Flesh and Fish Blood: Postcolonialism, Translation, and the VernacularIn 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. |
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A. K. Ramanujan aesthetic Ambai's anthology argument attention Bama Bama's Bhabha Bollywood Brahmins caste Chakkili chapter colonial comparatism Comparative Literature comparison contemporary cosmopolitanism critique cultural Dalit literature Dalit Panthers Dalitbahujan Damrosch Delhi devadasis discourse discussion Dravidian essay example explore film global Guide Hindi Hindi version Hindu humanism hybridity identity Indian writer jati Karukku language Limbale literary Longman materialist modern movie Murugan Narayan narrative nationalist North American academy notes notion of translation novel Paraiyar Periyar poem political postcolonial context postcolonial studies postcolonial theory R. K. Narayan Racine Raju Raju’s Rama Ramayana Ratnam realism reference relationship Rosie Rushdie Rushdie’s Seasons Selvan Shortie social socialist realism story Su’s suggest Tamil India Tamil literature Tamil version term theoretical tion tradition trans translation practice transnational postcolonialism University Press untouchable varna varna-jati complex vernacular literature vernacular postcolonialism version of Roja village violence Viramma women words world literature writer in English writing