Prem Kumari Srivastava

The controversial Leslie Fiedler (1917-2003) was one of the first critics of popular culture as well as an early proponent of queer theory. This book traces the evolution of this larger-than-life figure through an extensive examination of his works. Beginning with his homoerotic reading of the relationship between Jim and Huck Finn in the Mark Twain novel, this book covers how his many contributions have been provocative, outrageous, novel, and enduring.

Critic, Provocateur, Pop Culture Guru

Leslie Fiedler

Hina Nandrajog

Amrita Pritam was a prominent Punjabi poet, novelist, and essayist who captured the realities of everyday life in the India of the early 1900s India and presented the unique voices of the women of the Indian subcontinent. This book offers a comprehensive understanding of the writer’s work by situating it in the context of not just Punjabi literature but Indian literature, while showcasing their continued relevance in contemporary times. With a career spanning over six decades, she Pritam produced over 100 books of poetry, fiction, biographies, essays, a collection of Punjabi folk songs and an autobiography that were all translated into several Indian and foreign languages. This volume includes critical essays on her works as well as a selection of her poems and stories in translation including, ‘A Call to Waris Shah’ (Ajj Aakhaan Waris Shah nu), The Skeleton (Pinjar) and Village No. 36 (Khabarnama Te Chak No. 36) and excerpts from other prominent writings to give readers a glimpse into Pritam’s her rich literary oeuvre as well as her legacy in a post-colonial India which is still grappling with many of the same taboos around gender, national and religious identity and women’s sexuality. It discusses the diversity of themes and socio-cultural realities in her writings works focusing especially on her writings on Punjab, agency of her women protagonists, national and communal identities and the testimonies of the traumas which the cataclysmic 1947 Partition of India brought on women. A writer who consistently subverted the existing social, political and patriarchal structures of her times, both in her life and in her writings, this book encapsulates the relevance of her writing and her voice in our times. Part of the ‘Writer in Context’ series, this book will be useful for scholars and researchers of Indian literature, Hindi literature, Punjabi Literature, English literature, postcolonial studies, cultural studies, global south studies and translation studies.

The Writer Provocateur

Amrita Pritam

Sukrita Paul Kumar

Chandana Dutta

This book offers a comprehensive understanding of the Amrita Pritam's work by situating it in the context of not just Punjabi literature but Indian literature, while showcasing their continued relevance in contemporary times.

Mona Sinha

The scholarly essays in the book open up experimental and novel spaces and genres beyond the traditional and the literary world of Indian Popular Fiction as it existed towards the end of the last millennium. They respond to the possibilities opened up by the technology-driven and internet-savvy reading and writing word of today. Contemporaneous and bold, most of the essays resonate with the racy and fast paced milieu and social media space inhabited by today's youth. Combative in its drift, this book makes possible an attempt to disband hierarchies and dismantle categories that have engulfed the expansive landscape of Indian Popular Fiction for too long. It facilitates discussion on graphic novels, micro fiction, popular-entertainment and political satire on television and celluloid, social media-driven romances existing in the domain of the 'real' rather than that of 'fantasy' and mythological readings against the backdrop of gender and politice(politics?). Aimed at facilitating further research by scholars and enthusiasts of Indian popular fiction, this book is also an ode to the current trends generated by social and internet media cosmos. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

New Genres, Novel Spaces

Indian Popular Fiction

The scholarly essays in this book open up experimental and novel spaces and genres beyond the traditional and the literary world of Indian Popular Fiction as it existed towards the end of the last millennium. They respond to the possibilities opened up by the technology-driven and internet-savvy reading and writing world of today. Contemporaneous and bold, most of the essays resonate with the racy and fast-paced milieu and social media space inhabited by today's youth. Combative in its drift, this book makes possible an attempt to disband hierarchies and dismantle categories that have engulfed the expansive landscape of Indian Popular Fiction for too long. It facilitates discussion on graphic novels, microfiction, popular-entertainment and political satire on television and celluloid, social media-driven romances existing in the domain of the 'real' rather than that of 'fantasy' and mythological readings against the backdrop of gender and politics. Aimed at facilitating further research by scholars and enthusiasts of Indian Popular Fiction, this book is also an ode to the current trends generated by social and internet media cosmos. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The controversial Leslie Fiedler (1917–2003) was one of the first critics of popular culture as well as an early proponent of queer theory. This book traces the evolution of this larger-than-life figure through an extensive examination of his works. Beginning with his homoerotic reading of the relationship between Jim and Huck Finn in the Mark Twain novel, this book covers how his many contributions have been provocative, outrageous, novel, and enduring.

Prem Kumari Srivastava

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