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The Missing Essay
Ideas, Thoughts & Memories: Bengali Literary Essays (A Selection in Translation) edited by Kaplana Bardhan, Kolkata: Anustup, 2021; pp 392, `600.
Talking of Power: Early Writings of Bengali Women edited by Malini Bhattacharya and Abhijit Sen, New Delhi, California, London and Singapore: Sage Publications, 2021; pp xv + 180, `750.
For many, the term colonial modernity inspires a spirit of insurgency. From the time of its arrival in the Indian subcontinent by way of imperial powers—following the European Enlightenment of the 18th century—it has had to face the ire of a fierce group of dissidents. Most of their discomfort lay around the definition of modernity and its ownership. In fact, the definition itself was determined by who could claim the largest stake on modernity and who ended up being at its receiving end. It presented a tricky choice to its audience and practitioners who had the unenviable job of deciding what was acceptably modern and what was not; if you were worse off by not being modern; if modernity could truly accommodate all our individual perceptions of the modern.
Tryst with Modernity
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