Meera Kosambi
editor
and translator
Women
Writing Gender
Marathi
Fiction Before Independence
Most modern literatures were initially
dominated by men who claimed, at times, to speak for women. But when given an
opportunity, women spoke differently.
This book tells the several stories of how
Maharashtrian women found a ‘voice’ in the late nineteenth century. It shows
how they created a literary space for themselves, deploying fiction to depict
worlds other than those available in male writing, as well as dreams and
aspirations unseen in society before they were articulated by their fiction.
Having been excluded from mainstream prose, women also created a parallel
reform discourse which displayed various shades of feminism.
After an introductory overview of men and women
writers of Marathi fiction before Independence, this book presents in
translation the work of six iconic women writers: Kashibai Kanitkar, Indirabai
Sahasrabuddhe, Vibhavari Shirurkar, Geeta Sane, Shakuntala Paranjpye, and Prema
Kantak. Their novels and short stories unfold the journeys of articulate women
towards new paradigms, and ultimately towards a demand for gender
equality—which is women’s gift to Marathi literature.
MEERA KOSAMBI is a sociologist trained in
India, Sweden, and the US. She has specialized in Urban Studies and Women’s
Studies. She was Professor and Director of the Research Centre for Women’s
Studies at the SNDT Women’s University in Mumbai. She has taught, lectured, and
published widely in India and abroad. Her books include Returning the American Gaze: Pandita Ramabai’s ‘The Peoples of the
United States’ (1889) (2003), Crossing
Thresholds: Feminist Essays in Social History (2007), and Feminist Vision or ‘Treason against Men’?
Kashibai Kanitkar and the Engendering of Marathi Literature (2008).
Hardback / 386pp / Rs
795 / ISBN 81-7824-336-9 / World rights / May 2012
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