Sir William Jones: Selected Poetical and Prose Works

This edition provides a representative selection of the key works of Sir William Jones (1746-94), one of the foremost Orientalists and intellectual pioneers of his generation. The range of his interests and accomplishments was diverse and this volume provides convenient and reliable points of access to Jones’s remarkable work which extended to 13 volumes in the collected edition of 1807 (recently reprinted by Curzon/New York University). This book represents an annotated critical edition of important poetical, cultural and political works produced both in Britain and India, and care has been taken to establish authoritative texts and contexts for each item. The texts are arranged in chronological order of composition, and each has a headnote on its general significance, together with substantial footnotes elucidating its particular obscurities and a discussion of its meaning and occasion. Jones is of critical interest for two major reasons: his historical significance for Orientalism and Romanticism; and the specific climate of current debate over issues of race, colonialism, and nationhood. With the advent of cultural pluralism, and from the modern perspective of comparative literature, Jones is being seen as a crucial integrator, synthesiser and transmitter of Eastern culture, and one who avoided the gross ethnocentricity of most of his contemporaries. There is also a renewed interest in Orientalism and colonial discourse following the publication of works by Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, Homi Bhabha and others which may involve critical reassessment of Sir William Jones.