Caste and Outcast

by Dhan Gopal Mukerji, Mint Editions (Contribution by)

Overview

Caste and Outcast (1923) is an autobiography by Dhan Gopal Mukerji. Published the year after Mukerji moved from San Francisco to New York City, Caste and Outcast is a moving autobiographical narrative from the first Indian writer to gain a popular audience in the United States. Although he is more widely recognized for such children’s novels as Gay Neck: The Story of a Pigeon (1927), which won the 1928 Newbery Medal, and Kari the Elephant (1922), Mukerji was also a gifted poet and memoirist whose experiences in India, Japan, and the United States are essential to his unique perspective on twentieth century life. “As I look into the past and try to recover my earliest impression, I remember that the most vivid experience of my childhood was the terrific power of faces. From the day consciousness dawned upon me, I saw faces, faces everywhere, and I always noticed the eyes. It was as if the whole Hindu race lived in its eyes.” Raised in a prominent Brahmin family, Dhan Gopal Mukerji enjoyed immense privileges in his native India and came to trust in the effectiveness and fairness of the country’s caste system. As a young man, however, no longer enthralled with the ascetic lifestyle explored in his youth, Mukerji devoted himself to nationalist politics and eventually left India for Japan. Unsatisfied with life as an engineering student, he emigrated once more to the United States, where he moved in anarchist and bohemian circles while embarking on a career as a popular poet and children’s author. Although he never returned to his native country, Mukerji left an inspiring legacy through his literary achievement and unwavering commitment to Indian independence. This edition of Dhan Gopal Mukerji’s Caste and Outcast is a classic of Indian American literature reimagined for modern readers.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781513133010
Publisher:	Mint Editions
Publication date:	02/15/2022
Series:	Mint Editions (Voices From API)
Pages:	174
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

W. D. Westervelt (1849-1939) was an American minister, historian, and folklorist specializing in Hawaiian mythology. Born in Oberlin, Ohio, he obtained his B.A. from Oberlin College before completing his B.D. from Oberlin Theological Seminary in 1874. In 1899, after serving as a pastor in Ohio and Colorado, Westervelt settled in Hawaii, where he married Caroline Dickinson Castle. A member of the Hawaiian Historical Society, he served as secretary, treasurer, and president, gaining a reputation as a leading scholar of Hawaiian folklore. Throughout his career, he wrote numerous articles and several anthologies on Hawaiian myths and legends, which continue to be recognized as some of the most reliable sources on the subject written in English.

Table of Contents

	Introduction: The Life and Death of Dhan Gopal Mukerji	1
Part I	Caste
1	Childhood	45
2	My Little Sister	61
3	The Holy Man	70
4	Initiation	79
5	Pilgrimage, Benares	86
6	Pilgrimage, the Hills	92
7	The Cashmere Shawl	102
8	Idols	107
9	The Priest	112
10	Trading Shawls	117
11	My Brother's Marriage	123
12	East and West	132
Part II	Outcast
1	Initiation into America	141
2	My Socialist "Friends"	154
3	The Second Year in College	166
4	Something of Frank's Life	177
5	What Is the Answer?	193
6	In California Fields	200
7	Spiritualism	211
	Epilogue	221
	Afterword: The Homeless Self: Problems of Cultural Translation in Autobiography	225
	Selected Bibliography: The Work of Dhan Gopal Mukerji	253
	Notes	257
	Afterword References	273
	Editors	277

Editorial Reviews

Chang (history, Stanford U.) introduces this reissue of the 1923 autobiography of Mukerji, the first author of Asian Indian ancestry to attract American audiences in writing about his dual identity. Included are a bibliography of his works, and commentary by two other Stanford scholars on issues of "cultural translation" in this genre. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

"A fascinating insight into the Asian-American world of the last century. Dhan Gopal Mukerji was a genuine pioneer, and his career brims with portents for the generation of Asian-American writers that is now coming into its own."—Amitav Ghosh, Queen's College, CUNY, author of The Glass Palace and In an Antique Land

"This is a quirky and fascinating book—brilliant and exasperating in equal measure—which gives one a unique insight into theexperience of an Indian immigrant to the U.S. in the early 20th century, but which also addresses in many essential respects the experience of immigrants everywhere."—Vikram Seth, author of A Suitable Boy and The Golden Gate

"Dhan Gopal Mukerji's Caste and Outcaste has long stood alone, a rare early 20th century testimony by a perceptive intellectual about his life in India and America. The reprint benefits greatly from the fine introduction by historian Gordon Chang and an elegant, thought-provoking essay by anthropologists Akhil Gupta and Purnima Mankekar. Mukerji's life and work are made meaningful once again."—Karen Leonard, University of California at Irvine, author of The South Asian Americans

"A man who, through his writing, offered one of the earliest glimpses into the complexity of an educated immigrant's life in America. Through his observations and even through what he does not say, Mukerji at once lends his readers a sense of darkness and alienation, as well as great insight and literary skill."—India West

"Caste and Outcast offers a fascinating glimpse into the life and times of a very early and seemingly reluctant Indian immigrant to America."—Literate World

"[The book] brings to life what it meant to be an immigrant from the Indian subcontinent at a time when there were not too many like him even in California."—Literate World

"Caste and Outcast is full of brilliant by-the-way snapshots of the life in India and America in the early 1920s and 1930s that Mujerki captures quite effortlessly."—Literate World

"This book is full of merit."—Literate World

From the Publisher

"A fascinating insight into the Asian-American world of the last century. Dhan Gopal Mukerji was a genuine pioneer, and his career brims with portents for the generation of Asian-American writers that is now coming into its own."

Queen's College, CUNY, author of The Glass Palace and In an Antique Land - Amitav Ghosh

"This is a quirky and fascinating book—brilliant and exasperating in equal measure—which gives one a unique insight into theexperience of an Indian immigrant to the U.S. in the early 20th century, but which also addresses in many essential respects the experience of immigrants everywhere."

author of A Suitable Boy and The Golden Gate - Vikram Seth

"A man who, through his writing, offered one of the earliest glimpses into the complexity of an educated immigrant's life in America. Through his observations and even through what he does not say, Mukerji at once lends his readers a sense of darkness and alienation, as well as great insight and literary skill."

India West

"Dhan Gopal Mukerji's Caste and Outcaste has long stood alone, a rare early 20th century testimony by a perceptive intellectual about his life in India and America. The reprint benefits greatly from the fine introduction by historian Gordon Chang and an elegant, thought-provoking essay by anthropologists Akhil Gupta and Purnima Mankekar. Mukerji's life and work are made meaningful once again."

Universityof California at Irvine, author of The South Asian Americans - Karen Leonard

"Caste and Outcast offers a fascinating glimpse into the life and times of a very early and seemingly reluctant Indian immigrant to America."

Literate World