Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on literary journalism and serialised fiction in English language periodicals in late 19th and early 20th century India, and their role in the formation of a new subjectivity.

Paper long abstract:

Indian periodicals at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century saw the emergence of the genre of literary journalism, along with the popularity of short fiction and serialised novels. This paper is interested in tracing the ways in which literary journalism and fiction reproduced in magazines was central to the development of a new subjectivity, closely connected with notions of citizenship and a newly defined relationship with the public sphere. The private subject came to be described with more interest and greater interiority, for this depth was central to the public role she/he would perform in a rapidly changing nation. This was particularly evident in the case of women writers, who increasingly used this new print medium for expressing the social and political roles of women, and for experimenting with new subject positions. The 'new woman' who materialised in these pages was educated, modern, and cultured. Not only was she able to negotiate with relative ease the traditional and domestic duties demanded of her but was marked by a cosmopolitan sensibility that allowed her to occupy an enlarged public space through print. Focusing on The Indian Ladies' Magazine and the Madras Christian College Magazine, I argue that this negotiation, to a large extent, was carried out through the kind of literary material that was printed in these magazine - fiction and poetry, as well as reviews - that fashioned the tastes of readers in ways that were subtle but also far reaching.