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Everyday Reading: Middlebrow Magazines and Book Publishing in Post-Independence India

Everyday Reading: Middlebrow Magazines and Book Publishing in Post-Independence India

by Mandhwani, Aakriti
No customer reviews yet ISBN 9781625347909 University of Massachusetts Press

Finalist for the 2025 SHARP Book History Book Prize

During the two difficult decades immediately following the 1947 Indian Independence, a new, commercially successful print culture emerged that articulated alternatives to dominant national narratives. Through what Aakriti Mandhwani defines as middlebrow magazines--like Delhi Press's Saritā--and the first paperbacks in Hindi--Hind Pocket Books--North Indian middle classes cultivated new reading practices that allowed them to reimagine what it meant to be a citizen. Rather than focusing on individual sacrifices and contributions to national growth, this new print culture promoted personal pleasure and other narratives that enabled readers to carve roles outside of official prescriptions of nationalism, austerity, and religion.

Utilizing a wealth of previously unexamined print culture materials, as well as paying careful attention to the production of commercial publishing companies and the reception of ordinary reading practices--particularly those of women--Everyday Reading offers fresh perspectives into book history, South Asian literary studies, and South Asian gender studies.

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Product details

BrandUniversity of Massachusetts Press
Pub dateJul 8, 2024
ISBN-101625347901
ISBN-139781625347909
LanguageEnglish
Dimensions9 × 0.52 × 6 in
Weight1 lb
Last updated 2026-09-17 18:35
$38.65
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