An Alchemy of Words and Silences by Sethi, Rekha;

Short description:

This book explores the works of seven prominent contemporary Hindi women poets from India, showcasing a vibrant landscape of distinct voices—Dalit, Adivasi, urban, rural and lower-middle class. It traces the historical trajectory of women’s writing in India highlighting how the new generation of poets builds on the feminist legacy.

Long description:

This book explores the works of seven prominent contemporary Hindi women poets from India, showcasing a vibrant landscape of distinct voices—Dalit, Adivasi, urban, rural and lower-middle class. It traces the historical trajectory of women’s writing in India highlighting how the new generation of poets builds on the feminist legacy while redefining its idiom for the twenty-first century.

Engaging with feminism and intersectionality in their diverse manifestations, the book challenges reductive readings of women’s poetry as mere opposition to patriarchy. Instead, it explores the interconnections between gender and literature and showcases their distinct poetic idioms and literary aesthetics. Through a close textual reading of Gagan Gill, Katyayani, Anamika, Savita Singh, Neelesh Raghuwanshi, Sushila Takbhoure and Nirmala Putul, the volume analyses how through their language, imagery, and metaphors these poets broaden the horizons of Hindi literature, offering fresh paths for the exploration of voice, self and society.

This volume will be particularly useful for students and researchers of Indian literature, Hindi literature, comparative literature, gender studies, translation studies and South Asian studies.

‘Rekha Sethi’s book on contemporary Hindi poetry by women is thoroughly grounded in its context, rather than being written out of a couple of improvised “field-trips” and an uncertain grasp of the source language and materials as several studies of Hindi literature in English are. It arises out of Sethi’s personal engagement and participation, extending over decades as a Professor of Hindi in the University of Delhi, in the same literary and cultural sphere as inhabited by the poets she writes about; she is situated experientially at the epicentre of this discursive universe. Her book is therefore more intimate, insightful and rounded than any other work yet published on the subject.’

—Harish Trivedi

‘This is a rare volume on significant women poets in Hindi. It explores germane issues of language, identity, sexuality, displacement and social justice when viewed from a uniquely female perspective. Poet Adrianne Rich argues somewhere about the importance of a proper critical analysis of female self-definition and the need to re-imagine female roles in patriarchal societies. With its shrewd insights into the lives and works of these eminent Hindi poets this book does just that.’

—Mrinal Pande

‘Rekha Sethi’s voice is a blend of creativity and criticism, emerging from a scholarly and perceptive mind. Traversing a global terrain, she captures the text, context and feminism of contemporary Hindi poets for the translator then to carry it across to a non-Hindi audience. This book responds to the call of a comparatist who seeks a critical appreciation of Hindi feminist poetry in English language. By all means, the book makes a fulfilling read in its mapping of a wide range of feminisms in Hindi poetry today.’

—Sukrita Paul Kumar

‘This unusual and highly interventionist book asks what feminism is and demonstrates how a wholesale use of the term for plural and multitudinous engagements with the “woman question” in South Asia would be inevitably reductive. Drawing from a rich and heterogenous creative and critical impulses in Hindi poetry by women writers, this book is an invaluable resource in feminist studies and an absolutely must-read for anyone interested in South Asian studies.’

—Rita Kothari, Professor of Comparative Literature and Translation, Ashoka University

Table of Contents:

Introduction 1. Gagan Gill: The Journey Within 2. Katyayani: The Torch-bearer of Revolutionary Consciousness 3. Anamika: The Raga of Empathy for Humanity 4. Savita Singh: Feminist Reading of Liberation and Transcendence 5. Neelesh Raghuwanshi: A New Aesthetics of Women’s Poetry 6. Sushila Takbhoure: To be a Dalit and a Feminist 7. Nirmala Putul: Articulating Tribal Suffering and Resistance 8. The GenNext of Women Poets in Hindi Conclusion