Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India

2020-06-30T06:40:24Z

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{{Infobox book
| name = Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India
| title_orig =
| translator =
| image = Great Soul cover.jpg
| caption = Front cover of the first American edition
| author = [[Joseph Lelyveld]]
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| country = USA
| language = English
| series =
| subject = [[Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi]]
| genre = Biography
| publisher = [[Alfred A. Knopf]] (US) <br> Harper Collins India (India)<ref name = wsj />
| pub_date =
| english_pub_date = March 29, 2011
| media_type =
| pages = 432
| isbn = 0-307-26958-2
| oclc =
| dewey =
| congress =
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
'''''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]].<ref name = "wsj" />

The book is split between the time Gandhi spent in South Africa and his return to India as the Mahatma.<ref name = "nytreview">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/books/in-great-soul-joseph-lelyveld-re-examines-gandhi.html|title=In ‘Great Soul,’ Joseph Lelyveld Re-Examines Gandhi|first=Hari|last=Kunzru|date=29 March 2011|publisher=|access-date=26 December 2017|via=NYTimes.com}}</ref>

''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.<ref name="books.hindustantimes.com">{{cite web |url=http://books.hindustantimes.com/2011/04/review-great-soul-mahatma-gandhi-and-his/ |title=Hindustantimes.com > Latest news on India, Cricket, Bollywood, Business - from India's leading online news channel |publisher=Books.HindustanTimes.com |date=3 March 2013 |access-date=17 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120621222522/http://books.hindustantimes.com/2011/04/review-great-soul-mahatma-gandhi-and-his/ |archive-date=21 June 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

One criticism 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.”.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/128759/20110330/gandhi.htm |title=Controversial book on Gandhi banned in his native state |publisher=IBTimes.com |date=30 March 2011 |access-date=17 March 2013}}</ref> Later, the Indian government bought several personal letters.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/12/india-government-buys-gandhi-letters-to-stop-auction_n_1668466.html|title=Indian Government Spends $1.3 Million To Stop Auction Of Gandhi Letters That May Show He Was Gay|first=Laura|last=Hibbard|date=12 July 2012|publisher=|access-date=26 December 2017|via=Huff Post}}</ref>

==Critical and popular reception==

===Response in India===
The [[Legislative Assembly of Gujarat]], the lawmaking body of Gandhi's home state, voted unanimously on March 20, 2011, 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."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gG3GxtyH-eMiIEgvCXNHS4dMJSOQ?docId=fe6a49b96417413b94db165642582ab4|title=India state bans book hinting Gandhi had gay lover|website=Google.com|access-date=26 December 2017}}</ref>

===Review by the ''New York Times''===
Writing for ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[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.<ref name = "nytreview" />

Reports of passages within the book regarding the nature of Gandhi and Kallenbach's relationship prompted the ''[[Wall Street Journal]]'' to ponder "Was Gandhi gay?"<ref name = "wsj">{{cite web|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/11/12/new-aakash-may-be-tough-sell-in-india/|title=New Aakash May be Tough Sell in India|first=Dhanya Ann|last=Thoppil|date=12 November 2012|website=WSJ.com|access-date=26 December 2017}}</ref> 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 in 1906 took a vow of celibacy, which both Gandhi and the people of India saw as a cornerstone of his [[moral authority]].<ref name = "nytreview" />

===Review by the ''Wall Street Journal''===
British historian [[Andrew Roberts (historian)|Andrew Roberts]], in writing 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".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703529004576160371482469358|title=Among the Hagiographers|first=Andrew|last=Roberts|date=26 March 2011|publisher=|access-date=26 December 2017|via=www.WSJ.com}}</ref>

Self-described as "extremely right-wing,<ref name="independent.co.uk">{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-the-dark-side-of-andrew-roberts-1765229.html|title=Johann Hari: The dark side of Andrew Roberts|date=31 July 2009|website=Independent.co.uk|access-date=26 December 2017}}</ref> Roberts' invective against Mahatma Gandhi must be framed in an appropriate context. Roberts is a noted apologist for [[Reginald Edward Harry Dyer|Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer]], perpetrator of the [[Amritsar Massacre]], in which soldiers of the [[British Indian Army]] under Dyer's command and on Dyer's order, opened fire on innocent men, women and children engaged in non-violent protest, as well as [[Baisakhi]] pilgrims.<ref name="independent.co.uk"/> Roberts, in his rationalization of the massacre, also makes clear how explicitly distinct his own assessment of the implications of the actions committed on that day is from the general consensus among historians:

"Today's reactions to Dyer's deed are of course uniformly damning ... but if the Amritsar district, Punjab region or southern India generally had carried on in revolt, many more than 379 people would have lost their lives."<ref name="independent.co.uk"/>

Journalist [[Johann Hari]] has described Robert's assessment, and subsequent back-pedaling, as 'an extraordinary rationalisation for killing women and children in cold blood, and rejected by virtually all other historians. It was only after I exposed this passage that Roberts finally said: "I have never approved of massacring civilians."'<ref name="independent.co.uk"/>

===Other reviews===
* By [[Christopher Hitchens]], July 2011 in ''[[The Atlantic]]''<ref>[https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/07/the-real-mahatma-gandhi/8550/1/ Review of Lelyveld's Gandhi biography] by [[Christopher Hitchens]], July 2011 in ''[[The Atlantic]]''</ref>
* 3 March 2013 in the ''Hindustan Times''<ref name="books.hindustantimes.com"/>

==See also==
{{portal|Books|India}}
*[[2011 in literature]]

==References==
<references />

==External links==
* [http://inside.org.au/how-outrage-gripped-gandhi%E2%80%99s-recalcitrant-nation/ How outrage gripped Gandhi’s recalcitrant nation] by Thomas Weber, July 2011 from inside.com.au

{{Mahatma Gandhi}}

[[Category:2011 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:American biographies]]
[[Category:Biographies about politicians]]
[[Category:Alfred A. Knopf books]]
[[Category:Censorship in India]]
[[Category:Books about Mahatma Gandhi]]
[[Category:Censored books]]

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Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India