Research Catalog

Title

Writing Tamil Catholicism : literature, persuasion and devotion in the eighteenth century / by Margherita Trento.

Publication

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2022]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Trento, Margherita

Description

xiii, 355 pages : illustrations (some color), maps (some color); 25 cm.

Summary

"In Writing Tamil Catholicism: Literature, Persuasion and Devotion in the Eighteenth Century, Margherita Trento explores the process by which the Jesuit missionary Costanzo Giuseppe Beschi (1680-1747), in collaboration with a group of local lay elites identified by their profession as catechists, chose Tamil poetry as the social and political language of Catholicism in eighteenth-century South India. Trento analyzes a corpus of Tamil grammars and poems, chiefly Beschi's Tēmpāvaṇi, alongside archival documents to show how, by presenting themselves as poets and intellectuals, Catholic elites gained a persuasive voice as well as entrance into the learned society of the Tamil country and its networks of patronage"--

Series Statement

Philological encounters monographs, 2451-9200 ; volume 3

Uniform Title

Philological encounters monographs ; v. 3.

Subject

• Beschi, Costantino Giuseppe, 1680-1747 > Criticism and interpretation
• Beschi, Costantino Giuseppe, 1680-1747
• 1700-1799
• Tamil poetry > 18th century > History and criticism
• Tamil poetry > Catholic authors
• Religion and literature
• Tamil poetry
• Catholic authors
• Criticism and interpretation

Genre/Form

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Note

• Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral) - University of Chicago, 2019.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

1. Genealogies of Tamil Catholicism -- 2. Microstoria and the Global in the Local -- 3. The Beginnings of Catholic Literature in Tamil -- 3.1. Writing before Accommodation -- 3.2. Social Accommodation in Madurai -- 3.3. The Literary Turn -- 3.4. Beyond Accommodation -- 4. The Making of an Archive -- 5. Chapter Outline and Threads across the Chapters -- pt. 1 Spiritual Institutions -- 1. Spiritual Exercises for Tamil Saints -- 1. Being a Catechist: Preaching and Literature -- 2. Being a Catechist: Caste and Profession -- 3. Bringing the Spiritual Exercises to the Mission -- 4. Spiritual Retreats between Italy and India -- 5. Missionary Strategies and Tamil Locations -- 2. Tamil Manuals for Catholic Selves -- 1. Creating a Catholic Self: The Ndnamuyarci -- 2. Disciplining the Catholic Self: The Vetiyarolukkam -- 3. The Dangers of a Self in Transition -- 4. The Catholic Self and Its Other: The Vetavilakkam -- 5. Conclusions: Catholic Selves, Dangers and Discipline -- pt. 2 Rhetorical Education -- 3. Catholic Poetics and Politics of Space -- 1. Jesuit Humanism and Devotion -- 2. Kaveri Delta Politics -- 3. A Mirror for a Tamil Christian King -- 4. The Elakkuricci School of Rhetoric -- 5. Elakkuricci as a Christian Matam -- 4. A Tamil Grammar of Persuasion -- 1. A Textbook of (Christian) Tamil: The Tonnulvilakkam -- 2. Amplificatio as Porul -- 3. The Grammar of Society -- 4. Ignorant Enemies -- 5. Conclusions: Tamil Poetry and the Grammar of Persuasion -- pt. 3 Catholic Poetry in a Tamil World -- 5. Writing for Eighteenth-Century Catechists -- 1. Christian Epic and Tamil Perunkappiyam -- 2. Worldly Publics, Divine Patrons -- 3. Angelic Time and the Relocation of Devotion -- 4. Tamil Demons and Christian Wonder -- 5. Staged Conversions -- 5.1. The Temptations of Rebirth -- 5.2. The Devil Is a Woman -- 5.3. The Discernment of the Peys -- 6. Reading as an Eighteenth-Century Catechist -- 1. Paper and Palm-Leaf Trails -- 2. Catechist Dynasties -- 3. Saiva Neighbors and Rivals -- 4. Towards the Colonial Archive -- 5. Conclusions: Catholic Lay Identities in the Tongue duree.

Call Number

JFE 23-1633

ISBN

• 9789004511613
• 900451161X
• 9789004511620 (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

• 2021061934
• 40031213649

OCLC

1283949764

Title

Writing Tamil Catholicism : literature, persuasion and devotion in the eighteenth century / by Margherita Trento.

Publisher

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2022]

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Philological encounters monographs, 2451-9200 ; volume 3

Philological encounters monographs ; v. 3.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Chronological Term

1700-1799

Added Author

Trento, Margherita, editor.

Other Form:

Online version: Writing Tamil Catholicism Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2022] 9789004511620 (DLC) 2021061935

Other Standard Identifier

40031213649

Research Call Number

JFE 23-1633