The Lost Land of Lemuria

Fabulous Geographies, Catastrophic Histories

By: Sumathi Ramaswamy

Write A Review

Hardcover | 1 September 2004

Sorry, we are not able to source the book you are looking for right now.

We did a search for other books with a similar title, however there were no matches. You can try selecting from a similar category, click on the author's name, or use the search box above to find your book.

During the nineteenth century, Lemuria was imagined as a land that once bridged India and Africa but disappeared into the ocean millennia ago, much like Atlantis. A sustained meditation on a lost place from a lost time, this elegantly written book is the first to explore Lemuria's incarnations across cultures, from Victorian-era science to Euro-American occultism to colonial and postcolonial India. The Lost Land of Lemuria widens into a provocative exploration of the poetics and politics of loss to consider how this sentiment manifests itself in a fascination with vanished homelands, hidden civilizations, and forgotten peoples. More than a consideration of nostalgia, it shows how ideas once entertained but later discarded in the metropole can travel to the periphery--and can be appropriated by those seeking to construct a meaningful world within the disenchantment of modernity. Sumathi Ramaswamy ultimately reveals how loss itself has become a condition of modernity, compelling us to rethink the politics of imagination and creativity in our day.

Industry Reviews

"This path-breaking book makes novel and riveting connections between scientists and occultists in the West and Tamil nationalists in India. Ramaswamy's history of the fabulous and lost continent of Lemuria is a brilliant demonstration of how imagination travels." - Dipesh Chakrabarty, author of Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference "Sumathi Ramaswamy's important book is sure to ignite fresh interest in the place of lost lands in the modern imaginary. Her fascinating account of the least known of these - Lemuria - breathes new life into the centrality of 'labors of loss' in nationalist historiography. In refusing to dismiss such narratives as eccentric and inconsequential, Ramaswamy compels scholars to look anew at the fabulous and occult in order to understand the shaping of scientific and colonial modernity. Impeccably researched and elegantly written, this is altogether a marvelous read." - Gauri Viswanathan, Columbia University, author of Outside the Fold: Conversion, Modernity, and Belief"

Shipping

	Standard Shipping	Express Shipping
Metro postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Regional postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Rural postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95

Orders over $79.00 qualify for free shipping.

How to return your order

At Booktopia, we offer hassle-free returns in accordance with our returns policy. If you wish to return an item, please get in touch with Booktopia Customer Care.

Additional postage charges may be applicable.

Defective items

If there is a problem with any of the items received for your order then the Booktopia Customer Care team is ready to assist you.

For more info please visit our Help Centre.

You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Family & Health Coping with / Advice about Personal, Social & Health Topics Coping with / Advice about Death & Bereavement Society & Culture Popular Beliefs & Controversial Knowledge History Earliest Times to Present Day Ancient History to the Year 500 Folklore Studies / Study of Myth (Mythology)Kids & Children's Books Children's Non-Fiction

Mysteries, The Supernatural, Monsters & Mythologies for Children & Teenagers

Illustrations	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Note on Transliteration	p. xvii
Placing Loss	p. 1
Science in the Service of Loss	p. 19
Occult Losses	p. 53
Living Loss at Land's End	p. 97
Geographies of Loss	p. 137
Mapping Loss	p. 182
Laboring Against Loss	p. 223
Notes	p. 235
Bibliography	p. 297
Index	p. 325
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

The Lost Land of Lemuria

Fabulous Geographies, Catastrophic Histories

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

More in Folklore Studies / Study of Myth (Mythology)

Wise Women

Myths and stories for midlife and beyond - 'Extra ordinary . . . beautifully and vividly retold stories' TLS

Killing the Dead

Vampire Epidemics from Mesopotamia to the New World

Odyssey

Stephen Fryâ??s Greek Myths

Heroes

The myths of the Ancient Greek heroes retold

Lost Ocean

An Inky Adventure & Colouring Book

Troy

Our Greatest Story Retold

The Stories Behind the Poses

The Indian mythology that inspired 50 yoga postures

Tales of Norse Mythology - Omnibus Edition

Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classic Collection

The Hobbit

Illustrated by the Author [Illustrated Deluxe Edition]

Classical Mythology A Guide to the Mythical World of the Greeks and Romans

A Guide to the Mythical World of the Greeks and Romans

D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths

A yearling special

The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales (Timeless Classics)

Timeless Classics

The Foot on the Crown

Women Who Run With The Wolves

Contacting the Power of the Wild Woman

The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Bollingen Series

Penguin Books Great Ideas: Myth of Sisyphus

Myth of Sisyphus

The Art of the Lord of the Rings [60th Anniversary Edition]

Mythology

Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes, 75th Anniversary Illustrated Edition

Crochet Creatures of Myth and Legend

19 Designs Easy Cute Critters to Legendary Beasts

The Origins and History of Consciousness

Princeton Classics

Amor and Psyche

The Psychic Development of the Feminine: A Commentary on the Tale by Apuleius

Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization

Bollingen Recollections

The King and the Corpse

Tales of the Soul's Conquest of Evil

The King and the Corpse

Tales of the Soul's Conquest of Evil

This product is categorised by