Representing the Margin: Caste and Gender in Indian Fiction

The work explores the representation of socio cultural margins of caste and gender in Indian contexts in works of fiction written in various Indian languages in the twentieth century, taking representative samples from Hindi/Urdu, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam and English. The focus of enquiry is the narrativization of these important cultural and political questions in representative texts of fiction. What are the socio political and cultural implications and underpinnings of the representation of marginalization in the medium and genre of fiction, what could be the politics, ethics and aesthetics of such narrating, how far such representations are subversive or consensual/complicit, what are the limitations and pitfalls of such intervening radicalism in fictional narration – all these questions are taken up in detail in the analyses. In the greater sense this study is also a critique of modernity and its discontents as it analyses the dialectics of modernity, its radical as well as reactionary aspects. A problematic premise of contextualizing the text and textualizing the context would also be prominent in the attempt. Fictional texts from five Indian languages including English (two texts from each language ) are incorporated in the study to ensure regional and linguistic representation within the limits of the availability of works in translation. Questions of class analytical perspectives in the context of Brahmanic patriarchy are explicated and critiqued. The need for a subaltern hermeneutics and the urgency of epistemological democratization are also discussed as a political and emancipatory outcome of the study. Both the formal as well as thematic concerns of the novel in the Indian languages are found to be shaped and determined by the material realities and associated attitudes and worldviews of caste and gender hierarchy emanating from internal imperialism. Though the ten texts chosen attempt intense critique of the gender question, the more profound and specific cultural question of caste evades comprehension and critical understanding. Caste often escapes as the un-representable in narration as it is in conversion. About The Author:- Dr Ajay S. Sekher is a literary scholar holds a Ph D in English from MG University, Kottayam, Kerala. The book is an outcome of his doctoral research done at School of Letters with Prof, P P Raveendran. Ajay Sekher also writes and translate in Malayalam and English. His articles and translations have appeared in EPW, New Quest, Malayalam Literary Survey, Haritham, Word Plus, Mathrubhumi, Bhashaposhini etc. Recent published titles include Unknown Subjects: Songs of Pokayil Appachan (Translation form Malayalam) and Iruttile Kali (Translation of Toni Morrison’s critical work into Malayalam). Contents:- Preface • Introduction : On the Margin • Caste in Religion: Godan, Song of the Loom • Brahmanic Patriarchy: Rudali, woodworm • Revisiting the Village: Samskara, Gramayana • Community and the Tribal: Thalamurakal, Mavelimantam • Nation Versus Conversion: Kanthapura, The God of Small Things • Conclusion: Beyond the Margin Selected Bibliography • Index. The Title 'Representing the Margin: Caste and Gender in Indian Fiction written/authored/edited by Ajay S. Sekhar', published in the year 2008. The ISBN 9788178356907 is assigned to the Hardcover version of this title. This book has total of pp. 235 (Pages). The publisher of this title is Kalpaz Publications. This Book is in English. The subject of this book is Literature / Linguistic. Size of the book is 14.34 x 22.59 cms Vol:-