Seminar on Emergence of the Modern Indian Classic
10.00 am to 11 am: Inaugural Session
Welcome: K.N. Shrivastava, Director IIC
Opening Remarks: Sudha Gopalakrishnan, Executive Director, IIC-International Research Division
Inaugural Remarks: Shyam Saran, President IIC
Introduction of the Concept: Sukrita Paul Kumar, Literary critics and former Aruna Asaf Ali Chair, University of Delhi
On Modern Indian Writer in Translation: Ganesh Devy, Literary critic, activist and Chairperson, People’s Linguistic Survey of India
11 am to 12 noon: Session 1A
Speakers: Supriya Chaudhuri, Professor Emerita, Jadavpur University; and Simi Malhotra, Chair, Dept. of English, Jamia Millia Islamia
Chair: G.J.V. Prasad, formerly Professor of English, Jawaharlal Nehru University
12 noon to 1.30 pm: Session 1 B
Speaker: Saikat Majumdar, novelist and critic, Professor, Ashoka University
A dialogue between Ipshita Chanda, Professor, Dept. of Comparative Literature, English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad; and Sachin Ketkar, Professor, Dept. of English, M.S. University, Vadodara
Chair: Nirmal Kanti Bhattacharya, former Editor, Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi and Literary Consultant
2.15 pm: Session 1 C: “Avishkar”: Readings and Music
(Courtesy: Sahitya Akademi)
Chair: Sukrita Paul Kumar
2.25 pm: Dramatised Readings by Syeda Hameed, former Member, Planning Commission of India and translator
2.40 pm: Sufi Music presented by Madan Gopal Singh, singer, lyricist and film theorist
3.25 pm – Concluding Remarks: Chandana Dutta, Academic, translator and Editor
In the first of a new bi-monthly series on ‘The Modern Indian Writer in Translation’, speakers will discuss the intense creative churning in the era immediately after 1947, when Indian writers were caught between the euphoria of Independence and the turmoil of Partition. U.R. Ananthamurthy, Krishna Sobti, O.V. Vijayan, Indira Goswami, Mahasweta Devi and many others produced iconic works that reflect, question and define the times. Is the time now ripe to examine and reaffirm the status of ‘classic’ for their works? What makes for their continued appeal? These and other questions will be probed in the discussion.
Organised by the IIC-International Research Division in collaboration with Sahitya Akademi
