Critical Discourse in Odia

‘The translation of novels, stories and plays from Indian languages is now a flourishing field. The translation of scholarly and critical works, however, is much less developed. This landmark volume presents a wide-ranging and richly informative history of Odia literature through its translation of major essays in literary criticism. The contributions cover different genres — folk tales, village songs, epics, novels, poems and plays. They discuss literature with regard to its aesthetic aspects as well as in its social and historical context. The book is further enriched by a brilliant introduction by the editors, which provides a magisterial overview of literary production in Odia from oral traditions and palm-leaf manuscripts to print culture.’

Ramachandra Guha, historian and biographer

‘All literary traditions are constantly evolving and, in this volume, we find this happening before our eyes in the case of Odia. The twenty-five extracts selected here from the critical debates that took place in the modern period convey a vivid sense of the contestations over tradition and modernity, the shaping of the literary public sphere, and the formation of the canon. The editorial headnotes are a model of their kind in their erudition and perspicacity. Critical Discourse in Odia will serve to enrich and refine our understanding of Odia Literature substantially.’

Harish Trivedi, critic, scholar and former Professor of English, University of Delhi, India

‘The twenty-five carefully chosen essays in this excellent volume, competently translated from Odia into English, enlighten us on the origin and the development of literary criticism in Odia, the evolution of the idea of literature, and the gradual emergence of a responsive readership of critical discourse in this language. The introduction to the volume embodies outstanding scholarship. Specialists and general readers will certainly find reading this book an enjoyable and enriching experience.’

Bibudhendra Narayan Patnaik, linguist, scholar, and former Professor of English and Linguistics, IIT Kanpur, India

‘A remarkable, much-needed resource for anyone — writer, reader, scholar — interested in India’s, and Odisha’s, unique but insufficiently addressed literary modernity.’

Amit Chaudhuri,novelist and critic, and Professor of Contemporary Literature, University of East Anglia, UK

‘Odisha is the first state in India to be organized on linguistic lines — an index of the pioneering nature of its linguistic consciousness. Falling under the ‘rain shadow region’ of Bangla and English, knowledge about the depth and range of Odisha’s linguistic culture and its encounter with modernity is unfortunately scant. Edited by Odisha’s foremost bilingual scholar with the collaboration of a younger academic, Critical Discourse in Odia rectifies this gap with twenty-five essays drawn from nearly one-and-a-half centuries. Introductory notes on the essays are both informative and insightful. A model for future volumes on other literary cultures to emulate.’

A.R. Venkatachalapathy, Professor, Madras Institute of Development Studies and author of The Province of the Book: Scholars, Scribes and Scribblers in Colonial Tamilnadu

‘This very important volume features a selection of key Odia-language critical essays in English translation. It foregrounds the critical tradition in Odia, makes essays on Odia oral and literary culture more accessible and promises to significantly transform our university curricula, as well as our understanding of Indian critical discourse.’

Sayantan Dasgupta, Coordinator, Centre for Translation of Indian Literatures, Department of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India

‘This collection of twenty-five essays in translation — a collaborative project between the two editors and a score of translators — represents a landmark bridge by which to access Odia literature and literary criticism. The selected essays, written by Odisha's leading writers and scholars, document the trends and developments in the Odia critical tradition from the late-nineteenth century to the present. They also reflect the process by which Odia literary culture reconciled its historical manuscript tradition with the modern medium of print.’

Murali Ranganathan, urban historian and translator, Mumbai, India