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Calcutta: A Cultural and Literary History
In-depth cultural, historical and literary guide to this city of extremes--from slums to palaces, Kipling to Naipaul.
284 pages, Paperback
First published September 15, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 22, 2008
A good overview of the history of Calcutta. I wish it had a little more focus on the post-independence period, but it still prepared me well for my visit to the city.
April 21, 2026
If you are visiting Calcutta, it will certainly be of help.
July 12, 2018
This is supposedly not a history book or a travel book, but something about its "spirit". I wonder if the other books on the series (I saw the promo of one on Tokyo) are also about the "spirit" of those other cities. The history of the city as well as of its luminaries is not any different from a few thousand other books written on the same; unless one considers the clever language a virtue of its own.
I was hoping for some perspective on the prospect of a renewal or revival of the city that lost its two reasons for existence. The city was created out of the necessity to provide a center for colonial rulers and the various leeches feeding on it, and to channel the resources supplied from the hinterlands. The achievement in education, literature and culture was truly impressive, and was also a direct result of the easy surplus generated by these two sources of status. The decline was inevitable when both its status as a colonial capital and its hinterlands were gone. The stagnation that set in in the next half-century is a result of the city and the state's failure to reinvent itself and to develop a culture of production, to replace the historical preoccupation with rent-seeking. It is no wonder that the city has fallen to a third-tier status in India, whereas other previously parochial towns have surged ahead with their grit and enterprise. This stagnation seems to have eroded even Calcutta's natural endowments, which is evident in the decline of the Hoogli Port despite the life support it received at the cost of drying off an entire nation downstream.
When there is nothing else, the default is to fall back on old glory, namely Tagore and Ray and Sandesh and colonial architecture. It would be great to read in some other work, which is not so soaked in the "Calcutta Spirit", whether the oversupply of culture and sophistication is capable of giving the city a newer identity and purpose, or if the self-gratification is a means and an end to itself.
I was hoping for some perspective on the prospect of a renewal or revival of the city that lost its two reasons for existence. The city was created out of the necessity to provide a center for colonial rulers and the various leeches feeding on it, and to channel the resources supplied from the hinterlands. The achievement in education, literature and culture was truly impressive, and was also a direct result of the easy surplus generated by these two sources of status. The decline was inevitable when both its status as a colonial capital and its hinterlands were gone. The stagnation that set in in the next half-century is a result of the city and the state's failure to reinvent itself and to develop a culture of production, to replace the historical preoccupation with rent-seeking. It is no wonder that the city has fallen to a third-tier status in India, whereas other previously parochial towns have surged ahead with their grit and enterprise. This stagnation seems to have eroded even Calcutta's natural endowments, which is evident in the decline of the Hoogli Port despite the life support it received at the cost of drying off an entire nation downstream.
When there is nothing else, the default is to fall back on old glory, namely Tagore and Ray and Sandesh and colonial architecture. It would be great to read in some other work, which is not so soaked in the "Calcutta Spirit", whether the oversupply of culture and sophistication is capable of giving the city a newer identity and purpose, or if the self-gratification is a means and an end to itself.
December 5, 2016
An excellent book on the history and evolution of Calcutta since the time of its establishment in the pre-East India company times to fairly recently. A broad sweep and comprehensive work. There are a few factual errors and some points of opinion that need to be addressed but other than that, this is a very readable book, perhaps the best in its genre of Calcutta related books.
Strongly recommended. Must read.
Strongly recommended. Must read.
October 17, 2015
Long and slow at times, it was also full of great examples of how Calcutta is a truly fascinating city to live in. Recommended to expats living in Calcutta.
November 13, 2016
A Story of a city captured really well..
November 13, 2017
I am not a great fan of non-fiction, but anything about Calcutta always draws me toward it.
March 24, 2022
Calcutta is a city I lived in for 18 years, but never felt like I came to know to any significant degree. Yet, it has still shaped me deeply. And now, as I prepare to move out, I make a preliminary effort to explore this city- in an effort to trace the roots of my self. For it is a fact that among the Bengali literary diaspora, whether spread out all over India or the world, a nostalgic vision of Calcutta looms large in their artistic imaginations.
This book manages to capture those two strange, contradictory pulls of this city- the feeling of artistic and literary achievement, and a certain sophistication; coupled with the repulsion engendered by the atmosphere of violence, the slums, communalism, and the deep sense of stagnation. The state of the city today is a strong proof of Nirad Chaudhuri's mischievous thesis that the best of Indian culture is only brought out through foreign rule. From the great second city of the British empire, the first great Asian metropolis (with its composite culture and architecture), which gave rise to the Western-influenced Bengali Renaissance and the great social reformers; as contrasted with the heart-rending 1943 famine, the Partition Refugees, the Naxalite and Maoist violence, and the 1971 refugee crisis; the city has seen a lot. And yet it still strives on, in its sheer messiness and decadence. A city synonymous with palaces and sophistication in the 19th century is now synonymous with poverty and stagnation in the 20th and 21st.
Nevertheless this book is a good primer, albeit necessarily a bit superficial (covering 330 years of history in 250-odd pages would be a difficult endeavour in any case, but is especially so for the confusing mishmash of cultures that characterize the city- British cultural influence, other European influences, Anglo-Indians, Chinese, Jewish, Armenian, Marwari, Punjabi, Afghani, other Indian influences, and of course the dominant Bengali majority- whether Hindu and Muslim, whether Kolkata natives, East Bengalis or other upcountry migrants; residuary aristocrats, the nouveau-riche businessmen, the middle classes, or the large majority that is the working classes)
This book manages to capture those two strange, contradictory pulls of this city- the feeling of artistic and literary achievement, and a certain sophistication; coupled with the repulsion engendered by the atmosphere of violence, the slums, communalism, and the deep sense of stagnation. The state of the city today is a strong proof of Nirad Chaudhuri's mischievous thesis that the best of Indian culture is only brought out through foreign rule. From the great second city of the British empire, the first great Asian metropolis (with its composite culture and architecture), which gave rise to the Western-influenced Bengali Renaissance and the great social reformers; as contrasted with the heart-rending 1943 famine, the Partition Refugees, the Naxalite and Maoist violence, and the 1971 refugee crisis; the city has seen a lot. And yet it still strives on, in its sheer messiness and decadence. A city synonymous with palaces and sophistication in the 19th century is now synonymous with poverty and stagnation in the 20th and 21st.
Nevertheless this book is a good primer, albeit necessarily a bit superficial (covering 330 years of history in 250-odd pages would be a difficult endeavour in any case, but is especially so for the confusing mishmash of cultures that characterize the city- British cultural influence, other European influences, Anglo-Indians, Chinese, Jewish, Armenian, Marwari, Punjabi, Afghani, other Indian influences, and of course the dominant Bengali majority- whether Hindu and Muslim, whether Kolkata natives, East Bengalis or other upcountry migrants; residuary aristocrats, the nouveau-riche businessmen, the middle classes, or the large majority that is the working classes)
May 11, 2022
Nice overview of the city. Appreciate how she brought together the political, economic, and cultural. Did get a big hagiographic at times and a few ethnic-stereotype-y comments.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews