Clearing a space

A superb collection of literary criticism from one of our most respected writers selling points: 'brilliant amit chaudhuri's exhilarating essays on "india, literature and culture" challenge the new orthodoxy, but with intelligence, erudition and civility'-independent'it would be a pity if the novelist's reputation were to distract attention from the fact that chaudhuri is an insightful cultural critic the indian writer in english, particularly in this age of globalisation, is a suspect hybrid, often a performer, sometimes merely a puppet chaudhuri is neither he belongs with us, thinks with us'-alok rai, outlook 'the texts chaudhuri focuses on - indian writers of the pre-rushdie generation - restore a sense of history and complexity to a country that is often presented as monolithic and static [a] fascinating, subtle and humane book'-daily telegraph the book: to the many admirers of his fiction, amit chaudhuri seems all the more remarkable because of the excellence and accessibility of his non-fiction clearing a space is a landmark in indian criticism, and brings together many of chaudhuri's best essays, written over the past decade in journals such as the london review of books and the times literary supplement this body of his work has been widely praised and reveals a literary project of great value in understanding indian and global modernity