Periodicals, Readers and the Making of a Modern Literary Culture: Bengal at the Turn of the Twentieth Century: Bengal at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

Periodicals, Readers and the Making of a Modern Literary Culture is a study of literary periodicals and the Bengali public sphere at the turn of the twentieth century, the variety of interests and concerns that animated this domain and how literary relations were seen to constitute new social solidarities. "In Periodicals, Readers and the Making of a Modern Literary Culture: Bengal at the Turn of the Twentieth Century Samarpita Mitra studies literary periodicals as a particular print form, and reveals how their production and circulation were critical to the formation of a Bengali public sphere during the turn of the twentieth century. Given its polyphonic nature, capacity for sustaining debates and adaptability by readers with diverse reading competencies, periodicals became the preferred means for dispensing modern education and entertainment through the vernacular. The book interrogates some of the defining debates that shaped readers' perspectives on critical social issues and explains how literary culture was envisioned as an indicator of the emergent nation. Finally it looks at the Bengali-Muslim and women's periodicals and their readerships and argues that the presence of multiple literary voices make it impossible to speak of Bengali literary culture in any singular terms"-- Provided by publisher Contents Acknowledgements List of Figures and Tables Note on Transliteration of Bengali Terms Introduction 1 Māsik patrikā: a New Cultural Artefact? 2 The Social Space of māsik patrikā: Periodicals Market and Readership 3 Determining the Frontiers of Obscenity, Aesthetics and Realism: Debates over aślīlatā in Literary Periodicals 4 The Way to Traverse: Literary Separatism or Towards a Shared Literary Space 5 The Limits of Literary License: What Could Women Read and Write on? 6 Political Discourse in the Bengali Literary Sphere: The Khilafat-Non-Cooperation Years Conclusion Bibliography Index