This collection of essays—rich, readable and informative—is introduced beautifully by Francesca Orsini. Its aims and scope are ambitious. I begin with my single serious complaint, however, one that is perennial: how can we continue to talk about “South Asia” as though it were comprised only of Hindustan and Bengal? That said, I applaud the book that is, rather than lament unduly that which it is not.
Fourteen chapters are organized into five roughly chronological sections that South Asian culture through Sanskrit kavya, Indo-Persian poetry and poetic treatises, Punjabi romance, Parsi theatre, Tagore's novels and songs, 20th century Hindi and Urdu novels, Hindi films, love letters, Rajasthani performance and practices in urban love-marriage. Understandably slanted toward the textual, the volume also addresses the production of emotion through visual and oral performance (stage, screen and “real life”). Almost every essay offers useful insight into how the contemporary “lovescape” available to...
