Literature of Resistance: India 1857
"More literature has been produced on the Indian Revolution against colonialism in 1857 than on any other—the French, American, Russian, Chinese or Vietnamese. Diverse and divided views and critical opinions have marked the continuing debate on this historic resistance movement through several generations. Yet, no conclusive truths have been established. No final answer has been found to questions such as whether the \'Mutiny\' of 1857 was basically a military revolt, a peasant rising, a nationalist movement, or was it, indeed, India\'s first war of Independence?
One way in which the strength of historical /political opinions is tested is by the measure of their potential falsifiability. What is of interest in postmodern thinking, however, is inquiry and exploration rather than discovery: the attraction of many journeys and many arrivals without finality. This book of essays is one of those latest journeys through India’s beleaguered cultural history in which several academicians, litterateurs, historians, folklorists and journalists participate. Its emphasis is on the micro, and the hitherto undiscovered alleys and by-alleys of a mass resistance movement in mid-nineteenth century India that apparently inspired Karl Marx to greet it as the herald of many a working class movement in Europe."
The Editors
G.K. Das is a former Professor of English at the University of Delhi and a former Vice-Chancellor of Utkal University, Bhubaneswar. He is the author of the widely acclaimed book E.M. Forster\'s India (1977). He has co-edited with John Beer E.M. Forster: A Human Exploration (1979) and with the late Gamini Salgado The Spirit of D.H. Lawrence (1988).
Sushma Arya is Principal of DAV College for Girls, Yamuna Nagar. She is the author of John Steinbeck: A Study of his Fictional Women (1999).
Contributors
Sushma Arya l Subash Chandra l Suchitra Choudhury l Ashok Chousalkar l Sudha Chugh l Bhim S. Dahiya l Hema Dahiya l G.K. Das l R.W. Desai l Ketaki K. Dyson l Garima Gupta l Parneet Jaggi l Amaresh Mishra l Harish S. Sharma l Jayanta Kar Sharma l Prem Singh l Arun Tripathi l Anupama Vohra l Anil Wilson
