Argufying

Sep 30, 2005 Review Essay Argufying

The problem of Indian modernity and humanism needs to be examined afresh -- if Indian modernity is a way of viewing the world, we haven't scrutinised, enough, the gaze in the mirror. AMIT CHAUDHURI This article originally appeared in the Times Literary Supplement.Amartya Sen?s The Argumentative Indian is a civilised polemic about India; and it raises certain questions. For me, the most interesting of them is the implicit one: what need does the appearance of this book respond to, in writer and reader? This most banal of questions seems to lead to a (for me, at least) crucial discussion on culture.
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