Synopses & Reviews
Colonialism, Modernity, and the Study of Literature: A View From India [CMSL] is an innovative volume of essays situated at the intersection of at least three multi-disciplinary fields: (1) postcolonial and subaltern theory; (2) comparative literary analysis, especially with a South Asian and transnational focus; and (3) the study of 'alternative' and 'indigenous' modernities. Its central themes include: the strategies of resistance that are encoded in third world literary texts; comparative literary analysis, across cultures and regions - both within the 'Global South' and beyond; the forms of indigenous modernity that preceded the colonial encounter, and thus provide alternatives to the modernity that was imposed through the colonial encounter with Europe; feminist perspectives in traditional and contemporary literature; 'realist' theoretical analyses of the epistemic implications of literary forms. The distinctive features of this book are the cross-national focus with a simultaneous emphasis on the close reading of texts and contexts. It grounds the political insights of postcolonial and subaltern theory in close textual analysis, and rather than make general pronouncements about 'alternative modernities,' it looks at their specifically textual (literary and cultural) manifestations.
Review
“Senapatis brilliant novel Six Acres and a Third performs a rare feat, weaving early modern traditions of social critique with an anti-colonial modern sensibility that seems almost post-modern in its reflexivity. This wonderfully stimulating collection of essays brings out the multiple facets of the novel with almost equal freedom by juxtaposing and comparing it to novels across time, regions as well as cultures. Surely a first in postcolonial studies!” —Vasudha Dalmia, Professor of Hindi and Modern South Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley
“This volume of critical essays on colonialism and modernity revisits the episteme of ‘modernity in a new way by taking into account its non-Western roots. The kind of modernity that Professor Mohanty and other contributors to this volume have identified in the writings of Fakir Mohan Senapati and other Indian writers in the 19th century seems more vibrant and open-ended than its Western counterpart. By combining a pragmatic and empirical approach with a vision of a possible theory of comparative literature born out of an encounter between indigenous and colonial forces, the central thesis of this volume provides a new orientation to comparative literary studies at the present time. Its publication is certainly a landmark event for literary studies.” --Prafulla Kar, Director, Centre for Contemporary Theory, Baroda, and former Professor of English, University of Baroda, India.
“The subaltern speaks in this path-breaking collection on comparative modernities and the interlocking literatures it spawned in the late nineteenth-century colonial period. Senapatis Six Acres and a Third is fascinating for its blend of realist and experimental narrative modes deployed for satire of not only colonialism but also the structures of greed and resistance in Orissan village society. Encompassing a variety of theoretical and historical approaches, the essays attest to Senapatis enduring significance while modeling a comparatism that remaps transnational modernist studies.” --Susan Stanford Friedman, Virginia Woolf Professor of English and Womens Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Synopsis
The product of years of cross-border and cross-disciplinary collaboration, this is an innovative volume of essays situated at the intersection of multi-disciplinary fields: postcolonial/subaltern theory; comparative literary analysis, especially with a South Asian and transnational focus; the study of 'alternative' and 'indigenous' modernities
Synopsis
Mohanty has assembled an innovative volume of essays situated at the intersection of at least three multi-disciplinary fields: postcolonial and subaltern theory; comparative literary analysis, especially with a South Asian and transnational focus; and the study of “alternative” and “indigenous” modernities. This definitive new work grounds the political insights of postcolonial and subaltern theory in close textual analysis and challenges readers to think in new ways about global modernity and local cultures.
About the Author
Satya P. Mohanty is a Professor of English at Cornell University, where he has taught since 1983. He has written and edited books on literary theory, minority studies, and colonial and postcolonial studies. His book, Literary Theory and the Claims of History: Postmodernism, Objectivity, Multicultural Politics (1997, argues for a "postpositivist realist" theory of culture and literature, and introduces a new theory of social identity, especially minority identity. He is one of the founders of the national Future of Minority Studies (FMS) Research Project and the founding director of the FMS Summer Institute (established 2005), which is funded through grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. He has co-edited Identity Politics Reconsidered and The Future of Diversity, both also from Palgrave.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Colonialism, Modernity, and Literature: Introducing the Issues--Satya P. Mohanty * PART I: VIEWS FROM BELOW: COMPARING LITERARY PERSPECTIVES * Critical Realisms in the Global South: Narrative Transculturation in Senapatis Six Acres and a Third and García Márquezs One Hundred Years of Solitude--Jennifer Harford Vargas * Views from Above and Below: George Eliot and Fakir Mohan Senapati--Paul L. Sawyer * Two Classic Tales of Village India: Investigating the Realist Epistemology in Chha Mana Atha Guntha and Godaan--Himansu S. Mohapatra * Girls for Sale and Six Acres: The Shared World of Gurajada Apparao and Fakir Mohan Senapati--Velcheru Narayana Rao * The Emergence of the Modern Subject in Oriya and Assamese Literatures: Fakir Mohan Senapati and Hemchandra Barua--Tilottoma Misra * ‘Why Dont You Speak?: The Narrative Politics of Silence in Three South Asian Novels--Ulka Anjaria * PART II: THE MANY CONTEXTS OF SIX ACRES AND A THIRD * Gender and the Representation of Women in Six Acres and a Third--Claire Horan * Rediscovering Ramachandra Mangaraj. Chha Mana Atha Guntha: A Critique of Colonial Rule--Gaganendra Nath Dash * Tradition-Modernity Dialectic in Six Acres and a Third--Debendra K. Dash and Diptiranjan R. Pattanaik * Appendix: Hemchandra Baruas Classic Text Bahire Rongsong Bhitare Kowabhaturi (Fair Outside and Foul Within)—Translated from the Assamese by Tilottoma Misra