Author Description

This history of the changing perceptions of, and attitudes towards Europe in nineteenth-century Bengal among the Bengali intelligentsia examines in detail the ideas of three key men during a time of social, cultural, and intellectual confrontation between the East and the West: Bhudev Mukhopadhyay, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, and Swami Vivekananda. It explores their attempts to grapple with the intellectual dilemma of their times as represented by the East-West encounter.