Intimate Relations

Plumbing the hearts of women and men in India and exploring the relations they engage in Sudhir Kakar gives us the first full-length study of Indian sexuality. His groundbreaking work explores Indias sexual fantasies and ideals the unlit stage of desire where so much of our inner theater takes place. Kakars sources are primarily textual celebrating the primacy of the story in Indian life. He practices a cultural psychology that distills the psyches of individuals from the literary products and social institutions of Indian culture. These include examples of lurid contemporary Hindi novels folktales Sanskrit Tamil and Hindi proverbs hits of the Indian cinema Gandhis autobiography interviews with women from the slums of Delhi and case studies from his own psychoanalytic practice. His attentive readings of these varied narratives from a vivid portrait of sexual fantasies and realities reflecting the universality of sexuality as well as cultural nuances specific to India. About the Author Sudhir Kakar is a distinguished psychoanalyst and writer. He has written seventeen highly acclaimed books of non-fiction which include among others The Inner World (now in its sixteenth printing since its first publication in 1978) Shamans Mystics and Doctors Intimate Relations The Colours of Violence and most recently Young Tagore The Makings of a Genius.