ABSTRACT
The most common interpretation of Translations of the Letters of a Hindoo Rajah has been to classify it as an Oriental satire, but even this categorization is problematic since those critics who focus on the works satirical nature disagree about the object of the satire. First published by G. G. & J. Robinson of London in 1796 Translations of the Letters of a Hindoo Rajah appeared in four subsequent editions by 1811. That Elizabeth Hamilton's first fictional work defies easy generic classification is evident in the critical treatment it has received, which has deemed it variously a eulogy, a religious satire, a political satire, an Oriental tale and most recently as a miscellany. More recently critics have focused upon the anti-revolutionary aspects of the Translations of the Letters of a Hindoo Rajah positioning the work firmly amongst the Anti-Jacobin arsenal in the political debate raging in Britain of the 1790s.
