Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India
Encyclopedia
Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India is a 2011 biography of Indian political and spiritual leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi written by Pulitzer Prize
-winning author Joseph Lelyveld
and published by Alfred A Knopf.
The book is split between the time Gandhi spent in South Africa
and his return to India as the Mahatma.
Great Soul has engendered controversy based on early reviews, which portray passages within the book as hinting that the relationship between Gandhi and his friend Hermann Kallenbach
was more intimate than previously thought and possibly sexual in nature.
, Hari Kunzru finds Great Soul to be "judicious and thoughtful". Lelyveld's book, he writes, will be revelatory to American readers who may only be familiar with the rudiments of Gandhi's life and for those readers, perhaps especially Indian readers, who are better acquainted with the Gandhi story the book's portrait of the man will still be challenging.
Reports of passages within the book regarding the nature of Gandhi and Kallenbach's relationship prompted media outlets to ponder "Was Gandhi gay?" Kunzru for the Times observes that modern readers who are less familiar with the concept of Platonic love
may interpret the relationship, in particular their romantic-sounding letters, as indicating a sexually charged relationship. However, he adds that Gandhi took a vow of celibacy in 1906, which both Gandhi and the people of India saw as a cornerstone of his moral authority. Andrew Roberts for The Wall Street Journal
counters this idea of celibacy with descriptions of Gandhi's 'testing' of his vow of celibacy with young women. He also quotes passages from Gandhi's letters to Kallenbach included in the text, such as "how completely you have taken possession of my body. This is slavery with a vengeance" to support his conclusion that Gandhi was a "sexual weirdo" along with being "a political incompetent and a fanatical faddist".
The assembly of Gandhi's home state of Gujarat on March 20, 2011, voted unanimously to ban Great Soul because of the controversy. Lelyveld has stated that the gay interpretation of his work is a mistake. "The book does not say that Gandhi was bisexual or homosexual. It says that he was celibate and deeply attached to Kallenbach. This is not news."
Written by Pulitzer Prize winning author Joseph Lelyveld, "Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India" claims that the founder of modern India had a sexual relationship with Hermann Kallenbach, a German-Jewish bodybuilder and also made disparaging remarks about black Africans during his early years in South Africa.
The ‘problem’, as we all know by now, is Lelyveld’s use of documentary evidence and informed opinion to point to the relationship that Gandhi had developed with a Prussian architect whom the Indian playfully boasted as “having received physical training at the hands of [Eugen] Sandow [the father of modern bodybuilding]”. Lelyveld’s inquiry includes quotes from a letter sent by Gandhi to Kallenbach from London in 1909: “Your portrait (the only one) stands on my mantelpiece in the bedroom. The mantelpiece is opposite to the bed… [The purpose of which] is to show to you and me how completely you have taken possession of my body. This is slavery with a vengeance.”
He also quotes cultural historian Tridip Suhrud who says Gandhi and Kallenbach “were a couple”.
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning author Joseph Lelyveld
Joseph Lelyveld
Joseph Lelyveld was executive editor of the New York Times from 1994 to 2001, and interim executive editor in 2003 after the resignation of Howell Raines. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author, and a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books.In all, Lelyveld worked at...
and published by Alfred A Knopf.
The book is split between the time Gandhi spent in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and his return to India as the Mahatma.
Great Soul has engendered controversy based on early reviews, which portray passages within the book as hinting that the relationship between Gandhi and his friend Hermann Kallenbach
Hermann Kallenbach
Hermann Kallenbach was a German born Jewish South African architect who was one of the foremost friends and associates of Mahatma Gandhi...
was more intimate than previously thought and possibly sexual in nature.
Critical and popular reception
Writing for The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Hari Kunzru finds Great Soul to be "judicious and thoughtful". Lelyveld's book, he writes, will be revelatory to American readers who may only be familiar with the rudiments of Gandhi's life and for those readers, perhaps especially Indian readers, who are better acquainted with the Gandhi story the book's portrait of the man will still be challenging.
Reports of passages within the book regarding the nature of Gandhi and Kallenbach's relationship prompted media outlets to ponder "Was Gandhi gay?" Kunzru for the Times observes that modern readers who are less familiar with the concept of Platonic love
Platonic love
Platonic love is a chaste and strong type of love that is non-sexual.-Amor Platonicus:The term amor platonicus was coined as early as the 15th century by the Florentine scholar Marsilio Ficino. Platonic love in this original sense of the term is examined in Plato's dialogue the Symposium, which has...
may interpret the relationship, in particular their romantic-sounding letters, as indicating a sexually charged relationship. However, he adds that Gandhi took a vow of celibacy in 1906, which both Gandhi and the people of India saw as a cornerstone of his moral authority. Andrew Roberts for The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
counters this idea of celibacy with descriptions of Gandhi's 'testing' of his vow of celibacy with young women. He also quotes passages from Gandhi's letters to Kallenbach included in the text, such as "how completely you have taken possession of my body. This is slavery with a vengeance" to support his conclusion that Gandhi was a "sexual weirdo" along with being "a political incompetent and a fanatical faddist".
The assembly of Gandhi's home state of Gujarat on March 20, 2011, voted unanimously to ban Great Soul because of the controversy. Lelyveld has stated that the gay interpretation of his work is a mistake. "The book does not say that Gandhi was bisexual or homosexual. It says that he was celibate and deeply attached to Kallenbach. This is not news."
Written by Pulitzer Prize winning author Joseph Lelyveld, "Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India" claims that the founder of modern India had a sexual relationship with Hermann Kallenbach, a German-Jewish bodybuilder and also made disparaging remarks about black Africans during his early years in South Africa.
The ‘problem’, as we all know by now, is Lelyveld’s use of documentary evidence and informed opinion to point to the relationship that Gandhi had developed with a Prussian architect whom the Indian playfully boasted as “having received physical training at the hands of [Eugen] Sandow [the father of modern bodybuilding]”. Lelyveld’s inquiry includes quotes from a letter sent by Gandhi to Kallenbach from London in 1909: “Your portrait (the only one) stands on my mantelpiece in the bedroom. The mantelpiece is opposite to the bed… [The purpose of which] is to show to you and me how completely you have taken possession of my body. This is slavery with a vengeance.”
He also quotes cultural historian Tridip Suhrud who says Gandhi and Kallenbach “were a couple”.
External links
- Review of Lelyveld's Gandhi biography by Christopher HitchensChristopher HitchensChristopher Eric Hitchens is an Anglo-American author and journalist whose books, essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became a media fellow at the...
, July 2011 in The Atlantic - http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/128759/20110330/gandhi.htm
- http://books.hindustantimes.com/2011/04/review-great-soul-mahatma-gandhi-and-his/