Overview

This companion is the first comprehensive study of courier poetry—in which someone, usually a lonely lover, sends an unlikely messenger (a cloud, a bee, a goose, a bat, a language, the wind, a poem, and so on) to the beloved or to a close friend or patron. The volume explores works in a variety of languages, including Sanskrit, Malayalam, Tamil, Old Javanese, Hindi, Telugu, Sinhala, Marathi, Tibetan, Prakrit, and Apabhramsa. The chapters follow the historical evolution of this massive corpus, from Kalidasa’s classic text to modernity. They also offer culture-specific maps, not only of South Asia but of the world beyond, from the shores of Java and Bali to the Mississippi. A unique contribution, this volume will be indispensable for students, academicians, and researchers in literature, comparative literature, literary theory, poetry studies, and Asian studies.

Full Product Details

9781041071877

Table of Contents

Reviews

Author Information

Yigal Bronner is a Sanskritist whose areas of interest include literature, literary theory, and South Asian intellectual history more generally. He worked on this volume while teaching in the Department of Asian Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He now teaches in the Department of History, Classics, and Religion at the University of Alberta. David Shulman is Professor (emeritus) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. He specializes in the languages and cultures of South India.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available