Meena Kandasamy

Seduced by politics and poetry, the unnamed narrator falls in love with a university professor and agrees to be his wife, but what for her is a contract of love is for him a contract of ownership. As he sets about reducing her to his idealized version of a kept woman, bullying her out of her life as an academic and writer in the process, she attempts to push back--a resistance he resolves to break with violence and rape. Smart, fierce and courageous, When I Hit You is a dissection of what love meant, means and will come to mean when trust is undermined by violence; a brilliant, throat-tightening feminist discourse on battered faces and bruised male egos; and a scathing portrait of traditional wedlock in modern India.

When I Hit You, Or, A Portrait of the Writer As a Young Wife

"Karim and Maya are lovers. They share a home, they worry about money, and then Maya falls pregnant. But Karim is still finishing his film degree, pushing against his tutors' insistence that his art must be Arab like him. And Maya, working a zero-hours job and fretting about her family, can't find the time to quit smoking, let alone have a child. Framed with fragments and peppered with footnotes Exquisite Cadavers is at once a bricolage of influence, and a love story that knows no borders."--Provided by publisher.

Exquisite Cadavers

Ms Militancy

The Gypsy Goddess

The Orders Were To Rape You

'I invite you, dear reader, to enter this beautiful world. I invite you to fall in love.' The Book of Desire is the award-winning writer Meena Kandasamy's luminous translation of the Kamattu-p-pal, a 2000-year-old song of female love and desire. The Kamattu-p-pal is the most intimate section of the Tirukkural – one of the most important texts in Tamil literature. Its verses rejoice in the pleasures of sex, beauty and all aspects of love. Although hundreds of male translations of the text have been published, it has also ever been translated by a woman once before. It is also, historically, the part that has been most heavily censored. The Book of Desire is Meena Kandasamy's own feminist reclamation of this great work. With her trademark wit, lyricism and insight, she weaves a magic spell: ensuring this timeless classic feels fresh and passionate. It fizzes with energy and joy – and tells a vital story about female agency and desire. It is a revolution 2000 years in the making.

TIRUKKUR− AL.

The Book Of Desire

Touch

Gopal Guru

Babasaheb Ambedkar, one of the most important voices to have spoken against caste discrimination, was also the father of the Indian Constitution. Juxtapose this against the various caste-based attacks happening in the country today and a very different picture of India seems to be developing seventy years since freedom. After Rohith Vemula's suicide sparked protests and outrage across the country, questions about discrimination against Dalits and other castes have once again come to the forefront. With its long history of caste-based politics, it remains a sore subject that India still cannot properly address. Meena Kandasamy in 'He Has Left Us Only His Words' and Gopal Guru in 'For Dalit History Is Not Past But Present' write about why even education in India still functions in the shadow of caste-politics, and how India has never really escaped its past. Read on, to find out more.

A Dalit History

Dying and then resurrecting herself again and again in a country that refuses to forget the unkind myths of caste and perhaps of religion, Meena carries as her twin self, her shadow the dark cynicism of youth that must help her to survive. Happiness is a hollow world for fools to inhabit cries Meena at a moment of revelation. Revelations come to her frequently and prophecies linger at her lips.

Tomorrow Someone Will Arrest You

In this chapbook of poems, Meena Kandasamy juxtaposes the romantic ideals of love with the horrors of everyday life. Even as her love poetry plays itself out on the embattled terrain of language, the political verse explores rape culture and state violence. Two of the poems in the collection are a response to the threats to the freedom of expression which endanger artistic process and political resistance.

This Poem Will Provoke You

"Karim, a young film-maker, carries with him the starry-eyed dreams of the Arab Revolution. Maya carries her own pressing concerns: an errant father, an unstable job, a chain-smoking habit, a sudden pregnancy. When Karim's brother disappears in Tunis, and Karim wants to go after him, Maya must choose between her home city, her future and her history ... :--Dust jacket flap.

Die mitreißende Geschichte einer Selbstbefreiung Auf der Shortlist für den Women’s Prize für Fiction Ein Guardian Buch des Jahres Ein Daily Telegraph Buch des Jahres Ein Observer Buch des Jahres Ein Financial Times Buch des Jahres »Meena Kandasamys lebhafte, scharfe und präzise Stimme macht diesen eindringlichen Roman zu einem Triumph.« Ayòbámi Adébáyò, The Guardian Das Buch Meena Kandasamys sprachgewaltiger autobiografischer Roman erzählt literarisch brillant die Chronik einer missbräuchlichen Ehe und zeugt von der unbesiegbaren Kraft der Kunst. Eine kluge, wilde und mutige Auseinandersetzung mit der Ehe im modernen Indien – und nicht nur dort. Verführt von Politik, Poesie und dem Traum, gemeinsam eine bessere Welt zu schaffen, verliebt sich eine junge Frau in einen charismatischen Universitätsdozenten. Nach der Hochzeit zieht sie zu ihm in eine verregnete Küstenstadt in einer Region Indiens, deren Sprache sie nicht beherrscht, und muss entdecken, dass ihr perfekter Mann sich hinter verschlossenen Türen in ein alles kontrollierendes Monster verwandelt. Als er sie auf seine idealisierte Version einer gehorsamen Frau reduziert, sie schikaniert und ihren Ehrgeiz, Schriftstellerin zu werden, im Keim erstickt, schwört sie, sich zu wehren – ein Widerstand, der sie entweder töten oder ihr die Freiheit zurückgeben wird. Pressestimmen (Auswahl) »Eines der wichtigsten und schockierendsten und poetischsten Bücher des Jahres.« Readwomen »Herausragend und atemberaubend ... die mit Abstand beste Lektüre des Jahres.« Women Writers »Kandasamy überzeugt mit Anschaulichkeit, Wucht und Durchschlagskraft.« Times Literary Supplement »Mutig und gewagt und aufwühlend.« Stylist

Ein Porträt der Autorin als junge Ehefrau

Schläge

La segunda novela de Kandasamy la ha situado en los altares de la novela contemporánea India. La historia de una joven atrapada en las redes de un marido tiránico. Un relato estremecedor, valeroso y feminista. Seducida por la convicción política, la poesía y el sueño de compartir un hermoso proyecto vital, la anónima narradora de esta novela se enamora de un profesor universitario marxista y se muda con él a una lluviosa ciudad costera del sur de la India. Pronto descubrirá que el vínculo de amor por ella imaginado es para él un contrato de propiedad que la reduce a la condición de esposa complaciente y sumisa. Aquel hombre de nobilísimos ideales inicia una asalto implacable a su cuerpo y su mente para cerrarle todos los caminos y, en última instancia, negarle el derecho a una existencia propia. No hay territorio donde él renuncie a imponer su dominio. Cuando ella reacciona, cuando busca vías de escape, él intenta quebrar su resistencia con un brutal tratamiento de golpes y violaciones. La literatura es el único refugio en ese infierno doméstico sostenido por la indiferencia de una sociedad que solo espera silencio y resignación. Nadie la va a salvar, solo ella puede hacerlo. "Un puñetazo en el estómago" The Wire "Lo mejor que he leído en 2017. Léelo como un poema en prosa, un himno feminista o un experimento con la vida, pero léelo." The Daily O "De lectura urgente... esta novela late a través de una búsqueda universalmente reconocida de libertad en un mundo donde las mujeres todavía están sorprendentemente infravaloradas." Financial Times "Su lectura abrasa." The Guardian

O retrato de la escritora como joven esposa

Cuando te golpeo

India dei giorni nostri. Lei è una scrittrice, una poetessa, una giovane attivista dal passato tormentoso e il cuore spezzato. Lui è un docente universitario, un ex guerrigliero maoista, un uomo che, parlando della rivoluzione, sembra più intenso di qualsiasi poesia, più commovente di qualsiasi bellezza. Si conoscono, si innamorano, decidono in fretta di sposarsi. La coppia si trasferisce in una lontana città costiera dell’India, senza vincoli né programmi, pronta a un salto nel vuoto che li vedrà protagonisti insieme. Lì, dietro le porte ben chiuse di una villetta circondata da un giardino selvaggio, il marito perfetto cambia volto, trasformandosi poco a poco in un carceriere e in un carnefice. La limitazione delle libertà della moglie – vestiti, trucco, capelli; e poi: mail, telefonate, fino al divieto di scrivere – traccia l’inizio di una spirale di violenza e sopraffazione che vedrà la donna sempre più sola e terrorizzata, abbandonata anche dalla famiglia di origine. Finché lei stessa non deciderà di reagire riprendendo in mano il controllo della propria storia. Lucido, toccante e poetico, il romanzo di Meena Kandasamy è un pugno allo stomaco. Non solo perché porta in scena, passo dopo passo, la lenta discesa agli inferi della violenza domestica, scardinandone i meccanismi di manipolazione, di ricatto emotivo e pressione sociale, accompagnando il lettore nelle stanze solitarie dell’abuso attraverso le pieghe del linguaggio e le armi delle tecniche narrative.

Meena Kandasamy

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