This delightful new volume represents that rare thing in Indian history-writing—a thoroughly engaging read! Venkatachalapathy’s writings on the cultural history of nineteenth-century Tamil Nadu would be enjoyed equally by both the academic-minded scholar looking for a nuanced and lucid narrative based on thorough research, as well as the lay informed reader in search of a classic good read.
The essays fall into two distinct sections. Those in the first section contribute to an as yet unwritten history of consumption in colonial India. Taking up both material (coffee, tea and tobacco) and cultural (the cartoon, the city and modern literature) artefacts, the first five chapters explore how these were consumed in colonial Tamil society. The chapters in the second part are broadly concerned with the politics of language, literature and identity in colonial Tamil Nadu. A historical exploration of how the Tamil literary canon was constructed leads to chapters on the ways in which this canon was used to construct identity. The author draws from sources as varied as fiction, essays, reviews, comment, advertisement, and notices to bring to life a rich and vibrant cultural history.