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Shakespeare and the Colonial Encounter in India in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

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Shakespeare and the Colonial Encounter in India in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries Shakespeare and the Colonial Encounter in India in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries Sharmila Mukherjee A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2016 Reading Committee: William Streitberger, Chair Laura Chrisman, Chair Raimonda Modiano Paul Remley Program Authorized to Offer Degree: English ©Copyright 2016 Sharmila Mukherjee Abstract Shakespeare and the Colonial Encounter in India in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries Sharmila Mukherjee Chairs of the Supervisory Committee: Professor William Streitberger and Professor Laura Chrisman Department of English This dissertation examines intersections between Shakespeare and the British Empire in India in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, using as case studies four interpretive situations: the transmission of Shakespeare books in India in the eighteenth century, the editing of the plays for use in colonial classrooms in the early nineteenth century, the emergence of Shakespeare as an academic subject in Britain with the introduction of English language and literature in the Indian Civil Service Examination in 1855, and uses of Shakespeare in family readings in middle-class Bengali homes in the late nineteenth century. Departing from the existing scholarship on Shakespeare in India that typically treats the subject as a single linear process, I approach the engagement of the colonizer and the colonized with Shakespeare in the context of empire, stressing the importance of the interactive dimensions of the colonial encounter, between the so- called periphery and the metropole and between the colonizer and the colonized. The dissertation locates Shakespeare in a view of empire that emphasizes cross-current circulation of knowledge, culture and commodities produced in the colonial encounter. It is interested in the ways in which knowledge of Shakespeare was produced, transmitted and received in the context of empire through material practices of reading, ownership and editing and institutional practices of curricula, examination and pedagogy. It follows the travels of Shakespeare books across India, traverses the professional realm of competitive examinations in Britain, the pedagogical realm of curriculum and textbook production in India, male public spaces of the colonial classroom and feminized, private domestic spaces within homes. With its sustained focus on the imperial constitution of Shakespeare as an icon of Britishness in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the dissertation goes beyond a narrow Eurocentric frame of reference prevalent in Shakespeare scholarship. It explores the production of Shakespeare as a British exemplar created as a result of the colonial encounter. At the same time, it explores the intersections between Shakespeare and colonial modernity and nationhood. In doing this, it modifies a weighty post-colonial critical framework that views Shakespeare in India as a unilateral hegemonic imposition. Emphasizing a model of co-optation, collaboration and contest, my dissertation draws attention to the internal hierarchies of class, gender and status within the analytic categories of the colonizer and the colonized, ultimately illuminating the multiple axes of colonial knowledge production. Acknowledgment I acknowledge with thanks the advice, assistance and support of various people and institutions I received in the planning, research and writing of this dissertation. I have been very fortunate in having Professor Laura Chrisman as the chair of my dissertation committee. Her enthusiasm for intellectual work is infectious. Every time I met with her to discuss my dissertation, I left with renewed excitement about the project. Without her support, encouragement and interest in the project, I could not have completed this dissertation. She helped me see the value of my work at times when I could not see it. I have benefited enormously from her supervision, learning as much from her comments as from the example she sets as a rigorous, involved scholar. I am very appreciative that she would take time during her sabbatical leave to comment on my chapters. I must thank Prof. Bill Streitberger, the co-chair of my dissertation committee. In 2008, I took his course “Editing Shakespeare”; by the end of the quarter, I had a dissertation topic on the editing, transmission and reception of Shakespeare in colonial India. Prof. Streitberger was instrumental in encouraging me to turn my gaze to colonial India from medieval and early modern England which had been my earlier focus. I was excited at the prospect of conducting research on a neglected topic. Little did I know at the time how much I would learn about my personal history and everyday family practices that I grew up with in India in the process of digging up sources for the topic. Working on material transmission and reception of Shakespeare in colonial India has been a personally enriching journey for me in a way that a topic on medieval/early modern England may not have been. Throughout the process of writing the dissertation, Prof. Streitberger read my drafts, offered suggestions for improvement and corrected the recalcitrant footnotes. I am grateful to Professor Modiano for introducing me to the field of textual studies and for her comments at the dissertation defense. Professor Remley has been supportive throughout, especially in my early years as a graduate student at the University of Washington English department. All my committee members, in particular Professors Chrisman and Streitberger, have written countless letters of recommendations for me at the shortest of notices. I would like to thank Ms. Kathy Mork, program coordinator in the English department, for her support in helping me navigate the various departmental, graduate school and visa requirements that had to be taken care of for me to finish writing the dissertation. I am grateful to the English department for nominating me for a year-long Flanagan Dissertation fellowship, awarded by the Graduate School, to conduct research for the project at archives in India and Britain. A Simpson Center Society of Scholars fellowship allowed me to share parts of this dissertation to a cohort of scholars from across disciplines at the University of Washington. The feedback I received from them on the chapter “The Indian Civil Service Examination and the Beginning of Shakespeare as an Academic Subject” was most useful in revising it. The lively intellectual atmosphere at the Simpson Center was most conducive to writing the dissertation. The Textual Studies program offered various grants-in-aids in support of the project, most usefully for conducting pre-dissertation research at archives in India. Finally, the Andrew Mellon International Dissertation Research Fellowship, awarded by the Social Science Research Council of America, helped me fund most of the research for the project. The staff at the Asia, Pacific and Africa collections at the British Library went out of their way in helping me locate documents that I have used in writing this dissertation. Heartfelt thanks are due to my husband, Indroneil, for sticking with me through the thick and thin of the arduous process of writing and finishing the dissertation. My parents have lent i their long distance support from India throughout the project, saying without quite voicing it if the dissertation will ever be done. I am grateful to my friend Irene for her support and long chats over the phone from Paris. Rashmi inspires me to be clever and grounded like she is. Finally, I am thankful to my daughter, Nayanika, without whom this dissertation may have been written in half the time it took but would have been meaningless. At four, she already knows all that there is to be known. To her, I dedicate this dissertation. ii Table of Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 I. The Shakespeare Book in India in the Eighteenth Century ................................................... 25 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 25 2. Fort Saint George Library in Madras, 1729 ....................................................................... 39 3. Claremabault’s Two Sets of Shakespeare, 1755 ................................................................ 53 4. Shakespeare Books in the Indian Colony from the 1780s ................................................. 67 5. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 75 II. Editing Shakespeare for the Indian Classroom...................................................................... 81 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 81 2. Shakespeare in the Early Colonial Curriculum .................................................................. 98 3. ‘Shakespeare Whose Heart Was Pure’ ............................................................................ 111 4. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 127 III. The Indian Civil Service Examination and the Introduction of Shakespeare as an Academic Subject in Britain ......................................................................................................
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