Moravia-Pasolini: no idea about India

Taxi (Mumbay - India)

I had a little discussion with a friend of mine enthusiastic after reading "The smell of India" by Pier Paolo Pasolini and the "An idea of India" by Alberto Moravia.

To summarize my opinion on the two books, I transcribe my short reviews published at the time of Anobii.

The smell of India by Pier Paolo Pasolini

Good example of Western arrogance. It's rare to find similar examples of people who seem not to have understood nothing of India, seen as a nation that "now faces in the story" (in 1961!), victim of a "degenerate" religion and characterized only by poverty. It is worth reading it because it shows how, even in enlightened minds such as PPP, colonialism and Western cultural arrogance dull reason.

An idea of India by Alberto Moravia

If you have a finger in front of the eyes you cannot see anything, not even a mountain. In India (if he there was) Moravia didn't have the finger, but the mountain in ffront of his eyes. The same mountain who had his traveling mate, Pasolini. It was the mountain of arrogance and colonial culture of the West, the arrogance of the alleged superiority of a civilization actually dying. Do you want to get an idea of India? Do not read this book. Do you want an idea of ​​Western arrogance and how and why colonialism existed/exists? This book is perfect.