Abstract

This book examines the myth of the journey from the village to the city and shows how this myth and the changes it has undergone provide rich insight on India's ambivalent affair with the modern city. The first section looks at the vicissitudes of the metaphor of journey, especially the imagination of the hero as it intersects with the imagined city. The next two sections profile various heroes as they negotiate the transitions from the village to the city and back to the village. The final section focuses on the psychopathological journey from a poisoned village into a self-annihilating city, and the narrative draws parallels with the violence in 1946-8, the period which saw the birth of modern India and Pakistan.