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Cornelia Sorabji's Work in Critics' Eyes

Below is a list of some academic articles engaging with Cornelia Sorabji's

works.

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Banerjee, Sukanya. 2006. “Empire, Nation, And The Professional Citizen.” Prose Studies 28 (3): 291–317.

https://doi.org/10.1080/01440350600975515 

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This article focuses on Cornelia Sorabji's autobiographical text titled India Calling. It discusses Sorabji's life and works through looking at her education in England and her social activism in India.

 

 

Burton, Antoinette. 2000. “‘The Purdahnashin in Her Setting’: Colonial Modernity and the Zenana in Cornelia Sorabji’s Memoirs.” Feminist Review 65 (1): 145–58.

https://doi.org/10.1080%2F014177800406985   

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This essay focuses on Sorabji's perception and portrayal of femininity in her writings of nonfiction during early 20 th century India. It focuses on Sorabji's representation of femininity in the public and private spheres. The essay also looks at Sorabji's ability to document the history of Indian femininity through her ability to defend oppressed women.

 

 

Chattopadhyay, Sayan. 2015. “Disowning ‘Indianness’: Images of Indian Womanhood and the ‘English’ Self of Cornelia Sorabji.” Prose Studies 37 (1): 2–20. 

https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01440357.2015.1056486  

 

The article investigates the theme of disavowing Indianness in Cornelia Sorabji's works. The article suggests that Cornelia Sorabji presented herself in manner that reflected her attempts to present herself as an English woman. It also suggests that fashioning herself in such a manner is done through Sorabji's denial of the element of Indianness in her identity.

 

 

Mossman, MaryJane. 2020. “Cornelia Sorabji (1866–1954): A Pioneer Woman Lawyer in Britain and India.” Women’s History Review 29 (4): 737–47. 

https://doi.org/10.1080/09612025.2019.1702791   

 

This article examines Cornelia Soabji's journey as the first Indian woman lawyer. It looks at Sorabji's social activism and how she utilized her profession as a lawyer to help Indian women. This essay also discusses Sorabji's political views regarding India's independence and her disagreements with Mahatma Gandhi.

 

 

Quiring, Ana. 2021. “Behind the Veil of the Zenana: Cornelia Sorabji and the Colonial Heritage of the Trapped Housewife.” Feminist Modernist Studies 2 (1):1-17  

https://doi.org/10.1080/24692921.2021.1934804  

 

This essay focuses on Cornelia Sorabji's neglected writings and how her support of the colonial power affected the way she was received by the public. It emphasizes how Sorabji adopted a white feminist approach to represent Indian femininity under British colonization. The essay also suggests that Sorabji's work affected the second wave of feminism.

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Roye, Susmita. 2015. “Saint or Sinner? Suttee in the Depiction of Flora Annie Steel and Cornelia Sorabji.” The Journal of Commonwealth Literature 52 (2): 281–99.  

https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0021989415593401   

 

This article examines the representation of suttee in the works of Flora Annie Steel, a British writer, and Cornelia Sorabji. It presents an interesting perspective through which the reader can see how these female writers, colonizer and colonized, discuss such a cruel practice against women.

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