Devanura Mahadeva’s is a powerful and influential voice in contemporary South Asian and Dalit literature. His compact oeuvre has been widely commented upon in Kannada and, occasionally, in English as well. They have changed existing views among Kannada readers on literature’s relationship with situated practices of caste, gender, and politics, as well as humankind’s larger quest for freedom. Much of this remains unknown beyond the Kannada-speaking region.
This book is a sustained engagement with Mahadeva’s work that seeks to fill this lacuna. It includes translations of select samples of Mahadeva’s fiction and nonfiction writings and some of the major responses to these works from Kannada. In addition, there are essays by leading scholars of Kannada literature and language that explore the position that Mahadeva enjoys as a public intellectual in the region, aspects of language, caste, and gender in his
writings, as well as the challenges of translating his works, which borrow deeply from oral linguistic and mythopoeic conventions. Together, they place in relief Mahadeva’s life and works in a manner that underscores his significance not only for Kannada or South Asian literature and the Dalit movement but also for the larger history of progressive movements across South Asia.
Part of the Writer in Context series, this book will be useful for scholars and researchers of Indian literature, Kannada literature, Dalit Literature, English literature, postcolonial studies, global south studies, and translation studies.
Table of Contents:
List of Pictures. Preface to the Series. Preface. Acknowledgements. Introduction Part I: Darkness and Light – Fiction in Translation 1. Dambaru bandadu (On the coming of tar) 2. Amasa 3. Moodala seemeli kolegile muntagi (Murder and whatnot in the eastern countryside) 4. Marikondavaru (The vended) 5. Odalala (The depth of the frame), an excerpt 6. Kusumabale, two excerpts Part II: The Truth of Justice and the Justice of Truth – Nonfiction in Translation 7. In search of nonviolence 8. Untouchability, where did you spring from? 9. Untouchability, apartheid’s forefather 10. The history of the Tagaduru untouchable colony 11. The tale of a thumb impression 12. Around Lohia’s memory 13. On the beaten track of birth 14. To survive in agriculture 15. For accepting the Nripatunga award 16. At the farewell of senior students, with Pampa 17. The Performance Review of Adivasi Deities 18. Now Part III: Understanding Mahadeva’s Literary World – Critical Examinations 19. K. Aravind Mitra: The life and times of Devanura Mahadeva, A résumé 20. Rajendra Chenni: Of peacocks and narratives: A note on Devanura Mahadeva’s writings 21. Vanamala Viswanatha: “When Will I Break Free from This House…Oh Shiva!” The critical humanism of Devanura Mahadeva 22. C. N. Ramachandran: Reader response theories and Devanura Mahadeva’s Kusumabale 23. Kamalakar Bhat: Devanura Mahadeva’s Kusumabale: A reflection on language and genre 24. Vijayakumar M. Boratti: Devanura Mahadeva, untouchability and the politics of translation Part IV: Speaking with Mahadeva, and Speaking of Him – Conversations and Interviews 25. Devanura Mahadeva and contemporary Kannada literature, a conversation 26. An interview with Devanura Mahadeva 27. An interview with Susan Daniel, translator 28. An interview with C. Basavalingaiah, theatre director 29. An interview with T. L. Krishnegowda, farmer leader 30. An interview with Shobha Nayak, Kannada poet Part V: In the Eyes of Contemporaries – Comments and Assessments 31. Devanura Mahadeva 32. Dyavanooru and Odalala 33. Kusumabale 34. Devanura Mahadeva’s Politics. Devanura Mahadeva: A bio-chronology. Bibliography. Picture Gallery. Index.
About the Author :
Manu V. Devadevan, a historian, poet, and translator, is Associate Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, Himachal Pradesh. A multilingual author, he writes in English, Kannada, and Malayalam. His works of history include A Prehistory of Hinduism and The ‘Early Medieval’ Origins of India. He has published four volumes of poems in Kannada and translated the twelfth-century Kannada vachanas into English. Devadevan is a recipient of
the Infosys Prize in Humanities for the year 2019.
