The term ‘Renaissance’ has been used to refer to various movements in cultural history – originally in Europe, and later, by extension, to other civilizations. This book brings together a collection of articles by thirteen Italian and Indian scholars on the European and Indian renaissances. Between them they cover the work of major writers in Europe (Dante, Petrarch) and India (Bankim Chandra, Vidyasagar, Tagore); cultural and socio-historic movements like humanism, nationalism, the Reformation and Orientalism; and crucial social sectors like the growth of the vernaculars, the changing status of women and pursuit of science.

Chap 1 ‘Metaphor, Metamorphosis and Knowledge in the Renaissance’ by Gian Mario Anselmi

Chap 2 ‘Relating to the Past: The Differing Attitudes of Dante and Petrarch’ by Maria Cecila Bertolan

Chap 3 ‘Renaissance and Reformation’ by Amlan Das Gupta

Chap 4 ‘The Ethical Dimension of Humanistic Philology’ by Andrea Severi

Chap 5 ‘The Rustle of History: Nationalism and the Vernacular in the French Renaissance’ by Niranjan Goswami

Chap 6 ‘The Paradigm of the Renaissance as Viewed in Nineteenth-century France’ by Sudesna Chakrabarti; 

Chap 7 ‘Humanism and Orientalism: Life after Rebirth’ by Sukanta Chaudhuri

Chap 8 ‘Some Distinctive Features of the Bengal Renaissance’ by Alok Ray

Chap 9 ‘Rehearsing the Renaissance: Some Symptomatic Texts from Nineteenth-century Bengal’ by Swapan Chakravorty

Chap 10 ‘Renaissance in Bengal: A Colonial Reincarnation’ by Swapan Majumdar

Chap 11 ‘The Bengali Language: A Colonial Renaissance’ by Biswajit Ray

Chap 12 ‘Women, Rebirth and Reform in Nineteenth-century Bengal’ by Supriya Chaudhuri

Chap 13 ‘Science and the Renaissance: The Case of Bengal’ by Kunal Chattopadhyay