Literary Radicalism in India: Gender, Nation and the Transition to Independence

While most readers of contemporary Indian literature in English and in translation are familiar with the idea of "freedom at midnight," much less is known about the period of turbulent artistic and cultural transformation that characterised the years leading up to and following Independence in 1947. This study examines one the most influential - and yet relatively unexamined - literary movements in the twentieth century on the Indian subcontinent. Focussing on writers who were affiliated to the Progressive Writers Association during India''s transition from colony to nation, Literary Radicalism in India examines in detail some of the most important and controversial works of Indian literature. Featuring historicised readings of the fiction, essays and films of such prominent figures as Rashid Jahan, Sajjad Zaheer Ismat Chungtai, Saadat Hasan Manto and Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, the book examines the connections between aesthetics and politics in the context of nation-formation in India and Pakistan. It argues thatgender, in this context, was not reducible to questions of ''representing women'' but that it was a constitutive point ofcontestationin the struggle to define ''India''. This thoroughly researched study is a must for all those interested in the impact of nationalism, feminism and social movements on literature, and provides a timely intervention into current debates about Marxism, nationalism and modernity. SERIES BLURB: POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURES Edited in collaboration with the Centre for Colonial and Postcolonial Studies, University of Kent at Canterbury, this series presents a wide range of research into postcolonial literatures by specialists in the field. Volumes will concentrate on writers and writing originating in previously (or presently) colonized areas, and will include material from non-anglophone as well as anglophone colonies and literatures. The series will also include collections of important essays from older journals, and re-issues of classic texts onpostcolonial subjects. Routledge is pleased to invite proposals for new books in the series. Interested authors should contact Lyn Innes or Rod Edmond at the Centre for Colonial and Postcoloinal Studies, University of Kent at Canterbury, or Routledge''s Commissioning Editor for Literature. The series comprises three strands. Routledge Research in Postcolonial Literatures is a forum for innovative new research intended for a specialist readership. Published in hardback, titles include: 1. Magical Realism in West African Fiction: Seeing with a Third Eye by Brenda Cooper 2. The Postcolonial Jane Austen edited by You-Me Park and Rajeswari Sunder Rajan 3. Contemporary Caribbean Women''s Poetry: Making Style by Denise deCaires Narain 4. African Literature, Animism and Politics by Caroline Rooney 5. Caribbean-English Passages: Intertextuality in a Postcolonial Tradition by Tobias Doring 6. Islands in History and Representation edited by Rod Edmond and VanessaSmith 7. Civility and Empire: Literature and Culture in British India, 1821-1921 by Anindyo Roy 8. Women Writing the West Indies, 1804-1939: ''A Hot Place, Belonging To Us'' by Evelyn O''Callaghan 9. Postcolonial Pacific Writing: Representations of the body by Michelle Keown 10. Writing Woman, Writing Place: Contemporary Australian and South African Fiction by Sue Kossew 11. Literary Radicalism in India: Gender, Nation and the Transition to Independence by Priyamvada Gopal Postcolonial Literatures makes available in paperback important work in the field. Hardback editions of these titles are also available, some published earlier in the Routledge Research strand of the series. Titles in paperback include: Postcolonial Studies: A Materialist Critique by Benita Parry Magical Realism in West African Fiction: Seeing with a Third Eye by Brenda Cooper The Postcolonial Jane Austen edited by You-Me Park and Rajeswari Sunder Rajan Contemporary Caribbean Women''s Poetry: MakingStyle by Denise deCaires Narain Readings in Postcolonial Literatures offers collections of important essays from journals or classic texts in the field. Titles include: 1. Selected Essays of Wilson Harris edited by Andrew Bundy

Priyamvada Gopal teaches in the Faculty of English at Cambridge University and is a fellow of Churchill College.