Literature

​ Indian Genre Fiction: Pasts and Future Histories edited by Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, Aakriti Mandhwani, Anwesha Maity, New York and Oxon: Routledge, 2019; pp xii + 211, ` 750. Adventure Comics and Youth Culture in India by Raminder Kaur and Saif Eqbal, New York and Oxon: Routledge, 2019; pp xiv + 225, ` 995.

Moustache , a scathing commentary on Brahminical ritual purity, tells the story of a Dalit protagonist with the “audacity” for bodily grooming.

In the 1940s, Bengali Muslim intellectuals sought to find a new autonomy in a comprehensive break with the texts and language of the Hindu-dominated literature of the “Bengal Renaissance.” But within a few years of Pakistan’s founding, a new generation argued that disavowing the past was not...

A reading of 1969, the momentous year of protests against Ayub Khan’s dictatorship in East Pakistan is offered, going beyond the popular tropes of inevitability and loss. The moments when Bengali nationalism exceeded its own expectations by making michhil or procession its main focus are identified. A rumination on Dhaka, which found its present cultural and political identity through the upheaval of the 1960s is presented.

A critical understanding of space requires an engagement with the material processes that constitute it, as well as the way it is represented in works of art and literature. Moreover, understanding spatiality is also crucial for comprehending how class is constituted. In this regard, this paper explores how, between the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, the bourgeoisie in Assam conceived and represented space. The discussion is based on Lakshminath Bezbaroa’s play Jaymati (1915) and Rasna (Birinchi) Barua’s (1959) novel Seuji Patar Kahini (The Story of the Green Leaves).