Louis Dumont - 1911-1998: A memoir

This essay briefly discusses the,major contributions of Louis Dumont to the sociology of India and to the study of the ideology of individualism in th e West. Changing from the formal to the personal,node of presentation, the author recalls his association with Dumont over a period of thirty-five yea rs, He describes the launching of the second series of Contributions to Ind ian sociology in 1967, the presentation of a festschrift to Dumont in 1982, and the translation into English of his ethnographic magnum opus a south-I ndian subcaste. Finally, drawing upon their correspondence, the author atte mpts to describe what kind of person Dumont was. The text is followed by a comprehensive bibliography of Dumont's published works.