In light of India

A collection of youthful letters from her year in the country hints at the ideas that eventually shape Wendy Doniger's research and prolific writing

It would take a lifetime and several books for most people to pack the memories that Wendy Doniger does in 33 letters and a year in India. But then Doniger is not most people and she never travels light.

This book is a collection of letters from when she was just 22 years old (1963-64), a year that she spent in India as a research student. Descriptive and detailed, the letters are all addressed to her parents and they read, in part, like private entries in a personal diary and in bits, like the field notes of a diligent researcher.