My new book on Dalit Literature has been released

This book is a worthy collection of articles compiled and edited by me along with Dr.Sundara Babu, Former Director, Vikas Adhyayan Kendra, Mumbai.  

My Preface to the Book:

PREFACE

I believe that all writing is-by nature-political. And yet there is too much of politics in writing itself. As an academician who grew up seeing virtually zero representations of Dalits on bookshelves, it is impossible for me to ignore the larger social and cultural context in which Indian literatures are produced in. I understand that things become far more complex when we begin to place cultural products like literatures that represent a society’s values and social structures within the context of the larger society in which they are consumed. Within a cultural, social and economic structure that advantages and privileges some over others, there is no way to make writing a non-political act. The very existence of “others” shows that some perspectives are put forward more frequently and more consistently to create a dominant narrative.


A piece of art is not autonomous or self-explanatory but exists in dynamic relation to the society which produced it, influenced it and is influenced by it. Harry Levin [“Literature as an Institution”, Accent Spring 1946] rightly says that, “The relations between literature and society are reciprocal. Literature is not only the effect of social causes it is also the cause of social effects.” Alberto, in Demeterio (2001), also suggests that “Literature is a social institution: it is created by the writer, who is a member of the society. Its medium is language, which is a social creation. It represents life, which is a social reality. It is addressed to men who form a social body. It is centrally conditioned by social and other forces and, in turn, exerts social influence” (11) Dalit literature constantly reflects an attempt at narrating the Dalit experience, the struggles associated with Caste based discrimination and its relics of denigration and oppression which seem to remain visible even in post-independence India.

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To read more, get copies from Vikas Adhyayan Kendra.

http://www.vakindia.org/shop-online.html

Vikas Adhyayan Kendra 
D-1 Shivdham, 62 Link Road, Malad (West), Mumbai 400 064 INDIA 
Tel : 022-2882 2850 / 2889 8662. Fax : 022-2889 8941

E-mail: vak@bom3.vsnl.net.in