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Podcast: EMPIRE LINES
Episode: Translation of the Letters of a Hindoo Rajah, Elizabeth Hamilton (1796)
Description: Dr. Mona Narain reimagines Britain through the eyes of the colonial Indian subject, via Elizabeth Hamilton's 1796 novel, Translation of the Letters of a Hindoo Rajah.
Following the adventures of the fictional Indian Rajah ZΔΔrmilla in London, Elizabeth Hamilton's Letters upends stereotypical narratives of the imagined east. Staged in a series of letters, her novel refocusses 18th century Britain through the eyes of the colonised, comparing cultures and challenges the Indian aristocrat's initial adoration of imperial Britain. From the 'benevolent' British East India Company to the Orientalist scholars of the Asiatic Society, Letters embodies Britain's bids to ju...