In the cultural hub of 1880s' Lahore Kay Robinson has taken over as editor of the Civil and Military Gazette. Assisting him is the young and impressionable Rudyard Kipling, a lonely, impulsive man who dreams of becoming a writer. Kipling's literary pursuits have been dismissed as fanciful and foolish by his previous boss. But Robinson is different. He encourages the young 'Ruddy', allowing him greater creative freedom at the Gazette. As he becomes Ruddy's friend and confidant, Robinson gains access to intimate glimpses of the Kipling family, where he is smitten by Ruddy's sister Trix. Narrated by Robinson, The Kipling File is a moving story of doomed friendship and difficult love recounted against the powerful backdrop of Anglo-Indian life in a Punjab that has begun to stir with anti-colonial sentiment. Through his eyes unfold the turmoils that shaped the author of beloved classics like The Jungle Book and Kim. In Sudhir Kakar's luminous prose, Kipling emerges as a man of... Views: 625
Billions have died in the thousands of years since human beings first developed language, but we do not have a single credible account of the subjective experience of dying and the afterlife. This is why death continues to be an immense mystery and a subject of eternal fascination. In Death and Dying, scholars and intellectuals illumine the major issues raised by the inevitable ending to life. The range is wide: from the dread that accompanies all notions of mortality to the objective evidence for the existence of an afterlife; from an exploration of the spiritual dimensions of mourning to analyses of how death was perceived and interpreted by geniuses like John Keats, Rabindranath Tagore and Carl Jung. Utterly compelling, these essays prompt us to question our fears and notions of death while enabling us to perceive this phenomenon with greater understanding and intelligence. Views: 67
An anthology of contemporary love stories that depicts how disgust can be as much part of erotic love as violence, physical and mental. Disgust can be as much part of erotic love as violence, although the evocation of disgust has rarely reached the extremes portrayed in the fiction of Marquis de Sade. In de Sade's stories, erotic unions are routinely preceded, accompanied or followed by the smearing and eating of faeces, drinking of or bathing in urine, the licking of spit and vomit, a revelling in bodily odours -all in the service of heightening the excitement of erotic union. Violence, too, physical or mental, is part of many contemporary depictions of love. Views: 63
In this bold, illuminating and superbly readable study, India's foremost psychoanalyst and cultural commentator Sudhir Kakar and anthropologist Katharina Kakar investigate the nature of 'Indian-ness'. What makes an Indian recognizably so to the rest of the world, and, more importantly, to his or her fellow Indians? For, as the authors point out, despite ethnic differences that are characteristic more of past empires than modern nation states, there is an underlying unity in the great diversity of India that needs to be recognized. Looking at what constitutes a common Indian identity, the authors examine in detail the predominance of family, community and caste in our everyday lives, our attitudes to sex and marriage, our prejudices, our ideas of the other (explored in a brilliant chapter on Hindu-Muslim conflict), and our understanding of health, right and wrong, and death. In the final chapter, they provide fascinating insights into the Indian mind, shaped largely by the... Views: 54
Tells tales of India during the Mughal era, viewed from the contrasting mindsets of European aides to the two leading princes, Dara Shikoh and Aurangzeb. Niccalao Manucci and Francois Bernier offer insights into the minds of their respective princes into the same event, give the reader a wide perspective on how history is actually shaped by every day events of its times. Views: 44
As A Commentator On The Worlds Of Love And Hate , India S Foremost Psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar Has Isolated The Ambivalence, Peculiarly Indian, To Matters As Various And Connected As Sex, Spirituality And Communal Passions.In Intimate Relations, The First Of The Well-Known Books In This Edition, He Explores The Nature Of Sexuality In India, Its Politics And Its Language Of Emotions. The Analyst And The Mystic Points Out The Similarities Between Psychoanalysis And Religious Healing, And The Colours Of Violence Is His Erudite Enquiry Into The Mixed Emotions Of Rage And Desire That Inflame Communalism. Views: 40
An inspired observer of the Indian psyche, Sudhir Kakar trained as a psychoanalyst at the Sigmund Freud Institute, Frankfurt. He set up a clinic in Delhi in 1975, thus embarking on a lifelong search for the wellsprings of Indian identity. He went on to establish the new discipline of cultural psychology.A Book of Memory records not only the crises of identity and intellect, but also the highs and lows of love and pleasure. It is fearless and revelatory with regard to the self and its motivations, a rare candour illuminating the urbane prose. Views: 8
