Mahasweta Devi: Writer, Activist, Visionary

Mahasweta Devi occupies a singular position in the history of modern Indian literature and world literature. This book engages with Devi’s works as a writer-activist who critically explored subaltern subjectivities, the limits of history and the harsh social realities of post-independence India.

The volume showcases Devi’s oeuvre and versatility through samples of her writing – in translation from the original Bengali—including Jhansir Rani, Hajar Churashir Ma, and Bayen among others. It also looks at the use of language, symbolism, mythic elements and heteroglossia in Devi’s exploration of heterogeneous themes such as exploitation, violence, women’s subjectivities, depredation of the environment and failures of the nation state. The book analyses translations and adaptations of her work, debates surrounding her activism and politics and critical reception to give readers an overview of the writer’s life, influences, achievements and legacy. It highlights the multiple concerns in her writings and argues that the aesthetic aspects of Mahasweta Devi’s work form an essential part of her politics.

Part of the ‘Writer in Context’ series, this book will be useful for scholars and researchers of Indian literature, Bengali literature, English literature, postcolonial studies, cultural studies, global south studies and translation studies.

"1142611998"
Mahasweta Devi: Writer, Activist, Visionary

Mahasweta Devi occupies a singular position in the history of modern Indian literature and world literature. This book engages with Devi’s works as a writer-activist who critically explored subaltern subjectivities, the limits of history and the harsh social realities of post-independence India.

The volume showcases Devi’s oeuvre and versatility through samples of her writing – in translation from the original Bengali—including Jhansir Rani, Hajar Churashir Ma, and Bayen among others. It also looks at the use of language, symbolism, mythic elements and heteroglossia in Devi’s exploration of heterogeneous themes such as exploitation, violence, women’s subjectivities, depredation of the environment and failures of the nation state. The book analyses translations and adaptations of her work, debates surrounding her activism and politics and critical reception to give readers an overview of the writer’s life, influences, achievements and legacy. It highlights the multiple concerns in her writings and argues that the aesthetic aspects of Mahasweta Devi’s work form an essential part of her politics.

Part of the ‘Writer in Context’ series, this book will be useful for scholars and researchers of Indian literature, Bengali literature, English literature, postcolonial studies, cultural studies, global south studies and translation studies.

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Mahasweta Devi: Writer, Activist, Visionary

Mahasweta Devi: Writer, Activist, Visionary

by Radha Chakravarty (Editor)
Mahasweta Devi: Writer, Activist, Visionary

Mahasweta Devi: Writer, Activist, Visionary

by Radha Chakravarty (Editor)

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Overview

Mahasweta Devi occupies a singular position in the history of modern Indian literature and world literature. This book engages with Devi’s works as a writer-activist who critically explored subaltern subjectivities, the limits of history and the harsh social realities of post-independence India.

The volume showcases Devi’s oeuvre and versatility through samples of her writing – in translation from the original Bengali—including Jhansir Rani, Hajar Churashir Ma, and Bayen among others. It also looks at the use of language, symbolism, mythic elements and heteroglossia in Devi’s exploration of heterogeneous themes such as exploitation, violence, women’s subjectivities, depredation of the environment and failures of the nation state. The book analyses translations and adaptations of her work, debates surrounding her activism and politics and critical reception to give readers an overview of the writer’s life, influences, achievements and legacy. It highlights the multiple concerns in her writings and argues that the aesthetic aspects of Mahasweta Devi’s work form an essential part of her politics.

Part of the ‘Writer in Context’ series, this book will be useful for scholars and researchers of Indian literature, Bengali literature, English literature, postcolonial studies, cultural studies, global south studies and translation studies.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781000873139
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Publication date: 04/24/2023
Series: Writer in Context
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 282
File size: 3 MB

About the Author

Radha Chakravarty is a writer, critic and translator. She has co-edited The Essential Tagore, nominated Book of the Year 2011 by Martha Nussbaum. She is the author of Feminism and Contemporary Women Writers and Novelist Tagore: Gender and Modernity in Selected Texts. Her Tagore translations include Gora, Chokher Bali, Boyhood Days, Farewell Song: Shesher Kabita, Four Chapters and The Land of Cards: Stories, Poems and Plays for Children. Other works in translation are Bankimchandra Chatterjee’s Kapalkundala, Mahasweta Devi’s Our Santiniketan and In the Name of the Mother (nominated for the Crossword Translation Award, 2004), Vermillion Clouds: Stories by Bengali Women, and Crossings: Stories from Bangladesh and India. She has edited Shades of Difference: Selected Writings of Rabindranath Tagore, Bodymaps: Stories by South Asian Women and co-edited Writing Feminism: South Asian Voices and Writing Freedom: South Asian Voices. Her poems have appeared in numerous books and journals. She has contributed to Pandemic: A Worldwide Community Poem, nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2020. Her forthcoming books include The Tagore Phenomenon and translations of Kazi Nazrul Islam’s essays. She was Professor of Comparative Literature & Translation Studies at Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University Delhi, India.

Table of Contents

List of photographs

Preface to the Series

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

The Searing Vision of Mahasweta Devi

RADHA CHAKRAVARTY

PART I

Spectrum: The Writer’s Oeuvre

  1. Fictionalised Biography – The Queen of Jhansi (extract)
  2. TRANSLATED BY SAGAREE AND MANDIRA SENGUPTA

  3. Novel – Mother of 1084 (extract)
  4. TRANSLATED BY SAMIK BANDYOPADHYAY

  5. Short fiction – Giribala (extract)
  6. TRANSLATED BY RADHA CHAKRAVARTY

  7. Drama – Bayen (extract)
  8. TRANSLATED BY SAMIK BANDYOPADHYAY

  9. Children’s Writing – Nyadosh the Incredible Cow (extract)
  10. TRANSLATED BY PARAMITA BANERJEE

  11. Literary Criticism – Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay (extract)
  12. PART II

    Kaleidoscope: Critical Reception

  13. Novelist Mahasweta Devi: The Critical Tradition
  14. ARUP KUMAR DAS

    TRANSLATED BY NANDINI GUHA

  15. Mahasweta Devi: In Search of a Rare Uniqueness
  16. DIPENDU CHAKRABARTI

    TRANSLATED BY NANDINI GUHA

  17. Hajar Churashir Ma, Mahasweta and the Next Phase of the Bangla Novel
  18. DILIP KUMAR BASU

    TRANSLATED BY NANDINI GUHA

  19. Mahasweta Devi: Forests and Nature
  20. PARTHA PRATIM BANDYOPADHYAY

    TRANSLATED BY RADHA CHAKRAVARTY

  21. Mahasweta Devi’s Writings: An Evaluation
  22. SUJIT MUKHERJEE

  23. Reading "Pterodactyl"
  24. GAYATRI CHAKRAVORTY SPIVAK

  25. Douloti as a National Allegory
  26. JAIDEV

  27. Re-ordering the Maternal: Histories of Violence in Mahasweta Devi, Toni Morrison and Amrita Pritam
  28. SHREEREKHA SUBRAMANIAN

  29. The Politics of Positionality: Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Samik Bandyopadhyay as Translators of Mahasweta Devi
  30. SHREYA CHAKRAVORTY

  31. Reconsidering ‘Fictionalised Biographies’: Mahasweta Devi's Queen of Jhansi and Mamoni Raisom Goswami's The Bronze Sword of Thengphakhri Tehsildar
  32. ARUNABH KONWAR

  33. Writing for the Stage: The Plays of Mahasweta Devi
  34. ANJUM KATYAL

  35. Sahitya as Kinesis: Performative Potential in Stage and Screen Adaptations of Mahasweta Devi’s Works
  36. BENIL BISWAS

    PART III

    Ablaze With Rage: The Writer As Activist

  37. Tribal Language and Literature
  38. MAHASWETA DEVI

    TRANSLATED BY MAITREYA GHATAK

  39. Eucalyptus: Why?
  40. MAHASWETA DEVI

  41. Palamau is a Mirror of India
  42. MAHASWETA DEVI

    TRANSLATED BY IPSITA CHANDA

  43. The Adivasi Mahasweta
  44. G.N. DEVY

  45. Haunted Landscapes: Mahasweta Devi and the Anthropocene
  46. MARY LOUISA CAPPELLI

    PART IV

    Personal Glimpses: A Life in Words

  47. Our Santiniketan
  48. MAHASWETA DEVI

    TRANSLATED BY RADHA CHAKRAVARTY

  49. "Talking Writing: Conversations with Mahasweta Devi"
  50. NAVEEN KISHORE

  51. ‘To find me, read my work’: Dialogues with Mahasweta Devi
  52. RADHA CHAKRAVARTY

  53. Family Reminiscences

  1. I Am Truly Amazed
  2. Baba, Ma, Our Home
  3. SOMA MUKHOPADHYAY

    TRANSLATED BY NANDINI GUHA

  4. The Didi I have Known
  5. SARI LAHIRI

    TRANSLATED BY NANDINI GUHA

  6. My Mother
  7. NABARUN BHATTACHARYA

    TRANSLATED BY NANDINI GUHA

  8. Mahasweta Devi: The 'Mashi' Who Wrote Fearlessly About Caste, Class and Patriarchy

INA PURI

  1. Shobor Mother Mahasweta Devi
  2. RANJIT KUMAR DAS

    TRANSLATED BY NANDINI GUHA

  3. Small Big Things
  4. ANAND (P. SACHIDANANDAN)

  5. A Legend Who Lived on Her Own Terms
  6. ANITA AGNIHOTRI

    TRANSLATED BY NANDINI GUHA

  7. "Every Dream Has the Right to Live"

Dakxin Bajrange

Bio-chronology

Bibliography

List of Contributors

Index

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