http://indiatoday.
Realism' in Dalit writing
Sudhanshu Mishra
Jaipur, January 24, 2010
Story writer Ajay Navaria created a sensation on the third day of the
lit fest at Jaipur with his explosive work Upamahadweep
(Subcontinent)
Navaria's abundant use of expletives under the garb of realism
triggered a debate in the session on Dalit literature about the
tradition of extreme realism in literature across the world.
The session, titled 'Ab Aur Nahin (Enough)' began with Om Prakash
Valmiki's three poems: Virasat (Legacy), Bahut ho chuka (Enough) and
Thakur ka kuan (Thakur's well). All three depicted the misery,
discrimination, exploitation and downgrading of Dalits in the country.
French sociologist Christophe Jafferlot initiated the session with a
talk on the history of the word Dalit. He traced the word's usage to a
conference held in Mumbai in 1958.
Jafferlot preferred to link Dalit literature with French
existentialism rather than Afro-American or Russian literature. He
referred to a Jean Paul Sartre quote to prove his point. "To write is
to fight," Sartre had said.
Valmiki's poems, especially, Thakur ka kuan, got the crowd applauding.
But their high aesthetic expression seemed to have been put into
reverse gear as Navaria read Upmahadweep.
Though the story itself was gripping, depicting the atrocities on a
Dalit family by the rural high caste, the language was harsh on the
ears. In fact, the obscene language prompted a young man from the
audience to point out that Dalit literature had links with the great
tradition of saints (sant parampara).
Archana, a participant who has translated Afro- American poetry and
has been involved with the Dalit movement, said the Black literary
movement also used filthy language initially. It was seen as a form of
'extreme realism', but of late, powerful voices were heard to
discourage and replace it with aesthetic superiority. Tracing the
similarity, she said Dalit literature was also a reaction to history.
"This misadventurism or crude expression of anger should and will die
down with the maturity the Dalit writers attain with time," she
predicted.
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