Outside the Lettered City

Cinema, Modernity, and the Public Sphere in Late Colonial India

Nonfiction, History, Asian, India, Art & Architecture, General Art, Art Technique, Entertainment, Performing Arts
Cover of the book Outside the Lettered City by Manishita Dass, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Manishita Dass ISBN: 9780190493851
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: November 2, 2015
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Manishita Dass
ISBN: 9780190493851
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: November 2, 2015
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

Outside the Lettered City traces how middle-class Indians responded to the rise of the cinema as a popular form of mass entertainment in early 20th century India, focusing on their preoccupation with the mass public made visible by the cinema and with the cinema's role as a public sphere and a mass medium of modernity. It draws on archival research to uncover aspirations and anxieties about the new medium, which opened up tantalizing possibilities for nationalist mobilization on the one hand, and troubling challenges to the cultural authority of Indian elites on the other. Using case-studies drawn from the film cultures of Bombay and Kolkata, it demonstrates how discourses about the cinematic public dovetailed into discourses about a national public, giving rise to considerable excitement about cinema's potential to democratize the public sphere beyond the limits of print-literate culture, as well as to deepening anxieties about cultural degeneration. The case-studies also reveal that early twentieth century discourses about the cinema contain traces of a formative tension in Indian public culture, between visions of a deliberative public and spectres of the unruly masses.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Outside the Lettered City traces how middle-class Indians responded to the rise of the cinema as a popular form of mass entertainment in early 20th century India, focusing on their preoccupation with the mass public made visible by the cinema and with the cinema's role as a public sphere and a mass medium of modernity. It draws on archival research to uncover aspirations and anxieties about the new medium, which opened up tantalizing possibilities for nationalist mobilization on the one hand, and troubling challenges to the cultural authority of Indian elites on the other. Using case-studies drawn from the film cultures of Bombay and Kolkata, it demonstrates how discourses about the cinematic public dovetailed into discourses about a national public, giving rise to considerable excitement about cinema's potential to democratize the public sphere beyond the limits of print-literate culture, as well as to deepening anxieties about cultural degeneration. The case-studies also reveal that early twentieth century discourses about the cinema contain traces of a formative tension in Indian public culture, between visions of a deliberative public and spectres of the unruly masses.

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book Gender and Discourse by Manishita Dass
Cover of the book The Ascent of Science by Manishita Dass
Cover of the book Economic Morality and Jewish Law by Manishita Dass
Cover of the book Chicago Jazz by Manishita Dass
Cover of the book Defining Creole by Manishita Dass
Cover of the book Forbidden Friendships by Manishita Dass
Cover of the book Juvenile Justice: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide by Manishita Dass
Cover of the book Setting the World Ablaze by Manishita Dass
Cover of the book Listening to War by Manishita Dass
Cover of the book Moral Minorities and the Making of American Democracy by Manishita Dass
Cover of the book Ornamental Aesthetics by Manishita Dass
Cover of the book A Middle Class Without Democracy by Manishita Dass
Cover of the book Too Marvelous for Words by Manishita Dass
Cover of the book Enlightened Nationalism by Manishita Dass
Cover of the book Working Together by Manishita Dass
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy