Amal Chatterjee
(Macmillan UK & St Martin's Press USA, 1998)
This
book considers how
writing
in that century justified and was affected by the 
introduction
and extension
of British domination of India, thus demonstrating the link between
writing
and the ideological, economic and political climate and debates. It
proposes
that initial interest in the great wealth gained in India by 'Nabobs'
was
gradually concealed behind ideas of military, social, religious and
racial
superiority, thus laying the foundations for the Victorian excuse of a
'civilising
mission'. Drawing a range of fiction and non-fiction, it analyses
examples
of representations of Britons in India (traders, soldiers and
administrators),
Indian religion and religious practices (religion itself, and the
practices
of Sati and 'Thuggee'), and Indian society, government and rulers (with
a
separate study of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan). By doing so, this book
fills
the gap between the early colonial 'exotic East' and the later
'primitive
subject nation' perceptions.
introduction
and extension
of British domination of India, thus demonstrating the link between
writing
and the ideological, economic and political climate and debates. It
proposes
that initial interest in the great wealth gained in India by 'Nabobs'
was
gradually concealed behind ideas of military, social, religious and
racial
superiority, thus laying the foundations for the Victorian excuse of a
'civilising
mission'. Drawing a range of fiction and non-fiction, it analyses
examples
of representations of Britons in India (traders, soldiers and
administrators),
Indian religion and religious practices (religion itself, and the
practices
of Sati and 'Thuggee'), and Indian society, government and rulers (with
a
separate study of Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan). By doing so, this book
fills
the gap between the early colonial 'exotic East' and the later
'primitive
subject nation' perceptions.Hardback ISBN 0-333-68942-9
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