P V Laxmiprasad – författare

This critical volume of essays explores how texts and literary theories interrelate and interconnect different principles of critical evaluation. Reading for pleasure is different from reading for aesthetic sensibility. To read literature is to seek experience but interpreting the text is to add perspective. A skilled reader will apply multiple lenses to the same text to explore how different texts and theories interact with each other. The Mirror and the Reflections collects various approaches to literary theory from a postcolonial perspective. It offers an invaluable resource for those who wish to familiarize themselves with multifaceted approaches to literature.

In this incisive new book, P. V. Laxmiprasad addresses the great Indian queen Rani Chennamma of Kittur as a character in Indian fiction. The Queen of Kittur by Basavaraj Naikar highlights the themes of honor and glory, patriotism and freedom, betrayal and defeat of the royal family of Kittur as revealed by the life of Rani Chennamma. This novel is a precious jewel in Indian literature. Laxmiprasad’s critical evaluation contextualizes female Indian royalty as a subject in historical fiction and rising force of nationalism, heroism, and solidarity.

Basavaraj Naikar's The Queen of Kittur delineates the history of Pre-Independent India during the East India Company. The colonial encounter that it significantly deals with was fought between the Queen of Kittur - (Rani Chennamma) and the authorities of the East India Company around 1824 for land and political power. Although the Queen put up a heroic fight with the East India Company and succeeded in killing Thackeray, the political agent of South India and Collector of Dharwad, she was eventually betrayed by her courtiers later, and as a result, her kingdom was annexed to the British Raj, and she was imprisoned in her own fort at Balihongala, where she breathed her last in 1829 after suffering from nostalgia for the past glory of her kingdom. The Queen represents a typical example of Female heroism, sheer bravery and valiant fighting tactics - all depicting the icon of Women Empowerment in current times. History is absorbing and refreshing in the novel. Naikar investigates the history of the particular period in India and justifies substantially the patriotism of the Queen of Kittur in a gripping narration. The theme of honour and glory; patriotism and freedom; betrayal and defeat of the royal family of Kittur kingdom are succinctly highlighted. The spirit of freedom serves as a model to the entire womankind. The novelist has immortalized the Queen of Kittur through the historical novel. It is in other words re-writing history to the millions of readers across the globe. A spirited recollection of history to the core of her patriotism and national duty and honour---- P.V.Laxmiprasad-Indian Scholar

The Poetry of Subramani Bharati combines the work of ten leading Indian scholars assessing Bharati's life and work as one of their country's leading poets, a native of Tamil Nadu, a state in South India. Bharati belonged to a generation and century when India was waging its freedom struggle, and he was widely known throughout the country as one of its cultural leaders. As a fervent nationalist, Bharati actively participated in Indian Freedom Struggle. From a humble background, he rose to fame by dint of hard work. At times, he was looked down upon, but he overcame adversity and knew great success in his lifetime.

The Poetry of Subramani Bharati combines the work of ten leading Indian scholars assessing Bharati’s life and work as one of their country’s leading poets, a native of Tamil Nadu, a state in South India. Bharati belonged to a generation and century when India was waging its freedom struggle, and he was widely known throughout the country as one of its cultural leaders. As a fervent nationalist, Bharati actively participated in Indian Freedom Struggle. From a humble background, he rose to fame by dint of hard work. At times, he was looked down upon, but he overcame adversity and knew great success in his lifetime.

Folktales of Mizoram is a translated collection of sixty-six short stories from northeast India taken up for a critical evaluation. The stories depict a typical Mizo culture in spirit and practice. This study focuses on the transformation of oral literature into written narratives. Folk practices, folk medicine, folk narratives, traditional songs, and received wisdom dominate these stories. A more insightful approach into folk narratives and songs emphasizes the world of new hermeneutics. The land, the culture, the language, the traditions have been remarkably explored through an elegant reading and evaluation of this collection. Antiquity speaks through the folk tales. The spirit of folktales becomes one of unique exploration of hermeneutics in the end.

A multi-faceted creative personality, Rabindranath Tagore is one of the greatest stalwarts of both English and Bengali literatures. He created a Renaissance in India, where people were awakened by the great corpus of creative work produced during the country's struggle for independence from the British. Tagore was undoubtedly a champion of this literary protest. He produced masterpieces in Bengali literature and later translated them into English. Gitanjali, his masterpiece collection of poems with a foreword by William Butler Yeats, is renowned for its rhythmic, optimistic, and lyrical nature. It won Tagore the Nobel Prize for Literature, the first awarded to an Asian writer, and a knighthood. In this landmark study, noted Indian scholar P. V. Laxmiprasad offers the most comprehensive critical study of Tagore's work to date.