Tracking Modernity: Indias Railway and the Culture of Mobility

(Paperback)

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Description

From Mohandas Gandhi's nineteenth-century tour in a third-class compartment to the recent cinematic shenanigans of Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited, the railway has been one of India's most potent emblems of modern life. In the first in-depth analysis of representations of the Indian railway, Marian Aguiar interprets modernity through the legacy of this transformative technology.

Reviews

"In Tracking Modernity, Marian Aguiar demonstrates a compelling grasp of the complex discourses around and about Indias railway and its imbrication in the contested discourses of modernity, mobility, and migration. Aguiar offers both a panoramic and a concentrated view of the many modes of representation of the scene of the train, the spaces of the train, and the railway platform. Historically grounded, theoretically sophisticated, and clearly articulated, Tracking Modernity takes us on a journey through the Indian landscape as it changes from colonial depictions, to postcolonial destinations constantly underlining the violence and terror that the train conjures for the Indian imagination alongside its endless capacity for restless movement." Sangeeta Ray, University of Maryland

Author Bio

Marian Aguiar is associate professor in the Literary and Cultural Studies Program of the English department at Carnegie Mellon University.