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Lecture Notes "We Crown Thee King" In 1858, during the reign of Queen Victoria, the British state took over the Indian Subcontinent from the British East India Company, creating the so- called Indian Empire or British Raj www Popularly referred to as "the jewel in the crown" of British colonialism, the Raj endured until India and Pakistan became independent in 1947 www The British individuals who emigrated to work on the Indian Subcontinent were called Anglo-Indians, a term we see on page 217 of "We Crown Thee King" www Anglo-Indians in official positions were sometimes referred to as Sahibs ("masters")—for example, "the Burra [great] Sahib" (221) www Initially, the British located the central Raj government in the city of Calcutta (present-day Kolkata) in the delta region of the mighty— and sacred—Ganges river, along which Nabendu (from "We Crown Thee King") walks "in the early morning" (223) www Calcutta is the dominant urban area in the geographic and cultural region called Bengal, which has its own language (Bengali) and is among the most densely populated zones on planet earth www Partly to assert their cultural and linguistic difference from the colonizing British—and partly to modernize and intensify aspects of their art, literature, science, and society—Bengalis in the 19th and 20th centuries generated the Bengali Renaissance, starting with Ram Mohan Roy (who died in 1833) www Another family associated with the Bengali Renaissance had the last name Tagore (formerly Banerjee); the family belonged to the elite Hindu class known as Brahmins www Rabindranath Tagore, the author "We Crown Thee King," became the first Asian or non-Westerner to win a Nobel Prize (Literature, 1913) www He appreciated the tensions between the Raj on the one hand and, on the other, Bengali and Indian demands for political independence www One of Rabindranath Tagore's brothers (Satyendranath) became the first native Indian to be appointed to the Indian Civil Service—that is, the Western-or white- dominated body used by the Raj to administer the Indian Subcontinent www Originally written in Bengali, "We Crown Thee King" appeared in English translation in 1916 (in a volume of Tagore's word entitled The Hungry Stones and Other Stories) www "We Crown Thee King" opens by emphasizing that the character Nabendu Sekhar wants to continue his late father Purnendu's efforts to gain British preferment and honors by means of kowtowing to the Raj authorities—"by diligently plying…salaams [greetings]" (215); we might call this practice "brown-nosing" www By contrast, Nabendu's brother-in-law Pramathanath has come to "[desire] to keep away from Englishmen" (216) and, instead, to seek national independence from the Raj www After living in England for three years, Pramathanath returned home and fraternized with Anglo-Indians, "enjoy[ing] English hospitality at…entertainments" (217) www Make sure that you understand the episode at "the opening of a new railway line" (217) that causes Pramathanath to "burst with indignation" (218) against the Raj on behalf of "his Motherland" (218) www Also: make sure you understand how Pramathanath explains his altered position vis-à-vis the Raj by means of a "story" (218) about a donkey and an idol www It's important that Pramathanath's epiphany-like disillusionment with the Raj occurs in the context of railways, for (from the middle of the 19th century) the British created the Indian rail-transport system, declaring (at the 1870 opening of the Bombay- Calcutta cross-country route) that "the whole country should be covered with a network of lines in a uniform system" www When he first marries into their family, Nabendu attempts to impress his "well educated" (219) sisters-in-law by displaying European letters sent to his late father; the women respond by satirically suggesting that Nabendu should worship English things and people— for example, the eldest sister Labanya (also known as Labanyalekha) constructs a kind of altar centered on "English boots" (220) for his use www For testing purposes, know what a namavali is (220) www Tagore eroticizes politics by having Nabendu become "much infatuated" (221) with Labanya; as winter approaches, he finds himself "enchanted" by her "health and beauty" (223), comparing her to the honeysuckle-like malati plant (used medicinally to, among other things, expel parasitic worms from one's insides) www In fact, Nabendu considers himself to be "placed between the cross-fires of his Sahibs [Anglo-Indian officials] and his sisters-in-law" (221) www He wants Labanya to believe that he attends a speech by the Indian nationalist Surendranath Banerjee (221) www A Bengali Hindu, Banerjee co-founded (in 1876) the Indian National Association, which would merge with the Indian National Congress (founded in 1885), the political party most responsible for Indian independence www A rumor spreads that, in connection with Queen Victoria's birthday, the Raj will honor Nabendu by awarding him an RD: Rai Badahur, meaning "brave prince," which comes with a medal (the Title Badge) www Labanya assures Nabendu's wife (her sister) that "I will see what I can do to prevent it" (222) www Even though both of them have spouses, Nabendu uses cooking and card-playing to flirt with Labanya www Her Indian lawyer husband, a member of the nationalist Congress party, "refuse[s] to pay his respects to European officials" (225) www The husband asks Nabendu for a financial subscription to Congress, assuring him that the donation will remain confidential: "We won't publish your name in the papers" (226) www Overanxious about proving his Bengali or Indian credentials—and about impressing Labanya—Nabendu supplies 1,000 rupees and greenlights publication of his name, even though backing Congress might cause the Anglo-Indian establishment to block his plans for developing a racecourse www The Anglo- Indian press features a letter (signed "One Who Knows") suggesting that news of Nabendu's monetary support of Congress is an "absurd libel" (228) www Urged on by the sexy Labanya, Nabendu approves a response that declares, "[T]he haughty Anglo-Indians are worse enemies than the Russians or the frontier Pathans" (230) www The British Empire vied with Russia for control of the northern (Himalayan) region of India: a geopolitical struggle known as the Great Game www Pathan is another word for Pashtun: the ethnic Afghans of present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan, most of whom follow Sunni Islam, the largest branch of Islam www Nabendu's public alignment with Congress precipitates a visit from the Anglo-Indian District Magistrate (DM), the Raj's chief administrative and revenue officer in Nabendu's region (known as a Collectorate [234]) www Nabendu keeps the DM waiting too long, so the latter leaves; the next morning, Nabendu puts on "a big turban" (232) and attempts to secure an interview with the DM, which necessitates payment of bakshish (a tip or, more accurately, a bribe) to the DM's household retainers www Calling Nabendu a "howling idiot" (234) to his face, the DM denies having visited him (in effect, the Anglo-Indian establishment lies to and turns on Nabendu) www A party of six of the DM's chuprassy-grade (i.e. badge-wearing) servants arrives at Nabendu's home, looking for more bakshish; however, Labanya and her husband refuse to "appease" (235) the men, even though they're fellow Indians www Having been thoroughly manipulated by (his desire for) Labanya, Nabendu finds himself lauded and elevated at the annual general meeting of the Congress party www His "emerg[ing]…as a leader of the country" is a political coup for Labanya www Turning the scion of a leading pro-British Indian family into a nationalist in such high-profile ways (the press; Congress's convention) constitutes a massive PR victory for her www Labanya follows up with a household or domestic ceremony, flattering Nabendu with the declaration, "To-day we crown thee King" (237) www The text indicates that Nabendu's wife will later reward him sexually: in "the still secrecy of midnight" (237) www The unidentified narrator has the last word, however; and he believes that Nabendu will eventually turn back to the Anglo-Indian establishment and, thus, receive glowing testimony in two Raj newspapers—the Englishman and the Pioneer www The tale "We Crown Thee King" critiques its protagonist's motivations for political involvement: his interest in the Anglo-Indians seems driven by economics (specifically, his racecourse-building project) and by status (the potential for an RD), while his commitments to Indian nationalism in general and Congress in particular emerge from erotic infatuation with Labanya, who regularly challenges him to man up www Arguably, we could read Labanya (whose name means beauty) as a personification of India—a version of the Motherland www Feminizing the nation is a common practice www Nabendu's story highlights the dilemma of the colonized subject or subaltern: whether to align himself with the colonizer or to campaign for national independence END Lecture Notes • Wodehouse • “The Custody of the Pumpkin” Pelham Grenville (P.G.) Wodehouse: good-humored satirist of English country houses (rural mansions) and their denizens (inhabitants) ••• Born in 1881, he lived to age 93, receiving a knighthood (i.e. becoming Sir P.G. Wodehouse) in the year of his death ••• A self-declared practitioner of “light writing,” Wodehouse will always be most famous for 35 short stories and 11 novels (published over a span of 59 years) about Jeeves—a “gentleman’s personal gentleman” or valet—who serves and manipulates the clueless and foppish (i.e. dandy-like) Bertie Wooster, a minor aristocrat, a member of the Drones Club in London, and an instance of the “idle rich” bachelor ••• Jeeves’s knowledge, competence, and fix-it abilities inspired the name of the internet search engine Ask Jeeves ••• In Britain during the early 1990s, a popular television series Jeeves and Wooster, based on the Wodehouse tales, starred Stephen Fry as Jeeves and Hugh Laurie as Wooster ••• On US television, Laurie is best known for paying Dr.

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