TOWARDS A LITERARY HISTORY OF INDIA

The customary view of the history of Indian Literature is that it is the sum-total of the histories of the literatures of the country. This monograph discards such a view and proposes instead a very different approach to the recording and evaluation of India's literary past. It argues that the literary record of a multi-lingual culture has to be recognized in terms quite other than those that apply to a uni-lingual culture and asserts that the new model which must be constructed for such recognition would find ample use for literary theories and principles that used to prevail in ancient and medieval India.

At the same time, the author recommends Western concepts of literary history and techniques of comparative literature as a discussable identity. He concludes by providing a working plan which he hopes will lead to the writing of a proper literary history of India.

About the Author

Sujit Mukherjee studied and taught English Literature at Patna University before be moved to the University of Poona. During 1960-63m he was at the University of Pennsylvania on Fulbright scholarship and completed his doctoral degree there. In 1975, he was a visiting professor (Madison) and taught courses in Indian Literature.

Since 1970 Dr Mukherjee has been working for a publishing firm at New Delhi. Apart from published papers and articles, he is the author of a book on Tagore in America, has jointly edited a collection of essays on American Literature by Indians, and published two books of translations form modern Bengali poetry into English.

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