Reviews for In Light of India: Essays

The average rating for In Light of India: Essays based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-02-09 00:00:00 Michael Bennigan This is probably more a 4.75 and it really might be a 5. It's taken me most of the year to read as, for a small book, it's chocker-block with ideas to mull over and that requires think time. I found the perspective that Paz brings to the subjects he tackles refreshing. He is a Mexican with intimate knowledge of western philosophy, religion and culture, serving in a political capacity inside India during the 1950s - a time of great change and upheaval in India. His eye is honest and untampered. As an Anglo-Indian, I have often wondered about certain parts of my upbringing which were different from the dominant Western (English) culture. My attitudes towards time, for example, have always seemed out of step with Western culture, but I can now see are greatly influenced by the Hindu concept of time. It is comforting, if not affirming to know that my views are shared by a continent and that there is a place on this planet where my concepts of time could coexist peacefully with the dominate culture! Paz's style is conversational - you can imagine yourself with him in a cafe or walking along a river bank - and yet the very dense and difficult material is within my grasp without the feeling of being "dumbed down." We explore poetry, yogi and karma, the Jains and the Muslim/Hindu question. We tackle love and redemption, original sin and the Brahmins. Reincarnation, food and art. It's all there, all the aspect of India that are so difficult for Westerners to comprehend. This is a book that I intend to read again and again as it is one that will be different each time I pick it up.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-06-26 00:00:00 Tiffany Horne O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us! - Robert Burns I loved this vision of India through the eyes of a foreigner: one that can see beyond the snake charmers and whose eyes are not clouded by the mystic balderdash of the "mysterious East". Paz seems to be one person who has really understood the concept of India - because India is, ultimately, a concept.