Edited by Harish Trivedi Sahitya

In his substantial and in-depth Introduction, Professor Trivedi has explained with clarity and precision the overlap and differences between History and Literature, and has laid before us ‘the Mill-Macaulay-Macdonell Mockery’ that had such a debilitating effect on indigenous scholarship in this area. Almost all the essayists praise the grand achievement of Sisir Kumar Das, who created his own model for Indian Literary Historiography with the two volumes, A History of Indian Literature:
Volume VIII 1800-1910: Western Impact: Indian Response, New Delhi


Reviewed by: Smita Agarwal
By Meena T. Pillai

Meena Pillai’s book, Translating Kerala, attempts to trace the traditions of translation in Malayalam with reference to their role in shaping new social imageries and literary practices. Though translation has a long history in Malayalam dating back to the 14th century, her focus is on the trends from early twentieth century onwards.


Reviewed by: EV Ramakrishnan
By Sumanyu Satpathy

What gives the book its cutting edge, however, is the well-thought-out interpretative perspective that considers the subject of Odia literary modernity from multiple standpoints, thus providing a polyphonic picture of the phenomenon. The fact that the book is done in English redounds further to its credit, for this enables the local story to take its place under the sun and alongside other publicized stories of modernity in the Indian bhashas. Together these stories add up to a narrative totality of Indian literature in its diverse bhasha output.


Reviewed by: Himansu S. Mohapatra
Edited by Sudha Tripathi. Guest Editor: Brajratna Joshi

The most prominent identification of Gagan Gill’s writings by commentators has been her Buddhist belief system. Several essays have engaged with this aspect of her writing commenting on her spirituality, her philosophical bent of mind and her meditative approach to the world. Radhavallabh Tripathi identifies the foundations of Gill’s writings to be the Buddhist principles of acceptance of suffering, searching the reasons for suffering, tearing off the illusion of craving and the concept of impermanence of the world. He notes that she belongs to the long intellectual tradition in India that after Buddha centres on suffering.


Reviewed by: Kopal
Translated and introduced by Srinivas Reddy

It is definitely breathtaking to see the width of traditions he has managed to bring under the ambit of his compilation which he has translated himself. Translations are generally a source of joy as the translator is adding his or her enjoyment to the words of the writer and this one is no exception. In this compilation, there are translations from works in Sanskrit, Prakrit and Tamil.


Reviewed by: Sudhamahi Regunathan
Translated from the original Kannada by Krishna Murthy

Such luminous moments of insight, introspection and self-awareness make for a richly rewarding reading experience. They highlight the grey zones in the moral and sociopolitical terrain that the narrator and a whole host of his fellow-citizens from the twin villages of Uralli and Makkigadde must traverse daily as they struggle to keep their rather tenuous lives and livelihoods on an even keel.


Reviewed by: Cheriyan Alexander