The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian

by Chaudhuri, Nirad C.; Jack, Ian

• ISBN13: 9780940322820
• ISBN10: 094032282X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-09-30
• Publisher: NYRB Classics

Summary

The Autobiography of an Unknown Indianis an astonishing work of self-discovery and the revelation of a peerless and provocative sensibility. Describing his childhood in the Bengali countryside and his youth in Calcuttaand telling the story of modern India from his own fiercely independent viewpointChaudhuri fashions a book of deep conviction, charm, and intimacy that is also a masterpiece of the writer's art.

Author Biography

Nirad C. Chaudhuri (1897–1999) was born in the town of Kishorganj in East Bengal in the year of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. His first book, The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian, was published in 1951 and was followed by many others, including The Continent of Circe, for which he won the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize, and Thy Hand Great Anarch!, a second volume of memoirs. Chaudhuri moved to England in 1970. In 1992 Queen Elizabeth II conferred upon him the title of Honorary Commander of the British Empire.

Ian Jack was the editor of The Independent on Sunday and of Granta. He is the author of The Country Formerly Known as Great Britain and he writes regularly for The Guardian.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. ix
A Note on Kishorganj	p. xvi
Author's Preface	p. xix
Early Environment
Prefatory Note	p. 5
My Birthplace	p. 7
My Ancestral Village	p. 53
My Mother's Village	p. 82
England	p. 105
First Twelve Years
Prefatory Note	p. 137
My Birth, Parents, and Early Years	p. 139
Torch Race of the Indian Renaissance	p. 191
Enter Nationalism	p. 232
Postscript: We Leave Kishorganj	p. 263
Education
Prefatory Note	p. 269
Calcutta	p. 274
Experiences of Adolescence	p. 292
Citizen-Student	p. 312
Initiation into Scholarship	p. 342
Into the World
Prefatory Note	p. 377
Man and Life in Calcutta	p. 380
New Politics	p. 414
Vanishing Landmarks	p. 460
An Essay on the Course of Indian History	p. 483
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