What Are You Reading? This page intentionally left blank What Are You Reading? The World Market and Indian Literary Production PAVITHRA NARAYANAN Rutledge Tavlnr ة Francis ^٢٥□□ LLOONNDDOONN NNEEWW YYOORRKK NNEEWW DDEELLHHII First published 2012 in India by Routledge 912 Tolstoy House, 15–17 Tolstoy Marg, Connaught Place, New Delhi 110 001 Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2012 Pavithra Narayanan Typeset by Star Compugraphics Private Limited 5, CSC, Near City Apartments Vasundhara Enclave Delhi 110 096 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-0-415-50243-6 അച്ഛനും അമ്മയ്ക്കും - എന്നും നന്ദി For my Father and Mother This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgements ix Introduction: Literacy, Language and Literature 1 1. Speaking in Tongues: The Politics of Language in India 12 2. The Disease of Gigantism: Global Plans and Local Consequences 45 3. Fit to Print: The Transnational Publishing Industry 76 4. India Shining: Territories and Translation 113 Conclusion: Academic Imperialism 136 Bibliography 153 About the Author 171 Index 173 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgements T he generosity of many people made this book possible, and I am grateful to everyone who shared this journey of research and writing with me. All shortcomings remain mine. I owe a personal and intellectual debt to Jigna Desai, Uma Narayan and P. Sainath. They read my book proposal in its earliest form and their appreciative as well as critical comments made this a better book. I cannot thank them enough for their support, encouragement and generous engagement with my work. I owe a debt of gratitude to Vaijayanti Gupta and Ammu Joseph for connecting me with Indian writers and publishers who changed my understanding of literary production in crucial ways. I am deeply indebted to Anita Nair, C. K. Meena, Geetanjali Shree, K. R. Usha, Mahasweta Devi, Mallika Sengupta, Nabaneeta Dev Sen, Nongthombam Kunjamohan Singh, Heisnam Kanhailal, Ritu Menon, Ratan Thiyam, Shashi Deshpande, and Simon Prosser for responding to my requests for interviews. I learned much from these remarkable writers and publishers, and am grateful to them for generously giving me their time and sharing their thoughts with me. I owe a special debt to the late Mallika Sengupta, who was the fi rst writer I interviewed in 2005. She was an extremely gracious and kind host, and I wish I had told her that the generosity of her spirit helped me overcome my anxieties aboutmeeting and talking with other Indian writers, some of whose works I have read only in translation. I owe an enormous debt to Kumi Silva, Iveta Jusová, Vaijayanti Gupta, Gomati Jagadeesan, and Richard O’Brien, whose presence in my life has made living in the United States memorable and intellectually invigorating. I am grateful for their conversations, critical insights and countless other ways in which they continue to help me. I offer my heartfelt thanks to the editors at Routledge, New Delhi, for their support and patience, and the care they have taken in the production of this book. Thanks are due to Meagan Lobnitz and Amy Huseby for meti- culously copy-editing the manuscript. I also thank Carolyn Long for her editorial comments on the book proposal. I am grateful to my colleagues in the English department at Washington State University (WSU) in Vancouver and in Pullman, and