In Flesh and Fish Blood Subramanian Shankar breaks new ground in postcolonial studies by exploring the rich potential of vernacular literary expressions. Shankar pushes beyond the postcolonial Anglophone canon and works with Indian literature and film in English, Tamil, and Hindi to present one of the first extended explorations of representations of caste, including a critical consideration of Tamil Dalit (so-called untouchable) literature. Shankar shows how these vernacular materials are often unexpectedly politically progressive and feminist, and provides insight on these oft-overlooked—but nonetheless sophisticated—South Asian cultural spaces. With its calls for renewed attention to translation issues and comparative methods in uncovering disregarded aspects of postcolonial societies, and provocative remarks on humanism and cosmopolitanism, Flesh and Fish Blood opens up new horizons of theoretical possibility for postcolonial studies and cultural analysis.
Flesh and Fish Blood Postcolonialism, Translation, and the Vernacular
About the Book
Reviews
“[A] well-researched and illuminating argument. . . . The case for the vernacular is argued so comprehensively and convincingly that one can only nod approvingly.”—Vanamala Viswanatha, Azim Premji University Translation Studies
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
1. Midnight’s Orphans, or the Postcolonial and the Vernacular
2. Lovers and Renouncers, or Caste and the Vernacular
3. Pariahs, or the Human and the Vernacular
4. The “Problem” of Translation
Conclusion: Postcolonialism and Comparatism
Notes
Works Cited
Index
Awards
- Honorable Mention for the 2013 Rene Wellek Prize, American Comparative Literature Association