More than Real: A History of the Imagination in South India

David Shulman

Published by Harvard University Press 2012

More than Real

A History of the Imagination in South India

David Shulman

https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674065123

Overview
Contents

About this book

From the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries, the major cultures of southern India underwent a revolution in sensibility reminiscent of what had occurred in Renaissance Italy. During this time, the imagination came to be recognized as the defining feature of human beings. More than Real draws our attention to a period in Indian history that signified major civilizational change and the emergence of a new, proto-modern vision.

In general, India conceived of the imagination as a causative agent: things we perceive are real because we imagine them. David Shulman illuminates this distinctiveness and shows how it differed radically from Western notions of reality and models of the mind. Shulman's explication offers insightful points of comparison with ancient Greek, medieval Islamic, and early modern European theories of mind, and returns Indology to its rightful position of intellectual relevance in the humanities.

At a time when contemporary ideologies and language wars threaten to segregate the study of pre-modern India into linguistic silos, Shulman demonstrates through his virtuoso readings of important literary works—works translated lyrically by the author from Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam—that Sanskrit and the classical languages of southern India have been intimately interwoven for centuries.

Author / Editor information

Shulman David :

David Shulman is Renee Lang Professor of Humanistic Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Topics

Frontmatter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	i
Contents Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Part I. Theorizing Imagination
1. Mind-Born Worlds Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
2. Poets, Playwrights, Painters Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	24
3. Singularity, Inexhaustibility, Insight: What Sanskrit Poeticians Think Is Real Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	51
4. Poetics 2: Illumination Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	80
5. Toward a Yoga of the Imagination Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
Part II. The Sixteenth-Century Revolution
6. Early Modern Bhāvanā Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	147
7. Sīmantinī: Irrevocable Imaginings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	155
8. Nala in Tenkasi and the New Economy of Mind Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
9. True Fiction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
10. The Marriage of Bhāvanā and Best Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	232
11. Toward Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	267
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	289
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	313
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	327

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 352

eBook

Published: April 9, 2012
ISBN: 9780674065123