History at the Limit of World-History (Italian Academy Lectures)

129 Pages·2003·0.51 MB·English

by  Ranajit Guha

History at the Limit of World-History
i t a l i a n a c a d e m y l e c t u r e s
Italian Academy Lectures
Umberto Eco, Serendipities: Language and Lunacy
Carlo Ginzburg, No Island Is an Island: Four Glances at English
Literature in a World Perspective
Gianni Vattimo, After Christianity
History at the Limit of World-History
Ranajit Guha
c o l u m b i a u n i v e r s i t y p r e s s n e w y o r k
columbia university press
PublishersSince1893
NewYork Chichester,WestSussex
Copyright(cid:1)2002ColumbiaUniversityPress
Allrightsreserved
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Guha,Ranajit
Historyatthelimitofworld-history/RanajitGuha.
p.cm.—(ItalianAcademylectures)
ISBN0-231-12418-X(alk.paper)
1.Worldhistory.2.Historiography.3.History—
Historiography.4.History—Philosophy.I.Title.
II.Series.
D20.G7562002
907(cid:2).2—dc21
2001047762
A
ColumbiaUniversityPressbooksareprintedon
permanentanddurableacid-freepaper.
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To the memory of Ramram Basu
who introduced modern historiography in
Bangla, his native language, by a work published
two hundred years ago
Aftersuchknowledge,whatforgiveness?Thinknow
Historyhasmanycunningpassages,contrivedcorridors
Andissues,deceiveswithwhisperingambitions,
Guidesusbyvanities.
—T.S.Eliot,Gerontion
Contents
Preface ix
1. Introduction 1
2. Historicality and the Prose of the World 7
3. The Prose of History, or The Invention of World-History 24
4. Experience, Wonder, and the Pathos of Historicality 48
5. Epilogue: The Poverty of Historiography—a Poet’s
Reproach 75
Appendix: Historicality in Literature
by Rabindranath Tagore 95
Notes 101
Glossary 109
Index 111
This page intentionally left blank
Preface
Thisbookhasgrownoutofaseriesoflecturesdelivered
attheItalianAcademyforAdvancedStudiesinAmericaatColumbia
University in October–November 2000. The argument presented in
those lectures has been amplified somewhat in an epilogue written
for this publication. Translations from the Bangla original for the
article in the appendix, as well as for all other passages included in
the text, are mine.
Sanskrit words have been distinguished by diacritical marks
throughout the text wherever required by grammar and convention.
Words of Sanskrit origin written without any diacritical marking
should be regarded as vernacularized.
IwishtothankDavidFreedberg,directoroftheItalianAcademy,and
his staff for their solicitude and generosity in providing me with ex-
cellent conditions for work at the academy during the term of my
fellowship.
MythanksareduealsotoAndreasHuyssen,directoroftheCenter
for Comparative Literature and Society, and his colleagues Gayatri
Chakravorty Spivak and Hamid Dabashi for the initiative they took
to organize a two-day workshop around these lectures on behalf of
the center.
Iamparticularlygratefultoanumberoffriendswhotooktimeoff
in the middle of their busy academic schedules to read drafts of the