Socioliterary Cultures in South Asia

Socioliterary Cultures in South Asia presents seventeen studies on authors, texts, and issues under three sections that represent different secular traditions, imaginative landscapes and realistic configurations. It examines social, political, secular and cultural texts from five South Asian sites—India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka—to represent a larger kaleidoscope of ancient and modern heritages. It appraises personal and collective histories in terms of time, memory, and myth, spells out stages in the formation of canons and identities, and considers the problematic of survival in the maze of ideological formulations in different South Asian locations. Drawing upon a rich variety of verbal and performance texts, the book examines the vitality of authorial imagination, hybrid thought patterns, and indigenous expression. The merit of the book lies in how it develops a larger view of South Asia as a veritable cultural space marked for the richness of its diversity rather than the illusion of its unity. Keeping in tune with its broad thematic focus, the book covers a wide variety of genres from poetry to films. This, in turn, attests to the rich diversity of socioliterary output of the region under consideration. The book is a treasure trove of information for people who are interested in South Asian studies and who want a book that is simultaneously engaging and informative without being reductive—The Pioneer Rahman’s exploration of socio literary culture of South Asia demonstrates that inclusiveness, individuality, coherence, assimilation and social concerns are its special characteristics—The Tribune