Writing Tamil Catholicism : Literature, Persuasion and Devotion in the Eighteenth Century / Margherita Trento.

Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral) - University of Chicago, 2019.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Acknowledgments -- List of Figures -- Abbreviations -- Notes to Translation and Transliteration -- Introduction: Catholic Literary Practices in Eighteenth-Century South India -- 1 Genealogies of Tamil Catholicism -- 2 Microstoria and the Global in the Local -- 3 The Beginnings of Catholic Literature in Tamil -- 4 The Making of an Archive -- 5 Chapter Outline and Threads across the Chapters -- Part 1 Spiritual Institutions -- 1 Spiritual Exercises for Tamil Saints -- 1 Being a Catechist: Preaching and Literature -- 2 Being a Catechist: Caste and Profession -- 3 Bringing the Spiritual Exercises to the Mission -- 4 Spiritual Retreats between Italy and India -- 5 Missionary Strategies and Tamil Locations -- 2 Tamil Manuals for Catholic Selves -- 1 Creating a Catholic Self: The Ñāṉamuyaṟci -- 2 Disciplining the Catholic Self: The Vētiyaroḻukkam -- 3 The Dangers of a Self in Transition -- 4 The Catholic Self and Its Other: The Vētaviḷakkam -- 5 Conclusions: Catholic Selves, Dangers and Discipline -- Part 2 Rhetorical Education -- 3 Catholic Poetics and Politics of Space -- 1 Jesuit Humanism and Devotion -- 2 Kaveri Delta Politics -- 3 A Mirror for a Tamil Christian King -- 4 The Ēlākkuṟicci School of Rhetoric -- 5 Ēlākkuṟicci as a Christian Maṭam -- 4 A Tamil Grammar of Persuasion -- 1 A Textbook of (Christian) Tamil: The Toṉṉūlviḷakkam -- 2 Amplificatio as Poruḷ -- 3 The Grammar of Society -- 4 Ignorant Enemies -- 5 Conclusions: Tamil Poetry and the Grammar of Persuasion -- Part 3 Catholic Poetry in a Tamil World -- 5 Writing for Eighteenth-Century Catechists -- 1 Christian Epic and Tamil Peruṅkāppiyam -- 2 Worldly Publics, Divine Patrons -- 3 Angelic Time and the Relocation of Devotion -- 4 Tamil Demons and Christian Wonder -- 5 Staged Conversions -- 6 Reading as an Eighteenth-Century Catechist -- 1 Paper and Palm-Leaf Trails -- 2 Catechist Dynasties -- 3 Śaiva Neighbors and Rivals -- 4 Towards the Colonial Archive -- 5 Conclusions: Catholic Lay Identities in the Longue durée -- Conclusions -- Bibliography -- Index.

"In Writing Tamil Catholicism: Literature, Persuasion and Devotion in the Eighteenth Century, Margherita Trento explores the process by which the Jesuit missionary Costanzo Giuseppe Beschi (1680-1747), in collaboration with a group of local lay elites identified by their profession as catechists, chose Tamil poetry as the social and political language of Catholicism in eighteenth-century South India. Trento analyzes a corpus of Tamil grammars and poems, chiefly Beschi's Tēmpāvaṇi, alongside archival documents to show how, by presenting themselves as poets and intellectuals, Catholic elites gained a persuasive voice as well as entrance into the learned society of the Tamil country and its networks of patronage"-- Provided by publisher.

Description based on print version record.