Women Writing in India

"The reason I consider this a really important book is that, first of all, until this anthology, we’ve never had anything like it. Secondly, there are just amazing pieces of writing – poetry, narratives, fiction – in it. It’s important just to recover that female voice that none of us ever studies in school. We were given a couple of names [of female writers], but that was about it. I think it’s a terrific piece of scholarship. It reminded me of that famous Linda Nochlin essay, “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” It’s not that they’re not there; it’s just that no one talks about them. Get the weekly Five Books newsletter One I like is a 10th century poet in South India. The poems give a very powerful sense of suffering. There’s a devotional idea of the God and a strong connection to Shiva. But it’s also a longing for a place that’s away from family, that’s away from responsibility. Within the Indian context, that’s just such a difficult place to carve out – for men as well, but especially for women. People often say the only way in India to survive, if you want to do something on your own, is to become a sadhu, or ascetic, which means you relinquish everything. Then you can do it, because you don’t have the responsibility. But to create that private space within a very socialised, public setting is really hard for women. I remember that poem very vividly. Exactly, that’s what’s so interesting. Because some of those things haven’t changed. June 1, 2011. Updated: June 21, 2022 Five Books aims to keep its book recommendations and interviews up to date. If you are the interviewee and would like to update your choice of books (or even just what you say about them) please email us at [email protected]"