Mahasweta Devi: Writer, Activist, Visionary

Mahasweta Devi occupies a singular position in the history of modern Indian literature and world literature. This book engages with Devi’s works as a writer-activist who critically explored subaltern subjectivities, the limits of history and the harsh social realities of post-independence India.

The volume showcases Devi’s oeuvre and versatility through samples of her writing - in translation from the original Bengali--including Jhansir Rani, Hajar Churashir Ma, and Bayen among others. It also looks at the use of language, symbolism, mythic elements and heteroglossia in Devi’s exploration of heterogeneous themes such as exploitation, violence, women’s subjectivities, depredation of the environment and failures of the nation state. The book analyses translations and adaptations of her work, debates surrounding her activism and politics and critical reception to give readers an overview of the writer’s life, influences, achievements and legacy. It highlights the multiple concerns in her writings and argues that the aesthetic aspects of Mahasweta Devi’s work form an essential part of her politics.

Part of the ’Writer in Context’ series, this book will be useful for scholars and researchers of Indian literature, Bengali literature, English literature, postcolonial studies, cultural studies, global south studies and translation studies.

Radha Chakravarty is a writer, critic and translator. She has co-edited The Essential Tagore, nominated Book of the Year 2011 by Martha Nussbaum. She is the author of Feminism and Contemporary Women Writers and Novelist Tagore: Gender and Modernity in Selected Texts. Her Tagore translations include Gora, Chokher Bali, Boyhood Days, Farewell Song: Shesher Kabita, Four Chapters and The Land of Cards: Stories, Poems and Plays for Children. Other works in translation are Bankimchandra Chatterjee’s Kapalkundala, Mahasweta Devi’s Our Santiniketan and In the Name of the Mother (nominated for the Crossword Translation Award, 2004), Vermillion Clouds: Stories by Bengali Women, and Crossings: Stories from Bangladesh and India. She has edited Shades of Difference: Selected Writings of Rabindranath Tagore, Bodymaps: Stories by South Asian Women and co-edited Writing Feminism: South Asian Voices and Writing Freedom: South Asian Voices. Her poems have appeared in numerous books and journals. She has contributed to Pandemic: A Worldwide Community Poem, nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2020. Her forthcoming books include The Tagore Phenomenon and translations of Kazi Nazrul Islam’s essays. She was Professor of Comparative Literature & Translation Studies at Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University Delhi, India.