon; Google Books