Voices from the Margins – serie

Shyamal Kumar Pramanik is one of the most powerful writers of the Bangla Dalit literary movement. His evocative fictional world throws into relief the lives of the downtrodden in in contemporary India. This volume brings his fiction to a new readership by presenting English translations of a selection of his most powerful stories.This book is part of the Voices from the Margins series, which seeks to enhance the visibility of literary texts and traditions from various Indian languages and also to bring Dalit literature to the center stage. Pramanik focuses extensively on lives and lifestyles of the people in the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world and an ecologically fragile zone. Drawn from personal experience, many of these stories paint in vivid colors the deprivations that define life in this part of the world. His fiction highlights the workings of caste.. The translations in this anthology are buttressed by an interview with the writer which includes his reflections on his life, society, and his writings, opening up new possibilities of understanding his work in its larger social context. The book also creates an academic framework within which Pramanik’s fiction can be read and critically analyzed.This critical edition will be of interest to students and researchers of comparative literature, South Asian literature and culture, modern Indian literature, Dalit studies, culture, history, and sociology.

Anil Gharai is arguably one of the most significant authors of Bangla Dalit literature. His works deal with the stark everyday realities of people on the margins and the complex interplay of domination and subjugation in these spaces. This volume of English translations of some of his most celebrated works seeks to introduce his writings to a new readership in India and abroad. In his works, Gharai explored caste-based and gender-based oppression in the rural areas of coastal Bengal. His protagonists are from remote spaces, from the Dalit community or the indigenous communities—men and women who work and live in extremely exploitative circumstances and whose lives are depicted by Gharai with great care and detail. His novels, short stories and poems, translated in this volume, give voice to the unrepresented and offer a critique of the oppressive caste and class hierarchies and traditions in eastern India. He also focuses on the replication of patriarchal mores within Dalit society and culture. This volume includes critical essays on Anil Gharai and his long interview to reflect on his position in the alternative literary canon of Bangla Dalit literature. Part of the Voices from the Margins series, this critical edition seeks to visibilise the less visible literary texts and traditions. It will be of interest to those scholars engaged in contemporary Indian/South Asian literary cultures, comparative literature, modern Indian literature, minority studies, Dalit studies and gender studies. It will also be useful to students and researchers of social sciences and humanities.

Shyamal Kumar Pramanik is one of the most powerful writers of the Bangla Dalit literary movement. His evocative fictional world throws into relief the lives of the downtrodden in in contemporary India. This volume brings his fiction to a new readership by presenting English translations of a selection of his most powerful stories.This book is part of the Voices from the Margins series, which seeks to enhance the visibility of literary texts and traditions from various Indian languages and also to bring Dalit literature to the center stage. Pramanik focuses extensively on lives and lifestyles of the people in the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world and an ecologically fragile zone. Drawn from personal experience, many of these stories paint in vivid colors the deprivations that define life in this part of the world. His fiction highlights the workings of caste.. The translations in this anthology are buttressed by an interview with the writer which includes his reflections on his life, society, and his writings, opening up new possibilities of understanding his work in its larger social context. The book also creates an academic framework within which Pramanik’s fiction can be read and critically analyzed.This critical edition will be of interest to students and researchers of comparative literature, South Asian literature and culture, modern Indian literature, Dalit studies, culture, history, and sociology.

Niranjan Mondal is one of the most prolific writers of Dalit literature in Bangla known for his immersive fictions that root themselves in the lives of people from the Sundarbans, the mangrove forest in east India. This volume of the translation of his novel, A Tale of High and Low Tides (Ujaan Bhatir Kathokata), along with critical essays and an interview of the author, introduces his work to a new readership.Mondal’s writings highlight the unique lived experiences of the inhabitants of the Sundarbans and are meditative explorations of the links between caste and expression, nature and human life, and the ‘centre’ and the ‘margin’. This book creates a dialogue between the body of literature that is visible and that which is not, as well as between biography and literature. Mondal’s own views on contemporary life, society, and literature—both mainstream and marginalized—will help readers understand the relationship between literature and its social context. The volume creates an academic framework within which Mondal’s fiction can be read, appreciated and critically analysed.Part of the Voices from the Margins series, this critical edition will be an important resource for students of literature, comparative literature, modern Indian literature, translation studies, minority studies, Dalit studies, and gender studies. It will also be of interest to those engaged in contemporary Indian/South Asian literary cultures, social sciences, history and sociology.

Anil Gharai is arguably one of the most significant authors of Bangla Dalit literature. His works deal with the stark everyday realities of people on the margins and the complex interplay of domination and subjugation in these spaces. This volume of English translations of some of his most celebrated works seeks to introduce his writings to a new readership in India and abroad. In his works, Gharai explored caste-based and gender-based oppression in the rural areas of coastal Bengal. His protagonists are from remote spaces, from the Dalit community or the indigenous communities—men and women who work and live in extremely exploitative circumstances and whose lives are depicted by Gharai with great care and detail. His novels, short stories and poems, translated in this volume, give voice to the unrepresented and offer a critique of the oppressive caste and class hierarchies and traditions in eastern India. He also focuses on the replication of patriarchal mores within Dalit society and culture. This volume includes critical essays on Anil Gharai and his long interview to reflect on his position in the alternative literary canon of Bangla Dalit literature. Part of the Voices from the Margins series, this critical edition seeks to visibilise the less visible literary texts and traditions. It will be of interest to those scholars engaged in contemporary Indian/South Asian literary cultures, comparative literature, modern Indian literature, minority studies, Dalit studies and gender studies. It will also be useful to students and researchers of social sciences and humanities.

This volume focuses on select contributions made to the Nepali periodical Chandrika, published in Kurseong, Darjeeling, India, from 1918 to 1919. Edited by Paras Mani Pradhan, Chandrika is a significant work for understanding the development of the Nepali language and Nepali identity. This volume presents articles on the Nepali language, literature, education, and identity, along with critical essays that facilitate the entry of periodical studies, especially Nepali periodicals, into the curricula of humanities departments at universities in India and abroad.Chandrika also reflects a time when the Indian national consciousness was forming, alongside a consciousness of an Indian-Nepali identity. The writings give an invaluable insight into the intellectual and shared common temper and discourse on the subjects of language, education, progress, and society from the borderlands of pre-independence India. The volume will be important in raising awareness about the social-cultural and political concerns of the time and in helping readers connect this historical work with the more recent developments in regional literature and identity.Part of the Voices from the Margins series, this critical edition will be of interest to students and researchers of comparative literature, Nepali, translation studies, journalism, periodical studies, South Asian literature and culture, modern Indian literature, culture, history, and sociology.