An alternative narrative

An anthology of contemporary Telugu writings underlines how modern Telugu short story is replete with themes of proverbial man-woman relationship and the search for female identity.

October 27, 2016 03:12 pm | Updated December 02, 2016 12:02 pm IST - Delhi

The complex question of gender identity and equality no longer produces a unitary narrative heavily loaded against men wrapped in a language that stems from McCarthian style witch-haunt and Orwellian double speak. Multi-layered, ubiquitous and dreadful discrimination goes well beyond the patriarchy as the narrative of subjugation is set in motion by the ideology, religion, caste, class, language, social convictions, and the forces of market and globalisation. Discrimination as the dominant social construct does exist at the heart of every human predicament. Multi-stranded manifestation of gender discrimination can be viewed from the perspective of class, gender, region, language and religion. This nuanced alternative narrative of feminism is revealed by the contemporary Telugu short story. The poignant tales of the disguised slavery are the centrepiece of modern Telugu fiction and an anthology of the contemporary Telugu Writings edited by Alladima, M. Sridhar and K. Suneeta Rani carried a wonderful selection.

The anthology “Vibhinna” (Voices from contemporary Telugu Writings) is published by the National Academy of Letters, Sahitya Akademi recently. In recent years Sahitya Akademi has been striving for getting a meticulous selection of all the significant genres in Indian language translated into English and this is one of the anthologies published by the Sahitya Akademi. Dr. K.S. Rao, Secretary, Sahitya Akademi is of the opinion that the vista produced by literature will never be captured by any other medium and it is what the Akademi stands for.

Delineating the different notes of feminist stories in her brilliantly written introduction, Kalpana Rentala points out now a days Telugu short is essentially feminist story and feminism has emerged as many sub-categories such as Dalit, Christian feminism, Muslim feminism, Telangana feminism and Mala Madina feminism. The blame that feminism is restricted only to cities and toxin to the upper caste is slowly dying down. There is no denying of the fact that feminism has permeated the whole society. The story telling can never be imagined without motherhood and Kalpana astutely spelt out the distinct interlude between “once upon a time story” and tantalising tale of surrogate motherhood. She points out, “Women stories are said to have begun with the stories narrated by our grandmothers. An imaginative story about a princess entering herself around a prince who saved her from a demon by killing him. The protagonist of today's stories has grown from fantasising about a prince who will carry her away on his wings to the one who can have a relationship outside of marriage, to the one who can be a surrogate mother a part from being a natural mother. The ideological change be viewed from as an evolutionary change in the feminist story.”

For M.M. Vinodini awareness about identity consciousness alone will not bind all women together as every woman has multiple identities and she gets discriminated on the basis of these counts. Now, it has become necessary for feminism to formulate a philosophy with a consciousness that all women are not equal. Vinodini’s perceptive article highlighting several pertinent critical questions is aptly rendered into English by K. Suneeta Rani who also translated several short stories, poems and novels that form the book. The anthology is divided into four equally important sections and the second section is devoted to short story. It carries stories of many prominent Telugu fiction writers such as Pasupuleti Geetha, Attada Appalnaidu, Mohammad Khadeer Babu, Satish Chandar, Gitanjali, Karuna, Singamameni Narayana, G. Nirmalrani, Kupilli Padma, K.N.Y. Patanjali, Allam Rajaiah, V. Chandersekhra Rao, Samuya, P. Styarthi, Gog Shyaamla, and Volgal.

The modern Telugu short story is replete with themes of proverbial man-woman relationship and control over woman's body and the search for female identity. Pasupuleti Geetha’s story “Latitude” explores the unsolved dimensions of creative anxiety concerning the material success. Travails of a beautiful face is narrated brilliantly: “I lost my face but I don’t remember the day when I lost it. Was it when I agreed to an arranged marriage, scarifying my live and lover to family reputation? Was it on the day when I gave up all my friendship and became a complete family woman with my husband’s statistics of family women and prostitutes among my friends and his warning? Don’t know, I don’t remember well.”

All round success coupled with perfect physical appearance is our cherished dream but the story “Latitude” makes it clear that one can lead a happy life without chasing the ambition and attaining the unreachable expectation. The anthology clearly asserts that creative resurgence is the hallmark of contemporary Telugu writings and Uma, Sridhar and Suneetha deserve a big round of applause for selecting multi-stranded texts and rendering them into English with aesthetic sensibility.

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