This course critically examines India's literary modernity through texts that challenge traditional canons and comfort zones. We explore a range of works, from Premchand’s depictions of feudal villages marked by death to Kalyan Rao’s portrayal of the oppressive environment of Dalit tanneries; from Chughtai’s exploration of queer identities within the zenana to Ibopishak’s expressions of conflict in Manipur. Each text—whether it be Tagore’s hymns, Pritam’s elegies on Partition, or Bharati’s depiction of the Mahabharata as a nuclear wasteland—serves as a site of conflict where issues of caste, gender, and power intersect. We critically assess the dual nature of translation: Does the use of English amplify regional voices or suppress them? What version of India is presented when Urdu is transformed into Oxford prose? Through the lens of Ambedkar’s manifesto for annihilation and Muktibodh’s modernist expressions of despair, we reveal literature as a form of resistance. This course does not offer detached analysis but rather demands an in-depth engagement with texts that continue to challenge the foundations of the republic.
