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Dorothy Matilda Figueira
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Aryans, Jews, Brahmins: Theorizing Authority Through Myths of Identity (Suny Series, the Margins of Literature) Paperback – September 26, 2002

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 127 ratings
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Explores the construction of the Aryan myth and its uses in both India and Europe.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    218 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    State University of New York Press
  4. Publication date
    September 26, 2002
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 0.5 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0791455327
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0791455326
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a marvelously learned and engaging book. It asks serious questions about the relations between language and race, and locates compelling answers in the texts that Indians and Europeans were reading simultaneously, often reinventing them for their respective purposes. The quality of the research and the vigor of the interpretations make this a valuable resource for cultural and intellectual historians, as well as for literary critics interested in emerging ideologies of 'right reading.'" - Gauri Viswanathan, author of Outside the Fold: Conversion, Modernity, and Belief

About the Author

Dorothy M. Figueira is Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Georgia. She is the author of The Exotic: A Decadent Quest and Translating the Orient: The Reception of Sakuntala in Nineteenth-Century Europe, both published by SUNY Press.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ State University of New York Press (September 26, 2002)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 218 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0791455327
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0791455326
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.5 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 127 ratings

About the author

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Dorothy Matilda Figueira

Dorothy Matilda Figueira

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
127 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Walter Alter
5.0 out of 5 stars One Damned Important Book
Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2015
Verified Purchase
I'm not a quarter of the way through this book and yet it is recognizable as one of the most important books I've ever had the pleasure of reading. One cannot properly understand Western History since the Enlightenment without knowing its contents. Ms. Figueira is an erudite scholar citing reference upon reference in the philosophical, philological and anthropological literature of the Romantic movement with special attention on the influence of Far Eastern exoticism upon a European culture searching for some way to eclipse the power of a corrupt church and its Old Testament antecedents. From Voltaire and Rousseau to Nietsche, we see how ill conceived, unscholarly and politically motivated concepts of the Hindu scriptures slowly and inexorably pushed mainstream and heretic writers, poets, composers and philosophers of the 1800's and early 1900's towards anti-semitism, racism and caste based economics. These occult saturated concepts fed directly into the twisted cosmologies, sociologies and ideologies of the various proto Nazi occultists such as Lanz Von Liebenfels, Hans Horbigger, Houston Stewart Chaimberlain, Arthur de Gobineau, Helena Blavasky and others, which groundwork shot Adolph Hitler & Co. out of a circus canon and into the pages of abject history.

Finally one can assemble from the facts in this book, a big picture account of, not only the Nazi phenomenon, but a host of satellite and derivative social agglutinations such as radical environmentalism and Nature worship in general, New Age spirituality, alternative healing, various "health food" diet fads, eugenics, contemporary occultism and other so-called "progressive": throwbacks. Without this overarching interpretive framework, we could never fully understand the current mania for dissatisfaction with Western values among various irrationalist demographics which represent an infantile, if sublimated, id monster overlay upon human affairs. I'm hoping that this book represents an emerging school of thought in academia and I look forward to the fruits of its seeding.
3 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2018
Fantastic book on the subject. Excellently researched writing
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Earendil Magnus
5.0 out of 5 stars Not for the Intellectually Faint of Heart
Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2005
I picked up this book on a whim and I read it for pleasure. Yes, dear reader, you heard me correctly . . . I read this for pleasure.
The title was what first caught my eye. I've recently started delving into Jewish studies, skirting the realms of both ancient history and theology, so I thought this book would fit in nicely so far as the Aryan Myth being co-opted by Europeans to subvert and displace Jewish origins. What I failed to realize, until I started the book, was that the study approached the subject matter from a textual standpoint rather than a historical one.
Like most of us who received our higher education in the late eighties and early nineties, I had all the requisite exposure to European history, but I also had some exposure to East Indian history as well, so the whole notion of the Aryan Myth being not solely a European phenomenon was not new to me.
However, this book is squarely aimed at scholars, and is not for the general reader. Furthermore, the author is a professor of literature, so a certain degree of knowledge in that field is greatly to be desired. My background is in history, so I had some initial difficulties digesting the onslaught of "isms" that Figueira marshalled in these pages. And certainly, as any academic can attest to, most "isms" have different meanings in different fields of study, ranging from philosophy to history to literary analysis.
Still, despite it all, I really felt I got something out of the book. Part One deals with European approaches to the Aryan myth, and many may react with shock and disgust at the manner in which our fine European scholars of centuries past manufactured absent text to suit their social and political agendas.
Part Two deals with Indian approaches to the Aryan Myth, and how it was used to promote social reform and various nationalist agendas. Certainly, some knowledge of Indian history and the British Raj would come in handy.
Though some readers may need to have a Webster's Collegiate Dictionary at the ready, Figueira states her arguments quite clearly and her language is polished. There is a cohesive nature to the way she has organized her thoughts, and she manages to tie up each chapter quite neatly while transitioning into her next line of thought. Her afterword binds it all together and ends with the rather disturbing, if not pithy, observation that the Aryan legacy haunts academia through the "Brahminization of theory."
We are left to ponder this in the wake of her thesis.
13 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

ambika
5.0 out of 5 stars very remarkable book of information
Reviewed in India on December 17, 2021
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i love to know of world religion and politics. This is good
7 people found this helpful
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Axel
5.0 out of 5 stars Book relatively expensive but worth a visit
Reviewed in France on January 8, 2017
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The discovery of ancient India and the construction of the Aryan myth in Europe (in Gobineau or Nietzsche for example). The book also deals with the interpretation of this myth in India. Very bright.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great work!
Reviewed in India on April 2, 2018
Verified Purchase
Love the content in there. It’s a great book to read especially if One is interested in Indology and the aryan connection. The book in its best is 60% a summary of other classical authors on this subject and 40% author’s view. However this is a well researched work.
10 people found this helpful
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Loki
4.0 out of 5 stars An informative analysis of the history (myth? ) of ...
Reviewed in India on August 17, 2017
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An informative analysis of the history (myth?) of the Aryans, and how it was influential in forming the concepts of White Nationalism as well Indian. A bit on the academic side, though - a casual reader might get lost.
11 people found this helpful
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S Singh
5.0 out of 5 stars It's a eye opening book everyone should read it. ...
Reviewed in India on March 3, 2018
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It's a eye opening book everyone should read it. It tells us how we are manipulated in India by lies, false history, misinformation. It is a kind of Orwellian 1984 but non fiction. However now DNA evidence is there to support Aryan migration.
17 people found this helpful
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