Acknowledgements
This book is the outcome of a long journey and I take this opportunity to thank all who have helped and supported me during various phases of research and writing.
I take this opportunity to thank the Librarians and Staff of the following libraries and archives:
Bangiya Sahitya Parishad, Calcutta; Bagbazar Public Library, Calcutta; Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta; Dhaka University Library; Bangla Academy, Dhaka; Jadavpur University, Calcutta; The National Library, Calcutta; Ramakrishna Mission Public Library, Calcutta; West Bengal State Archives, Calcutta; Rabindra Bhavana Archives, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, West Bengal; Syracuse University Library, Syracuse, New York and the India Office Library Records, British Library, London. Special thanks are also due to the Ramakrishna Mission Library and the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad Library for permission to photograph periodicals in their holdings for reproducing in the book.
Fellowships and assistantships from the Department of History and the South Asia Center, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, New York; The NRTT-CSSSC post-doctoral residential fellowship from the Navajbhai Ratan Tata Trust and Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta; a three month fellowship at the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Kolkata; and a year’s study leave from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, made it possible to research and write at various stages during PhD and the completion of this book.
Thanks are due to my editors Patricia Radder (Assistant Editor for Asian Studies) and Dirk Bakker of Brill for their cooperation and guidance in every step of the publication process, the anonymous reviewers for their comments that helped improve the draft and the entire editorial and production teams at Brill. I also thank Ms. Anindita Bhaduri for her meticulous proof reading and indexing of the draft.
I am grateful to Prof. Rajat Kanta Ray, Head, Department of History, Presidency College, Calcutta who a long time ago had drawn my attention to the animated debates in literary periodicals during the early decades of the twentieth century. My indebtedness to Prof. Gautam Bhadra for his sustained guidance in formulating my research questions during the initial years as a doctoral student and also for painstakingly reading drafts of the book chapters. The historical consciousness that these two teachers have imbibed in generations of students has continued to be the sustenance of much of my own social and historical sensibility. I take this opportunity to thank all my teachers at Presidency College and the University of Calcutta: Professors Amit Mukherjee, Arun Bandyopadhyay, Bhaskar Chakrabarty, Hari S. Vasudevan, Lakshmi Subramanian, Nirban Basu, Samita Sen, Shireen Maswood, Subhas Ranjan Chakrabarty and Tapati Guha Thakurta.
My thanks also to Professors Norman Kutcher, Frederick Marquardt, Crystal Bartolovich, Linda Alcoff, Subho Basu and the late Daniel Field of Syracuse University and Professor Clinton Seely of the University of Chicago. My greatest academic indebtedness is to my supervisor, Professor Sudipta Sen of University of California, Davis who with his patience and jovial disposition has guided me throughout during the PhD years as well as during preparation of the book manuscript. He had gone out of the way to help me tide over the initial difficulties in the USA and also steadfastly supported me during times of crises. I also thank Lyn Bigelow for all her help.
I thank all my colleagues at the Department of History, Jadavpur University, Kolkata. A special word of thanks to Professor Anuradha Roy for her valuable comments on my chapters; Professors Nupur Dasgupta and Sudeshna Banerjee for their compassion; Dr. Chandrani Banerjee Mukherjee for her evergreen presence; and Dr. Utsa Ray, Dr. Tilottama Mukherjee and Dr. Maroona Murmu for their unwavering support when I needed it the most. Thanks are due to Tilottama also for her numerous reminders to finish the book; Utsa for being a very genuine friend and Dr. Rajarshi Ghose of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences Calcutta for his sound advice and help.
The students of the Department of History, Jadavpur University have been a source of constant encouragement and academic sustenance. I feel fortunate to be in the company of some of the brightest brains and future historians of South Asian History.
I take this opportunity to thank my uncles – Asim Kumar Mitra, Anup Kumar Ghosh and Partha Pratim Ghosh; my aunts – Shikha Mitra, Reba Chatterjee, Anjana Dutta; all my cousins, nephews and nieces. I fondly remember my uncles – late Rabindra Chandra Bhadra and late R.C. Sen; and my grand aunt the late Dipti Mukherjee who initiated my journey in to the world of education.
Trailing last but certainly not the least, my family: my parents-in-law, the late Prof. Dr. Sudhansu Ranjan Mitra and late Sujala Mitra for their unconditional love; bother-in-law Sudheer; sister Sandeepa, a neuroscientist and dancer, for being my severest critic and for her unparalleled sense of humor; the little ones Renee Maya, my adorable niece and Reyan Vijay, a bubbly toddler and my nephew; my husband Supriyo for just being there and occasionally reminding me of my ‘priority’, our daughters Sattwiki and Rajashi who have been sources of immense joy and trouble at the same time, and our Basset hound baby Ollie for bringing so much love and happiness in to our family. My grandparents late Sukumar and Maya Dey and late Nirad Ranjan and Bela Ghosh would no doubt, have been the happiest to see this book. As for my parents Kollol Dey and Sukla Dey, this book is for them.