The Thought of Nirad C. Chaudhuri
Islam, Empire and Loss

This innovative revisiting of South Asian intellectual history critically examines Nirad C. Chaudhuri, the writer and defender of empire.

Ian Almond (Author)

9781107476431, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 8 February 2018

199 pages
23 x 15.4 x 1.3 cm, 0.32 kg

'By deftly placing Nirad C. Chaudhuri in local and world history, in subterranean, unexpected lineages to do with melancholy and book-collecting, and within his own vivid self-contradictions, Ian Almond gives us a shrewd, eloquent, and much-needed reappraisal of a remarkable man who had, on many levels, embraced the entirety of the twentieth century.' Amit Chaudhuri, University of East Anglia

In this critical examination of the famous South Asian thinker Nirad C. Chaudhuri (1897–1999), a notorious Anglophile and defender of Empire, Ian Almond analyses the factors that played a role in the evolution of his thought. Almond explores how Empire creates 'native informants', enabling local subjects to alienate themselves from and even abhor their own cultures. Through analysis of Chaudhuri's views on Islam, his use of the archive, moments of melancholy and loss in his writing, and his opinions on empire, Almond dissects the constitution of an Indian writer and locates the precise ways in which Chaudhuri was able to produce the kind of discourses he did, exploring how conservative, pro-Western intellectuals are formed in postcolonial environments. A strong comparative element places Chaudhuri's views in the context of conservative intellectuals from Latin America, the Middle East and South Asia, concluding with a consideration of present-day 'native informants' from these regions.

Introduction
1. Nirad Chaudhuri and the Muslim world
2. Chaudhuri, archive and alienation
3. Chaudhuri, sadness and loss
4. Chaudhuri and empire
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX], Asian history [HBJF], Literature & literary studies [D]