Awards

• Runner-up for Jack Medal Honourable Mention 2023 (United States)

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9780821425008

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Reviews

The definitive work on the subject of Cashmere and Paisley shawls in all of their intricate significances within eighteenth- and nineteenth-century English history and fiction.... Magisterial. -- Deborah Denenholz Morse, Sara E. Nance Professor of English, College of William & Mary An original and arresting piece of scholarship.... With its broad range, it should find a wide readership among those interested in fashion and the novel, literary critics, and cultural and imperial historians alike. -- Kate Teltscher, author of India Inscribed: European and British Writing on India, 1600-1800

"“From diplomatic gift to fashion trend, literary trope to colonialism’s violent accessory, the cashmere shawl is the star of Textile Orientalisms. Expertly weaving historical and literary sources, Suchitra Choudhury spins a vibrant tale of this culturally rich textile, intertwining the object and its many soft powers with British Empire scholarship.” “Suchitra Choudhury weaves together entangled histories and discovers that the humble shawl is in fact a powerful symbol of empire, trade, industry, class, gender, design, and fashion, as well as being a symbol of identity, authenticity, family, and belonging.” “A magisterial exploration…. Suchitra Choudhury has dug deeply in the archives of British India to reveal the shawl’s multiple meanings as a desired fashion accessory and orientalist icon. Linking the fashion system to imperial governance, gender and class insurrection, her book demonstrates that despite its privileged place at the heart of British domesticity, the ‘old Cashmere shawl’ possessed an uncanny power to disturb and disrupt. An important, original, and long-awaited contribution to the literary study of British India.” ""The definitive work on the subject of Cashmere and Paisley shawls in all of their intricate significances within eighteenth- and nineteenth-century English history and fiction.” “An original and arresting piece of scholarship…. With its broad range, it should find a wide readership among those interested in fashion and the novel, literary critics, and cultural and imperial historians alike.”"

Author Information

Suchitra Choudhury is a research fellow supported by the William Lind Foundation at the University of Glasgow and an independent scholar. Her articles have appeared in Textile History and Victorian Literature and Culture. She is the cocurator of the display Paisley Shawls in Literature at Scotland’s Paisley Museum (2023).

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