From Canon to Covid

"I celebrate this collection of incisive and animated essays by some of the sharpest scholars of literary studies in India; but even more, I salute the man who has inspired it.

GJV Prasad—longtime friend and colleague, sharer of laughter and bon mots at so many locations over the years and finally at JNU offices two doors apart—has worn both his erudition and his popularity with a rare, and equal, lightness. It may be said with certainty that an overwhelming number of English teachers and students across India know him slightly or well: and not merely for his translations, his academic writing, his courses and his talks, but for the generosity of his time, humour, advice and affection. All of these—with the exception of his hugely anticipated classes each semester over an eventful forty-one years at Jawaharlal Nehru University, whose Centre for English Studies he grew synonymous with—should remain unaffected by his retirement from teaching.

Yet, the retirement of a stalwart teacher and mentor such as GJV Prasad is a moment of pleasant pause for all the minds he touched and shaped over decades. This volume of essays in honour of him is timely, thoughtful and fitting. It traverses the wide reach of his scholarly interests in the collated work of his friends, students and colleagues; they pay tribute to his place in their intellectual lives through this gesture that will speak the most eloquently to him, as well as to all those who occupy the field of English literary studies in contemporary India. It is a public encomium that carries with it a scent of friendship: there could hardly be a better gift."

Brinda Bose, Jawaharlal Nehru University

"An extraordinary tribute to teacher, translator and creative writer Prof. GJV Prasad, the book From Canon to Covid: Transforming English Literary Studies in India tracks every significant signpost in the evolution of the most ‘aspirational’ subject in the country. From questioning the canon to offering insightful readings of Indian writing, from analysing syllabus change to noting corresponding developments in translation and publishing, from creative writing to theorisations, the essays constitute a comprehensive understanding of literary studies in the context of national dynamics. Scholars of renown, associated with the long and illustrious career of GJV, have come together in a remarkable expression of solidarity to create a book of outstanding quality and significance."

Malashri Lal, Department of English, and former Dean of Colleges, University of Delhi