Krishna Sobti’s Views on Literature and the Poetics of Writing
Krishna Sobti’s Views on Literature and the Poetics of Writing

Author: Rosine-Alice Vuille

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2022-10-03

Total Pages: 410

ISBN-13: 3110781514

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How does a writer discuss her creative process and her views on a writer’s role in society? How do her comments on writing relate to her works? The Hindi writer Krishna Sobti (1925-2019) is known primarily as a novelist. However, she also extensively wrote about her views on the creative process, the figure of the writer, historical writing, and the position of writers within the public sphere. This study is the first to examine in detail the relationship between Sobti’s views on poetics as exposed in her non-fictional texts and her own literary practice. The writer’s self-representation is analysed through her use of metaphors to explain her creative process. Sobti’s construction of the figure of the writer is then put in parallel with her idiosyncratic use of language as a representation of the heterogeneous voices of her characters and with her conception of literature as a space where time and memory can be "held." At the same time, by delving into Sobti’s position in the debate around "women’s writing" (especially through the creation of a male double, the failed writer Hashmat), and into her views on literature and politics, this book also reflects on the literary debates of the post-Independence Hindi literary sphere.

Zindaginama
Zindaginama

Author: Krishna Sobti

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2017-08-16

Total Pages: 480

ISBN-13: 9352772865

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It is sometime in the first decade of the 20th century. The British Imperialists have been in India for over 150 years. However, life in the small village of Shahpur in undivided Punjab has remained largely unchanged. The menfolk look to the wealthy and worldly-wise Shahji and his benevolent younger brother Kashi for support and advice, while it is Shahji's wife's home and hearth that is the centre of all celebrations for the women. Local disputes, trade, politics, a trickling of news from the Lahore newspaper are all discussed every evening at the Shah's haveli. But as the Ghadar Movement gains momentum elsewhere in Punjab and in Bengal, bringing into focus the excesses of the British, the simple village of Shahpur cannot help looking at itself. The discontent has set in. Krishna Sobti's magnum opus, Zindaginama brilliantly captures the story of India through a village where people of both faiths coexisted peacefully, living off the land.

Tohellwithyou Mitro
Tohellwithyou Mitro

Author: Kr̥shṇa Sobatī

Publisher: Katha

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13: 9788187649557

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Krishna Sobti's lively, unapologetic portrayal of a married woman who brooks no limits to her sexuality is as compelling, pertinent and provocative today as when it first shook the Hindi literary world in 1966. Katha presents another masterpiece from one of the most spirited writers of our times. Mitro Marjani was not a writer's story ... I was amazed at the surprises Mitro gave me at every turn. Brought up outside the walls of patriarchy ... Mitro is her mother's daughter who can voice her desires and get away with it. She has no inhibitions about talking of things tabooed by tradition. She really impressed me .- Krishna Sobti

A Gujarat Here, a Gujarat There
A Gujarat Here, a Gujarat There

Author: Krishna Sobti

Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited

Published: 2019-02-28

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 9353054761

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Delhi, 1947. The city surges with Partition refugees. Eager to escape the welter of pain and confusion that surrounds her, young Krishna applies on a whim to a position at a preschool in the princely state of Sirohi, itself on the cusp of transitioning into the republic of India. She is greeted on arrival with condescension for her refugee status, and treated with sexist disdain by Zutshi Sahib, the man charged with hiring for the position. Undaunted, Krishna fights back. But when an opportunity to become governess to the child maharaja Tej Singh Bahadur presents itself-and with it a chance to make Sirohi her new home once and for all-there is no telling how long this idyll will last. Part novel, part memoir, part feminist anthem, A Gujarat Here, A Gujarat There is not only a powerful tale of Partition loss and dislocation but also charts the odyssey of a spirited young woman determined to build a new identity for herself on her own terms.