A Poetics of Modernity Indian Theatre Theory, 1850 to the Present

A Poetics of Modernity is a scholarly edition of theoretically significant writing on theatre by modern Indian theatre practitioners, in English and in English translation from nine other languages. The selections are drawn from book-length works, essays, lectures, prefatory materials, letters, autobiographies, interviews, and memoirs by playwrights, directors, actors, designers, activists, and policy-makers. A significant proportion of the primary materials included in the volume have been translated into English for the first time, creating an archive of theory and criticism that has not been available earlier to scholars, teachers, students, or general readers interested in modern Indian theatre.

A comprehensive Introduction to the selection brings new precision to the concept of "modernity" in Indian theatre by defining it in relation to historically unprecedented processes and conditions that first emerged around the mid-nineteenth century, and have continued into the early-twenty first century. The primary materials are arranged chronologically, and each entry includes a headnote on the author and work as well as annotations and explanatory notes.

Aparna Bhargava Dharwadker, Professor of English and Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Aparna Bhargava Dharwadker is Professor of English and Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and author of 'Theatres of Independence: Drama, Theory, and Urban Performance in India Since 1947' (2005), which won the Joe A. Callaway Prize in 2006. She has also contributed critical introductions to the three volumes of Girish Karnad's Collected Plays (2005-2017), and co-translated Mohan Rakesh's classic modernist play, 'Ashadh ka ek din', as 'One Day in the Season of Rain' (2015). Aparna's essays and articles have appeared in numerous journals and collections in north America, Britain, and India. She is married to the scholar, poet, and translator Vinay Dharwadker, and has two children-Aneesha, an architect, and Sachin, a filmmaker.