Pages:
302
Original
date of publication: 1932
My
edition: 2000 (NYRB Classics)
Why
I decided to read:
How
I acquired my copy: Joseph Fox Books, Philadelphia, January 2012
Hindoo
Holiday is an account of the time that the author, JR Ackerley, spent in india
working as a secretary to the Maharajah of Chhatapur (jokingly changed to
Chhokrapur, apparently meaning “City of the Boys,” for this book). The
Maharajah is an eccentric old man who enjoys riddling conversations and the
company of boy actors.
The
setting is the British Raj, when Indian rulers had a fair amount of autonomy—but
in the wake of peace, there was very little that the Maharajahs could actually
do. So, in possession of vast amounts of wealth, according to the introduction
to this book, these rulers spent their money on untold luxury. It was amidst
this environment that this book is set, and the Maharajah Sahib of Chhokrapur
is one of these.
The
diary covers roughly six months in 1923 and 1924; apparently, the Maharajah, a
great reader of Rider Haggard, had wanted a secretary similar to Olaf in The
Wanderder’s Necklace. Ackerley rarely interjects his own thoughts into the
pages of his diary, but he’s skilled at depicting the minutiae of the court he
lives in as well as describing the people with whom he interacted. As such, the
tone of the books seems a bit insulated, because Ackerley rarely discuses what’s
going on in the larger world. Hindoo Holiday was an instant hit when it was
published in 1932, primarily due to its salacious content (in fact, much of the
original book had to be cut because of Ackerley’s references to homosexuality).
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