About the Book: Hindustani Sangeet and a Philosopher of Art
The book is decidedly the very first of its kind. It seeks toweigh some basic
facts and concepts of Hindustani sangeet (music,rhythm, and Kathak dance)
against the art theories of Susanne K.Langer, an eminent aesthetician of the
recent past; but nowherewithout meticulous attention to the text of her
writings. Theexpression theory of art has for long dominated the history
ofaesthetics. At the hands of Langer, however, the theory takes a newturn. She
conceives of art not as a direct self-expression of theartists immediate
affective state, but as a symbolic expression ofhis knowledge of what she terms
variously