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The Politics of Literary
Theory and Representation: Writings on Activism and Aesthetics.
In order to bring Indian literature to the masses, Jaidev valued translation as a creative activity in its own right, particularly as a means of linking up the text with Indian literary traditions. In the course of translating from Hindi into English, Jaidev also began writing in Hindi. Included in this collection is a letter he wrote to Professor Tejwant Singh Gill where Jaidev articulates his response to intertextuality of literary works. Intertextuality, rather than source-hunting, can be extremely helpful no matter what the genre— "Intertexts can form across genres, mediums (drama, cinema, fiction), translations, etc." It should be obvious, however, to a competent reader that a text is incomplete without the literary works that give rise to it. Texts are inextricably tied to one another but connections should not be based on absurd links between them which would lead to a meaningless reading. As Pankaj K. Singh sums up, "Reading or writing about literature was never a matter of mere aesthetic engagement with Jaidev. He read it and examined it for its larger relevance to the socio-cultural context." The intellectual output and the writer’s conscience were thus important aspects of writing to Jaidev’s mind, illustrated clearly in his great respect for Mahasweta Devi’s oeuvre. Mahasweta Devi’s representation of the tribals and the poor of India mock at "the Great Indian Meaning", the rhetoric of the nation-state which, in fact, has no place for its millions of inhabitants. Yet, Mahasweta’s tone is not dismissive; she is aware of India’s enormous if unutilised potential. Despite its flaws, the nation continues to exist as a reality. Theories might argue about an absent nationalism, citizenship or democracy and interrogate the nation’s existence but the nation continues to live and breathe. To start with, Jaidev offers no definition of the "nation", its claims to a bunch of characteristics or any sense of commonalty of its people and, as such, creates an argument or an idea which is rather unsustainable. How can India claim its nationhood on the basis of, say, its bonded labour or the crippling blows its harijans and tribals are administered? But gradually he shows us how Mahasweta Devi, one of India’s "most necessary" writers, creates an "other" India from the multiplicity of Oraons, Mundas, Santals, Lodhas, Kherias, Mahalis, Gonds, and many more, who are controlled by Brahmins and Rajput zamindars, and are conspired out of existence in the negotiation between Empire and Nation. "The nation as a concept is not to be dumped, it is only to be saved from the self-styled Bharat Bhagya Vidhatas," writes Jaidev. It is no wonder that in her tribute to Jaidev, included in this excellent collection, Mahasweta Devi cites him to be the only Indian critic who has analysed her work accurately. A crusader to the core, Jaidev tried to assimilate the Western theory with indigenous locales and interrogated "Indianness" in Indian literatures as E. V. Ramakrishnan and Amiya Dev have shown. Pankaj Singh has done a remarkable job in stringing together several other essays which deserve to be mentioned, particularly Meenakshi Mukherjee’s essay on the effaced figure of the gendered subaltern in nationalist representation and Harish Narang’s exploration of the world versus the world view in Om Prakash Valmiki’s Joothan. Pankaj K. Singh as an editor has put together in this timely and thoughtful volume a thought-proving account of literary theory within an activist agenda so significant for Third-World postcolonies in the global era. Not only is it produced with sensitivity and appreciation towards one who is lost to the intellectual community, it is, above all, an essential reading for students and teachers anxious for looking into literary politics. On the evidence of its various essays, the collection should prove to be a valuable source of ideas and issues on its various subjects relating to nationalism and its sometimes overlapping and often conflicting cultural politics. |
FOR the most part, The
Politics of Literary Theory is a commemorative piece, rather like a
festschrift, to Jaidev. Many of his friends and admirers have
contributed to this volume to produce not only the trajectory of Jaidev’s
intellectual vision, but also recent trends in postcolonial literature,
especially translation.