(Ebook) English Siege and Prison Writings: From the 'Black Hole' to the 'Mutiny' by Pramod K. Nayar (editor) ISBN 9781138232686, 1138232688

(Ebook) English Siege and Prison Writings: From the 'Black Hole' to the 'Mutiny' by Pramod K. Nayar (editor) ISBN 9781138232686, 1138232688

Written in anxiety and distress, or recalled with poignancy and anger, these siege narratives depict a very different Briton. A far cry from the triumphant conqueror, explorer or ruler, these texts give us the vulnerable, injured and frightened Englishman and woman who seek, in the most adverse of conditions, to retain a measure of stoicism and identity. From Robert Knox’s 17th-century account of imprisonment in Sri Lanka, through J. Z. Holwell’s famous account of the ‘Black Hole’ of Calcutta, through Florentia Sale’s Afghan memoir, and Lady Inglis’s ‘Mutiny’ diary from Lucknow, the book opens up a dark and revealing corner of the colonial archive. Lucid and intriguing, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of modern South Asia, colonial history, literary and culture studies.