An Autobiography (Nehru) - Revision history

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			{{Short description\|Autobiography of Jawaharlal Nehru}}
	{{Use dmy dates\|date=June 2018}}		{{Use dmy dates\|date=June 2018}}
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	Besides the postscript and a few small changes, Nehru wrote the biography between June 1934 and February 1935, and while entirely in prison.<ref name="Nehru2004">{{cite book\|last1=Nehru\|first1=Jawaharlal\|title=An Autobiography\|date=2004\|publisher=Penguin Books India (Reprint of the Bodley Head original)\|location=New Delhi\|isbn=9780143031048\|edition=Tenth\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2HAgDQAAQBAJ \|access-date=8 November 2019}}</ref>		Besides the postscript and a few small changes, Nehru wrote the biography between June 1934 and February 1935, and while entirely in prison.<ref name="Nehru2004">{{cite book\|last1=Nehru\|first1=Jawaharlal\|title=An Autobiography\|date=2004\|publisher=Penguin Books India (Reprint of the Bodley Head original)\|location=New Delhi\|isbn=9780143031048\|edition=Tenth\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2HAgDQAAQBAJ \|access-date=8 November 2019}}</ref>

	The first edition was published in 1936 and has since been through more than 12 editions and translated into more than 30 languages.<ref name=Naik1984>{{Cite book\|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ov8EOYzAg7gC&pg=PA186\|title=Perspectives On Indian Poetry In English\|author=Naik, M. K.\|author-link=Madhukar Krishna Naik\|chapter=Chapter 13. The Discovery of Nehru: A Study of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography\|date=1984\|publisher=Abhinav Publications\|isbn=9788170171508\|pages=186\|language=en}}</ref><ref name=Nanda1996>{{Cite journal\|last=Nanda\|first=B. R.\|date=1996\|title=Nehru and the British \|journal=[[Modern Asian Studies]]\|volume=30\|issue=2\|pages=469–479\|doi=10.1017/S0026749X00016541\|issn=0026-749X\|via=[[JSTOR]]}}</ref><ref name=Nehru1941>{{Cite book\|url=~~http~~://archive.org/details/towardfreedomthe000770mbp\|title=Toward Freedom: The Autobiography of Jawaharlal Nehru\|last=Nehru\|first=Jawaharlal\|date=1941\|publisher=The John Day Company\|others=Universal Digital Library}}</ref>		The first edition was published in 1936 and has since been through more than 12 editions and translated into more than 30 languages.<ref name=Naik1984>{{Cite book\|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ov8EOYzAg7gC&pg=PA186\|title=Perspectives On Indian Poetry In English\|author=Naik, M. K.\|author-link=Madhukar Krishna Naik\|chapter=Chapter 13. The Discovery of Nehru: A Study of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography\|date=1984\|publisher=Abhinav Publications\|isbn=9788170171508\|pages=186\|language=en}}</ref><ref name=Nanda1996>{{Cite journal\|last=Nanda\|first=B. R.\|date=1996\|title=Nehru and the British \|journal=[[Modern Asian Studies]]\|volume=30\|issue=2\|pages=469–479\|doi=10.1017/S0026749X00016541\|issn=0026-749X\|via=[[JSTOR]]}}</ref><ref name=Nehru1941>{{Cite book\|url=https://archive.org/details/towardfreedomthe000770mbp\|title=Toward Freedom: The Autobiography of Jawaharlal Nehru\|last=Nehru\|first=Jawaharlal\|date=1941\|publisher=The John Day Company\|others=Universal Digital Library}}</ref>

	An additional chapter titled 'Five years later', was included in a reprint in 1942 and these early editions were published by John Lane, [[The Bodley Head]] Ltd, London. The 2004 edition was published by [[Penguin Books India]], with [[Sonia Gandhi]] holding the copyright. She also wrote the foreword to this edition, in which she encourages the reader to combine its content with Nehru's other works, ''[[Glimpses of World History]]'' and ''[[The Discovery of India]]'', in order to understand "the ideas and personalities that have shaped India through the ages".<ref name="Nehru2004"/>		An additional chapter titled 'Five years later', was included in a reprint in 1942 and these early editions were published by John Lane, [[The Bodley Head]] Ltd, London. The 2004 edition was published by [[Penguin Books India]], with [[Sonia Gandhi]] holding the copyright. She also wrote the foreword to this edition, in which she encourages the reader to combine its content with Nehru's other works, ''[[Glimpses of World History]]'' and ''[[The Discovery of India]]'', in order to understand "the ideas and personalities that have shaped India through the ages".<ref name="Nehru2004"/>
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	The book includes 68 chapters, with the first titled 'Descent from Kashmir'. Nehru begins with explaining his ancestors migration to Delhi from [[Kashmir]] in 1716 and the subsequent settling of his family in [[Agra]] after the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857\|revolt of 1857]].<ref name="Nehru2004"/><ref name="Tharoor">Tharoor, Shashi (2008). ''Nehru: The Invention of India''. Arcade Publishing, Mumbai. {{isbn\|1611454115}}</ref>		The book includes 68 chapters, with the first titled 'Descent from Kashmir'. Nehru begins with explaining his ancestors migration to Delhi from [[Kashmir]] in 1716 and the subsequent settling of his family in [[Agra]] after the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857\|revolt of 1857]].<ref name="Nehru2004"/><ref name="Tharoor">Tharoor, Shashi (2008). ''Nehru: The Invention of India''. Arcade Publishing, Mumbai. {{isbn\|1611454115}}</ref>

	Chapter four is devoted to "Harrow and Cambridge" and the English influence on Nehru.<ref name="Nehru2004"/><ref name=Nanda1996/> Written during the long illness of his wife, [[Kamala Nehru\|Kamala]], Nehru's autobiography is closely centred around his marriage.<ref name=Holden2008>{{Cite book\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IUFuRWZOS3EC~~&pg=PA113~~&dq=autobiography+nehru#v=~~onepage~~\|title=Autobiography and Decolonization: Modernity, Masculinity, and the Nation-state\|last=Holden\|first=Philip\|date=2008\|publisher=[[The University of Wisconsin Press]]\|isbn=978-0299226107\|location=Wisconsin\|pages=113\|language=en}}</ref>		Chapter four is devoted to "Harrow and Cambridge" and the English influence on Nehru.<ref name="Nehru2004"/><ref name=Nanda1996/> Written during the long illness of his wife, [[Kamala Nehru\|Kamala]], Nehru's autobiography is closely centred around his marriage.<ref name=Holden2008>{{Cite book\|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IUFuRWZOS3EC&dq=autobiography+nehru&pg=PA113\|title=Autobiography and Decolonization: Modernity, Masculinity, and the Nation-state\|last=Holden\|first=Philip\|date=2008\|publisher=[[The University of Wisconsin Press]]\|isbn=978-0299226107\|location=Wisconsin\|pages=113\|language=en}}</ref>

	In the book, he describes [[nationalism]] as "essentially an anti-feeling, and it feeds and fattens on hatred against other national groups, and especially against the foreign rulers of a subject country".<ref name="Taseer">{{Cite news\|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/04/opinion/jawaharlal-nehru-india-love.html\|title=Opinion {{!}} Learning to Love Nehru\|last=Taseer\|first=Aatish\|date=2018-01-04\|work=[[The New York Times]]\|access-date=6 November 2019\|language=en-US\|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> He is self-critical and writes “I have become a queer mixture of the East and the West, out of place everywhere, at home nowhere. Perhaps my thoughts and approach to life are more akin to what is called Western than Eastern, but India clings to me, as she does to all her children, in innumerable ways.” He then writes that “I am a stranger and alien in the West. I cannot be of it. But in my own country also, sometimes I have an exile’s feeling”.<ref name="Taseer"/>		In the book, he describes [[nationalism]] as "essentially an anti-feeling, and it feeds and fattens on hatred against other national groups, and especially against the foreign rulers of a subject country".<ref name="Taseer">{{Cite news\|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/04/opinion/jawaharlal-nehru-india-love.html\|title=Opinion {{!}} Learning to Love Nehru\|last=Taseer\|first=Aatish\|date=2018-01-04\|work=[[The New York Times]]\|access-date=6 November 2019\|language=en-US\|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> He is self-critical and writes “I have become a queer mixture of the East and the West, out of place everywhere, at home nowhere. Perhaps my thoughts and approach to life are more akin to what is called Western than Eastern, but India clings to me, as she does to all her children, in innumerable ways.” He then writes that “I am a stranger and alien in the West. I cannot be of it. But in my own country also, sometimes I have an exile’s feeling”.<ref name="Taseer"/>

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	[[Category:Books by Jawaharlal Nehru]]		[[Category:Books by Jawaharlal Nehru]]
			[[Category:Prison writings]]

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Reverted edits by 110.227.230.54 (talk) (HG) (3.4.10)

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{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2018}}
{{Infobox book | 
| name = An Autobiography
| title_orig =
| translator =
| image = [[File:Nehruanautobiography.jpg]]
| caption = Cover of the 2004 edition
| author = [[Jawaharlal Nehru]]
| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| country = India
| language = English
| series =
| genre = [[Autobiography]]
| publisher = [[The Bodley Head]]
| release_date = 1936
| english_release_date =
| media_type = Print
| pages = 672
| isbn = 978-0-19-562361-1
| oclc = 19285819
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
'''''An Autobiography''''', also known as '''''Toward Freedom''''' (1936), is an [[autobiography|autobiographical]] book written by [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] while he was in [[prison]] between June 1934 and February 1935, and before he became the first [[Prime Minister of India]].

The first edition was published in 1936 by John Lane, [[The Bodley Head]] Ltd, London, and has since been through more than 12 editions and translated into more than 30 languages. It has 68 chapters over 672 pages and is published by [[Penguin Books India]].

==Publication==
Besides the postscript and a few small changes, Nehru wrote the biography between June 1934 and February 1935, and while entirely in prison.<ref name="Nehru2004">{{cite book|last1=Nehru|first1=Jawaharlal|title=An Autobiography|date=2004|publisher=Penguin Books India (Reprint of the Bodley Head original)|location=New Delhi|isbn=9780143031048|edition=Tenth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2HAgDQAAQBAJ |access-date=8 November 2019}}</ref>

The first edition was published in 1936 and has since been through more than 12 editions and translated into more than 30 languages.<ref name=Naik1984>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ov8EOYzAg7gC&pg=PA186|title=Perspectives On Indian Poetry In English|author=Naik, M. K.|author-link=Madhukar Krishna Naik|chapter=Chapter 13. The Discovery of Nehru: A Study of Jawaharlal Nehru's Autobiography|date=1984|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=9788170171508|pages=186|language=en}}</ref><ref name=Nanda1996>{{Cite journal|last=Nanda|first=B. R.|date=1996|title=Nehru and the British |journal=[[Modern Asian Studies]]|volume=30|issue=2|pages=469–479|doi=10.1017/S0026749X00016541|issn=0026-749X|via=[[JSTOR]]}}</ref><ref name=Nehru1941>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/towardfreedomthe000770mbp|title=Toward Freedom: The Autobiography of Jawaharlal Nehru|last=Nehru|first=Jawaharlal|date=1941|publisher=The John Day Company|others=Universal Digital Library}}</ref>

An additional chapter titled 'Five years later', was included in a reprint in 1942 and these early editions were published by John Lane, [[The Bodley Head]] Ltd, London. The 2004 edition was published by [[Penguin Books India]], with [[Sonia Gandhi]] holding the copyright. She also wrote the foreword to this edition, in which she encourages the reader to combine its content with Nehru's other works, ''[[Glimpses of World History]]'' and ''[[The Discovery of India]]'', in order to understand "the ideas and personalities that have shaped India through the ages".<ref name="Nehru2004"/>

==Content==
Nehru clarifies his aims and objectives in the preface to the first edition, as to occupy his time constructively, review past events in India and to begin the job of "self-questioning" in what is his "personal account". He states "my object was...primarily for my own benefit, to trace my own mental growth"<ref name="Nehru2004"/><ref name=Naik1984/> He did not target any particular audience but wrote "if I thought of an audience, it was one of my own countrymen and countrywomen. For foreign readers I would have probably written differently".<ref name=Naik1984/>
The book includes 68 chapters, with the first titled 'Descent from Kashmir'. Nehru begins with explaining his ancestors migration to Delhi from [[Kashmir]] in 1716 and the subsequent settling of his family in [[Agra]] after the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|revolt of 1857]].<ref name="Nehru2004"/><ref name="Tharoor">Tharoor, Shashi (2008). ''Nehru: The Invention of India''. Arcade Publishing, Mumbai. {{isbn|1611454115}}</ref>

Chapter four is devoted to "Harrow and Cambridge" and the English influence on Nehru.<ref name="Nehru2004"/><ref name=Nanda1996/> Written during the long illness of his wife, [[Kamala Nehru|Kamala]], Nehru's autobiography is closely centred around his marriage.<ref name=Holden2008>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IUFuRWZOS3EC&pg=PA113&dq=autobiography+nehru#v=onepage|title=Autobiography and Decolonization: Modernity, Masculinity, and the Nation-state|last=Holden|first=Philip|date=2008|publisher=[[The University of Wisconsin Press]]|isbn=978-0299226107|location=Wisconsin|pages=113|language=en}}</ref>

In the book, he describes [[nationalism]] as "essentially an anti-feeling, and it feeds and fattens on hatred against other national groups, and especially against the foreign rulers of a subject country".<ref name="Taseer">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/04/opinion/jawaharlal-nehru-india-love.html|title=Opinion {{!}} Learning to Love Nehru|last=Taseer|first=Aatish|date=2018-01-04|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=6 November 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> He is self-critical and writes “I have become a queer mixture of the East and the West, out of place everywhere, at home nowhere. Perhaps my thoughts and approach to life are more akin to what is called Western than Eastern, but India clings to me, as she does to all her children, in innumerable ways.” He then writes that “I am a stranger and alien in the West. I cannot be of it. But in my own country also, sometimes I have an exile’s feeling”.<ref name="Taseer"/>

He includes an epilogue on 14 February 1935. On 4 September 1935, five and a half months before the completion of his sentence, he was released from Almora District jail due to his wife's deteriorating health, and the following month he added a postscript whilst at [[Badenweiler]], [[Black Forest|Schwarzwald]], where she was receiving treatment.<ref name="Nehru2004"/>

==Responses==
M.G. Hallet, working for the Home department of the [[british Raj|Government of India]] at the time, was appointed to review the book, with a view to judging if the book should be banned. In his review, he reported that Nehru's inclusion of a chapter on animals in prison, was "very human",<ref name=Holden2008/> and he strongly opposed any ban of the book.<ref name=Nanda1996/>

According to [[Walter Crocker]], had Nehru not been well known as India's first prime minister, he would have been famous for his autobiography.<ref name=Shintri>Shintri, Sarojini (1984). [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Ov8EOYzAg7gC&pg=PA176&lpg=PA176&dq=M.+k.+Naik+nehru&source=bl&ots=J6ncIvs4Xr&sig=ACfU3U0M8etGbhC0IurNc3Eph6w4cW6k7A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiF1ur8xNrlAhUPfMAKHQSwAn8Q6AEwA3oECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=M.%20k.%20Naik%20nehru&f=false Chapter 12. "Glimpses of Nehru, the Writer"] in M. K. Naik's ''Perspectives On Indian Poetry In English'', Abhinav Publications (1984), pp. 176-177. {{ISBN|9788170171508}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Nehru: A Contemporary's Estimate]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.98834/page/n5 ''Jawaharlal Nehru An Autobiography'']. [[Oxford University Press]] (1936)
*[https://archive.org/search.php?query=An%20Autobiography%20%28Nehru%29 ''An Autobiography (Nehru)'']. Various editions. Internet Archive
{{Jawaharlal Nehru}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Autobiography, An}}
[[Category:1936 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Indian autobiographies]]
[[Category:Political autobiographies]]
[[Category:Civil disobedience]]
[[Category:The Bodley Head books]]
[[Category:Books by Jawaharlal Nehru]]