title: A Rasa Reader: Classical Indian Aesthetics (Historical Sourcebooks in Classical Indian Thought)
author: Sheldon Pollock
description: <i>A Rasa Reader</i> is the product of enormous erudition in both the Indian and European traditions of the philosophy and science of aesthetics, and it will make a unique and powerful contribution to scholars in several areas. No other work of which I am aware enables even the lay reader to grasp the elusive concept of <i>rasa</i>, its relationship to the psychology of emotion, and the way in which successive authors redefined the meaning and locus of the aesthetic response. (Robert Goldman, University of California, Berkeley)<br /><br /><i>A Rasa Reader</i> marks a serious contribution to scholarship on <i>rasa</i> and promises to shape the field for a long time to come. There is certainly no one work in English or any other language that covers anything like the ground this one does. (Lawrence McCrea, Cornell University)<br /><br /><i>A Rasa Reader</i> is a monumental achievement not only in giving clear translations of difficult Sanskrit texts on aesthetics but also in making complicated arguments comprehensible to the general reader. It is the missing cornerstone in the increasing availability of premodern South Asia literature in reliable translation. It is now possible for the curious reader to find his or her way with some depth into a once impenetrable field. (Stephen Owen, Harvard University)<br /><br />Framed by Sheldon Pollock's magisterial introduction and commentary, <i>A Rasa Reader</i> opens out a panoramic view of one of the world's great aesthetic traditions, whose adherents blend philosophical rigor and poetic insight as they advance, dispute, and refine theories of the nature and effects of artistic expression. Discerning readers of this luminous anthology will 'become intoxicated by it'as the great poet-critic Dandin said of poetry'like bees by honey.' (David Damrosch, Harvard University)<br /><br />Pollock recounts the core aesthetic concept of rasa by tracking its transformations, extensions, and exclusions. From its early appearance as a term specific to drama to its flowering as a hybrid concept bringing together emotion, eroticism, cuisine, devotion, authenticity, and response, <i>rasa</i> makes sense of aesthetic experiences but in a way that doesn't and shouldn't reduce to any of its near-equivalents in Greek or German philosophies of the beautiful. Comparative literature gains immensely from this detailed, historically differentiated anthology with its illuminating introduction. (Haun Saussy, University of Chicago)<br /><br />In this bold, comprehensive, and bracing foray into classical India, Pollock confirms his reputation as a pioneering intellectual historianthe rare kind that creates a vast new field of inquiry and scholarship while provoking reappraisals of existing ideas, assumptions, and concepts. (Pankaj Mishra, author of <i>From the Ruins of Empire: The Intellectuals Who Remade Asia</i>)<br /><br />This much-needed sourcebook in classical Indian aesthetics covers the period from roughly the early part of the Common Era to 1700, with a focus on emotion in art and the famous theory of <i>rasa</i> (a polysemous word that Sheldon Pollock correctly translates in the aesthetic context as taste). . . . We should be grateful to Pollock for many years of honest, hard, scholarly work resulting in this excellent, magisterial reader. (Saam Trivedi <i>Journal of Asian Studies</i>)<br /><br />The excerpts are learned, argumentative, and rich. (<i>Economic and Political Weekly</i>)<br /><br />A comprehensive historical survey of the term as its significance evolves over time...the immense labor and acumen that have gone into this book need no further comment. (<i>Journal of the American Oriental Society</i>)
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