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the complete review - literature / history

Redeeming the Kamasutra

by
Wendy Doniger

general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author

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Our Assessment:

B+ : entertaining and revealing Kamasutra-readings

See our review for fuller assessment.

  From the Reviews:

• "Doniger reveals the classic Indian text as far more than a sex manual, calling it a handbook for sensuous living. (...) Doniger’s prose cuts to the chase, and her book delights and informs the lay reader. Erudite, entertaining, and to the point, this work demonstrates her talent for clear thinking and clear writing." - Publishers Weekly
  
  
• "Doniger believes the Kamasutra to be not only a precious and under-appreciated part of the Sanskrit canon, but also a great Indian literary landmark which has been — for way too long now — criminally undervalued in its place of origin. Hence its need for ‘redemption’ (a paradoxically Christian notion, perhaps)." - Nicola Barker, The Spectator

Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.

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The complete review's Review:

       Several of the seven chapters in Redeeming the Kamasutra are based on previous work by Doniger, but in revised ("much revised", she emphasizes in some cases) and refashioned versions, and now loosely fitted together as a more unified work. Her ambition is clear from the title -- a reaction, too, in part, as she admits in her introduction, to: "the rise of a wave of puritanical censorship in India in the past decade". But the work she wants to redeem isn't exactly the salacious version readers often have in mind when they hear the title Kamasutra -- and this is another of her goals in this book: to remind readers about the exact nature of the work: yes, there's a lot of sex, but the dubious Richard F. Burton translation definitely gives the wrong impression. (Doniger of course also set out to right that impression with her own translation (with Sudhir Kakar) of the Kamasutra (2002, Oxford University Press); see also A.N.D.Haksar's recent translation of the Kama Sutra.)
       Doniger's take on the 1883 Burton translation of Vatsyayana Mallanaga's mid-third century C.E. work -- "In many ways, it should be called the Burton mistranslation" ... -- is of particular interest, given that this has endured so long as the definitive (if, as she easily demonstrates, anything but authoritative) version of the Kamasutra, even in India -- a reminder of how fundamentally a work, its meanings, and even its impact can be transformed in translation. (Among the other interesting side-notes: "the Burton translation is not primarily the work of Burton", Doniger noting that: "It really should, therefore, be known as the Indrajit-Bhide-Arbuthnot-Burton translation", but Burton's fame so overshadowed the others that their contributions remain easily ignored.)
       A chapter on 'The Kautilyan Kamasutra' is an interesting textual comparison between the Kamasutra and the second century C.E. Arthashastra, as well as a Dharmashastra by Manu -- showing:

The Kamasutra is closely based upon the Arthashastra, and this connection strongly influences the worldview of the Kamasutra.

He tells the man how to recognize when a woman has reached a climax -- or, perhaps, if we assume (as I think we should) that the text is intended for women, too, he is telling the woman how to fake it

- M.A.Orthofer, 9 March 2016

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Links:

• Oxford University Press publicity page

• Publishers Weekly

• Faculty page

• Vatsyayana's Kama Sutra, in A.N.D.Haksar's translation
• Sudhir Kakar's Kamasutra-novel, The Ascetic of Desire
• See Index of Literary Essays
• See Index of Erotic, Pornographic, and Sex-related books
• See Index of Sanskrit literature

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About the Author:

       American scholar Wendy Doniger teaches at the University of Chicago. She was born in 1940.

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