Sarvepalli Gopal, in Encounter (July-Aug. 1989), 44 Great Windmill St., London W1V 7PA, Great Britain.
In 1937, the Malagasy poet Jean Joseph Rabearivals killed himself in despair over his inability to reconcile his nationalism with his need to write in French. The reac- tion was extreme, but similar to that suf- fered people in many colonial lands, writes Gopal, a historian at Nehru College. India has been an exception.
The use of English has caused Indians no great discomfort in part because...