Abstract

Focusing specifically on the poetic construction of India, ‘Mapping the Nation’ offers a broad selection of poetry written by Indians in English during the period 1870–1920. Centering upon the “mapping” of India – both as a regional location and as a poetic ideal – this unique anthology presents poetry from various geographical nodal points of the subcontinent, as well as that written in the imperial metropole of England, to illustrate how the variety of India’s poetical imagining corresponded to the diversity of her inhabitants and geography.

“‘Mapping the Nation’ encompasses tumultuous change in the history of British colonialism and Indian nationalism as reflected in, and even shaped by, the poetry of the day. This anthology will prove to be invaluable as a postcolonial scholar’s guide and a university teacher’s toolkit for exploring Indian poetry under the aegis of Empire.” —Dr Alpana Sharma, Wright State University, Ohio

“It is a truth seldom acknowledged that Indian literary history would be incomplete without some account of modern Indian poetry in English. ‘Mapping the Nation’ accomplishes a substantial service, filling a need by ranging across the diverse productions of an era crucial to the mapping not only of nation, but of secular modernity and metropolitan identity, showcasing brilliantly the unlikely materials that in some part constitute contemporary Indian discourse to this day.” —Dr Rosinka Chaudhuri, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta

Sheshalatha Reddy is Assistant Professor of English at Howard University in Washington, DC.

Focusing specifically on the poetic construction of India, ‘Mapping the Nation’ offers a broad selection of poetry written by Indians in English during the period 1870–1920. Centering upon the “mapping” of India – both as a regional location and as a poetic ideal – this unique anthology presents poetry from various geographical nodal points of the subcontinent, as well as that written in the imperial metropole of England.

The anthology’s selection defines India in various ways: as being against Britain in loyalty and/or critique; in “exile” in or through memories of England; through a reconstructed past; through satirical or earnest depictions of her contemporary politics; through depictions of the subcontinent’s landscape and scenery; through her various regions and their inhabitants, customs, cultures and religions; or through odes to British and Indian literary figures and politicians. This rich bounty of content is complemented by an equally detailed array of auxiliary notes, including annotations and appendices of poets’ prefaces, assessments of other contemporaries, and a collection of formerly lost archive material.

As becomes evident, the diversity of India’s imagining by her poets during this period corresponds to the diversity of her inhabitants and geography. In grouping its poetry according to region of publication, this anthology makes a structural innovation that negotiates the politics of locality, nation and empire by acknowledging the importance of all three terms in constructing an Indian national and cultural identity during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.