The sexual life of English : caste and desire in modern India / Shefali Chandra.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Learning gender, knowing English : an introduction -- "The prudent and cautious engrafting of English upon our female population" : pedagogy and performativity -- The language of the bedroom : mimicry, masculinity and the sexual power of English -- "A new generation of hipless and breastless women is coming to the forefront in Europe and America" : literature, social class and the wider world of English -- "I shall read pretty English stories to my mother and translate them into Marathi for her..." : widowhood, virtue and the secularization of caste -- "I began to wonder why I had ever begun to learn English" : desire, labor and the trans-regional orientation of caste -- The first Indian woman to taste "the sweets of an English education" : Dosebai Jessawalla and the "march of advancement in the face of obloquy" -- Epilogue : "I am an Indian. I have no language" : Parvatibai Athavale and the limits to English.