Archive · 16 Aug 2026
Attention and Drift: Chakravarty's New Book Links Santayana and Cavell
A teacher named Prasanta Chakravarty wrote a new book.
The book is about two very smart thinkers from the past.
Their names are George Santayana and Stanley Cavell.
Santayana said life is like a big adventure with risks and dangers.
Cavell said we should pay close attention to the people we care about.
The teacher's book shows how stories and real life are connected.
He wants us to think about books and the world at the same time.
A reviewer named Nikhil Govind read the book and liked it a lot.
He says it helps us see things in a fresh, new way.
Life can be messy and surprising, and the book helps us understand that.
Prasanta Chakravarty's 'Attention and Drift: Santayana and Cavell in the Present,' published by Bloomsbury, is reviewed by Nikhil Govind.
The book pairs philosophers George Santayana (1863-1952) and Stanley Cavell (1926-2018), who are not generally studied together.
Chakravarty reads literature and politics simultaneously, centering the concepts of attention, drift and myth.
Santayana urged embracing risk and danger in life, while Cavell contrasted intimacy with vanity.
Govind calls the book an 'exuberant addition' to Chakravarty's oeuvre, which includes work on Machiavelli, populism and four volumes of poetry.
- Who
- Prasanta Chakravarty, author of the book, and reviewer Nikhil Govind; the book studies philosophers George Santayana and Stanley Cavell.
- What
- A new book, 'Attention and Drift: Santayana and Cavell in the Present,' offers a vantage for reading literature and politics simultaneously through the concepts of attention and drift.
- When
- Not specified in the article.
- Where
- Not specified in the article; the review discusses the state of literary criticism in India.
- Why
- To present attention and drift as fresh conceptual tools for literary and political criticism, revitalizing the study of literature and philosophy.
- Book
- Attention and Drift: Santayana and Cavell in the Present
- Author
- Prasanta Chakravarty
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury
- Philosophers studied
- George Santayana (1863-1952) and Stanley Cavell (1926-2018)
- Reviewer
- Nikhil Govind
- Reviewer's recent book
- Rama Rasa: Transcendence and Worldliness in the Ramayana Tradition
- Author's other works
- Four volumes of poetry; books engaging with Machiavelli and populism