The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets
- ISBN-10
- 1852248017
- ISBN-13
- 9781852248017
- Category
- Poetry / Anthologies (multiple authors)
- Pages
- 422
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2008
- Publisher
- Bloodaxe
- Author
- Jeet Thayil
Description
Jeet Thayil's definitive selection covers 55 years of Indian poetry in English. It is the first anthology to represent not just the major poets of the past half-century - the canonical writers who have dominated Indian poetry and publishing since the 1950s - but also the different kinds of poetry written by an extraordinary range of younger poets who live in many countries as well as in India. It is a groundbreaking global anthology of 70 poets writing in a common language responding to shared traditions, different cultures and contrasting lives in the changing modern world.Thayil's starting-point is Nissim Ezekiel, the first important modern Indian poet after Tagore, who published his first collection in London in 1952. Aiming for "verticality" rather than chronology, Thayil's anthology charts a poetry of astonishing volume and quality. It pays homage to major influences, including Ezekiel, Dom Moraes and Arun Kolatkar, who died within months of each other in 2004. It rediscovers forgotten figures such as Lawrence Bantleman and Gopal Honnalgere, and it serves as an introduction to the poets of the future.The book also shows that many Indian poets were mining the rich vein of 'chutnified' (Salman Rushdie's word) Indian English long before novelists like Rushdie and Upamanyu Chatterjee started using it in their fiction. It explains why Pankaj Mishra and Amit Chaudhuri have said that Indian poetry in English has a longer, more distinguished tradition than Indian fiction in English. The Indian poet now lives and works in New York, New Delhi, London, Itanagar, Bangalore, Berkeley, Goa, Sheffield, Lonavala, Montana, Aarhus, Allahabad, Hongkong, Montreal, Melbourne, Calcutta, Connecticut, Cuttack and various other global corridors. While some may have little in common in terms of culture (a number of the poets have never lived in India), this anthology shows how they are all bound by the intimate histories of a shared English language.
Get the book
Similar books
-
English
By Jeet ThayilThe narrator in these poems abandons the sectarian histories of 1990's Bombay for the relative clam of New York, only to find himself a witness to September the 11th, 2001.
-
Bird of the Indian Subcontinent: Poems
By Subhashini KaligotlaPoetry. Asian & Asian American Studies. Art. The poems in this debut collection chart the passage of a metamorphosing self through euphoria, desire, despair, defiance, equanimity, grief, and loneliness.
-
Contemporary Indian Poetry
By B. K. PandeyR.K. Singh , Flight of Phoenix , Berhampar , Poetry Time Publications , 1990 , p . 10 . 27. Ibid . , Memories Unmemoried , Berhampur ; Poetry Time Publications , 1988 , p . 12 . 28. Ibid . , My Silence , p . 7 . 29.
-
Trying to Say Goodbye: Poems
By Adil JussawallaPoetry. South Asia Studies. TRYING TO SAY GOODBYE is the long anticipated third collection of poems by Adil Jussawalla, who continues to be a seminal figure in post-independence Indian poetry.
-
The Social, Cultural and Spiritual Dimensions of Modern Indian Poetry in English
By Vijay Kumar RoyThis volume brings together research papers on the poetry of modern Indian poets, particularly those whose poetry is less explored.
-
Modern Indian Poetry in English
This Anthology Provides A Fine Profile Of Indian English Poetry Over A Quarter Of Century (1960-85). 20 Prominent Indian Poets In English Are Represented Here, Each Individually Distinct.
-
Central Time
By Ranjit HoskoteA testament to a present shimmering like a mirage between contested pasts and vexed futures, this book pivots around moments of encounter: a defiant squirrel in Anuradhapura, an enigmatic collection of objects in a Berlin museum or a man ...
-
The English Language Poetry of South Asians: A Critical Study
By Mitali Pati Wong, Syed Khwaja Moinul HassanIn the poem “The Brides Come to Yuba City,” women married by proxy to Sikh men residing in the United States finally get to see their unknown husbands. ... They too are drowning” (The Heinemann Book of Caribbean Poetry 69).
-
Contemporary Indian Poetry
By Kaiser HaqContemporary Indian Poetry
-
A History of Indian Poetry in English
By Rosinka ChaudhuriThis book is of pivotal importance to the development of Indian poetry in English and will serve as an invaluable reference for specialists and students alike.