Sentiment and Self: Richard Blechynden’s Calcutta Diaries, 1791–1822

Richard Blechynden was a surveyor, architect, and builder in early colonial Bengal. This volume and its companion (Sex and Sensibility) use 80 volumes of his diaries and other archival material along with anecdotes, extracts, and stories to recreate histories of everyday life.   While Sex and Sensibility deals with larger issues of sexuality, concubines, and dynamics of households in colonial Bengal, this volume deals with life in Calcutta and the re-creation of a British identity. It explores issues like interactions between Europeans and Indians; race and tolerance; laws and legal system; and establishment of colonial city and government giving a bird’s eye-view of colonial Calcutta and its dynamic society. This book will interest scholars and students of modern Indian history, gender studies, cultural studies, and British Imperialism, as well as those interested in biographies.   Read more