Sources Annotated

I am just updating my sources. I know I am supposed to have more, and technically have some things I could use as sources, but nothing that I really want to put on here. I mean, I have another ten or so books I have read, but they are not different enough that I could really label them as great sources for my project. More scholarly sources are forthcoming in abundance shortly.

Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin. The Empire Writes Back. 2^nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2008. Print.

This book serves as a primer for the topic of post-colonial literature. It does not cover everything and does not go into intense detail, but it is a great introduction to the topic. It defined post-colonial literature very well. For my project it serves as an excellent reference point for how I consider Indian literature. Its relevance will vary depending on what I focus on, but the foundation of what the West thinks of Indian literature has been enlightening.

Shanghvi, Siddharth Dhanvant. The Lost Flamingoes of Bombay. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2010. Print.

This text is really more of a good representative a of a series of texts I have been reading. They are kind of grouped by theme. I did not consciously choose them for this theme, but it is something I have been noticing that often appears in Indian writing. The Lost Flamingoes of Bombay focuses on love and relationships. Perhaps because of the tradition of arranged marriages, India has developed a very unique and distinct way of portraying choice based relationships. The kind of things that go along with these depictions have so far been fairly consistent across Indian literature. It is something I am following and could be important to my project.

Dalrymple, William. Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India. New York: Vintage Departures, 2009. Print.

Nine Lives presents an interesting take on travel writing and ethnography. Dalrymple wrote the story of nine people from nine different somewhat obscure or marginalized religious groups in India. His attempt was to try to get out of the way and just let the people's story be the focus. While I will not be studying any of these religious groups, his approach has bearing on my project. The way he presents the stories is an interesting approach to what amounts to scientific data, however it does raise questions about whether or not it is possible to succeed at presenting information from a completely unbiased way and to not interfere at all, even unintentionally, with the data.

Patel, Sanjay. The Little Book of Hindu Deities. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print

This book serves as a primer of sorts to Hinduism, or at least their gods and a few other important things. It goes through all the major gods and some of the stories of Hindu theology. All of this directly relates to daily life in India, and also to some of the themes and ideas recorded in Indian literature, even by Muslim and Christian authors. This was a great reference for just getting introduced to the myriad of gods that make up the Hindu pantheon.