ABOUT NEHRU
Nehru (1889-1964) was born into a rich Kashmiri Brahmin family and had a very good education, first at home through governesses and then at Harrow, Cambridge and the Inner Temple. After his education he got involved in India’s freedom fight and played a leading role in that matter by first becoming the President of the Indian National Congress and later becoming the first Prime Minister of free India from August 1947 till his death on 27 May 1964.
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Nehru wrote his Autobiography during the time of his imprisonment in Dehra Gaol.
It took him a period of less than 9 months, from June 1934 to 14 February 1935, to write a work which has the massive manuscript of 976 pages. He began writing his Autobiography in Dehra Gaol and completed in the District Gaol, Almora.
The original title for Nehru’s Autobiography was “In and Out of Prison” with a subtitle “An Autobiographical Narrative with mushings on recent events in India.” But later, in 1936, it was published by John Lane, The Bodley Head of London with the bare title “An Autobiography”.
This book is dedicated to Nehru’s wife Kamala, who had died a few weeks before it’s publication.
WHY NEHRU WROTE HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY
There are two reasons that Nehru himself asserted that prompt him to write his Autobiography which are as follows :-
• The first is to assign himself with a definite task to fill the long solitude of jail time which also would prevent him from falling into depression , worries and anxieties.
• The second reason is to make and attempt to understand the past events with which he has been connected thereby to trace his own mental development.
NEHRU’S PROSE STYLE
Nehru’s narrative, that he employed in his Autobiography was praised for his for its marked style of simplicity and straightforwardness.
Nehru’s style reflects a cultivated consciousness. He also makes an attempt to imitate the style of greater authors which is found throughout the Autobiography either in the form of epigraphs or in quotations. This only suggests Nehru’s vast reading and the consequent absorption of the style of the greater authors.
Nehru also employes, to enliven the atmosphere, the use of ironic humour. He uses them as a weapon of criticism of his opponents. An example can be cited in this regard which is of the opening line of the Autobiography which echos the same ironic style that of Jane Austen's opening line of “Pride and Prejudice” :-
“An only son of prosperous parents is not to be spoilt, especially in India.”
This keeps the readers conscious and eager to know about the details that is to follow.
Nehru’s style is also spontaneous and natural and bears no signs of superficiality. It is felt by the readers because of it disarmingly candid style.
His style is full of analogies and comparison. For instance, in one chapter he compares India with to an “enormous country house – that they (Britishers) owned.”
He also uses the metaphor of fire which initiates the cleansing process which was apt to the context of the Autobiography.
He had an vivid eye for detail and also quotes poets, philosopher and dignitaries to highlight his point.
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