Dialogues of the East and the West: Cross-Cultural Encounters in Indian Narratives and British Fiction, 1750-1840

FAIN: FT-61169-13

Mona Narain
Texas Christian University (Fort Worth, TX 76129-0001)

"Dialogues of the East and the West" enriches our understanding of East/West encounters and early modern global crossings by placing Europeans’ first encounters with India, as described in British fiction and historical travelogues, in dialogue with Indians’ accounts of Europeans. The book analyzes Indian texts in translation and Persian side by side with British texts to show the active exchange of literary representation that existed between 18th-century Britain and India. It argues that Indians viewed the West with a much more nuanced, sophisticated and cosmopolitan understanding than has been acknowledged so far due to a lack of study of Indian sources. In addition to providing a new framework for understanding the 18th-century Indian-British relationship, it also brings a valuable body of previously unknown materials to scholars' attention. Thus, the book articulates a composite, rather than a Eurocentered, picture of 18th-century Indian-British cross cultural encounters.