Tamil Literature in English Translation Series
Jealous of the ‘success’ of his hardworking farmhands, the rich farmer cuts off access to their land; a free gift won by a working-class family is appropriated by their rich employer who feels his status entitles him to such benefits, a teacher finds herself rendered speechless by the subtle, insidious ways in which caste operates around her, a pregnant woman dreams of clean toilets for her child. Hard hitting, often unrelenting, the twelve powerful stories in this slim volume have been selected by Bama, a Dalit writer who broke new ground by speaking out publicly against caste discrimination, particularly in the Church. Written in everyday Tamil and in regional dialects, and skillfully translated by Ahana Lakshmi, the stories are firmly rooted in the twin experiences of caste and gender and upend much of the received wisdom about what counts as ‘good’ literature.Contributors: Nachiyal Suganthi | Aranga Mallika | Bama | Amutha Arathi | Puthiya Maadhavi | Revathi Muhil | P. Sivakami | Thenmozhi | Uma Devi'There were no longer any signs of the house we stayed in, no doorway with its low entrance, no weeping willow or cryptomeria tree from which the caterpillars fell. The ramshackle cottage that housed my earliest friends and shaped my memories lay bare and forgotten. Only the flying termites remained, fluttering below the street lights outside the property.'In this novella, Daribha Lyndem gently lifts the curtain on the coming of age of a young Khasi woman and the politically charged city of Shillong in which she lives. Like the beloved school game from which it takes its name, the book meanders through ages, lives and places. The interconnected stories build on each other to cover the breadth of a childhood, and move into the precarious awareness of adulthood.A shining debut, Name Place Animal Thing is an elegant examination of the porous boundaries between the adult world and that of a child’s.
“It was perhaps in the rancorous tumult of the breaking and making of nations that Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s word and vision was lost.” — Rafia Zakaria, Dawn
“You can feel Hossain’s anger... and her scathing criticism of a system that allows what she saw as lazy, violent men to dominate while their gentler, wiser female counterparts are marginalized.” — Tahmima Anam, NPR
"“Hossain slyly pointed out back in 1905 what is often discussed now, particularly in the subcontinent—why should women be taught to stay safe, when men are not taught to not threaten or abuse or rape or be a danger to women?” — Mahvesh Murad, Tor.com
“A clear-eyed view of life’s innate contradictions” —Mita Ghose, The Hindu
“Allahabad may just have found her Chekov” — Irwin Allan Sealy
“Touches of poetry” — Anjana Basu, Outlook
Contact Us
© Zubaan 2019. Site Design by Avinash Kuduvalli.
Payments on this site are handled by CCAvenue.