Kannada Language Chair
Centre
of Indian Languages, SLL&CS, JNU
&
Kuvempu Bhasha Bharathi Pradhikara,
Bangalore
Jointly organize a three-day National
Seminar on
Modernity in post-independence Indian
Literature
January 19, 20, and 21, 2017
Venue: Committee room No. 131, Centre of Indian Languages-II, SLL&CS, JNU
Modernity as a concept is shaped in
opposition to tradition. However, the term ‘modern’ has a long history
and was used for the first time in the late 5th century in order to distinguish
from the ‘present’. There after the meaning and the function of the concept has
changed in reference to time, space, persons and communities. In India,
modernism as an artistic or literary movement is closely associated with the
various developments of 20th century. The colonial period has
drastically changed the cultural and aesthetic views of Indian writers.
In Kannada, Gopalakrishna Adiga,
one of the greatest practitioners of modernist tradition started a new literary
movement in the late fifties, which was later called Navya sahithya by
critics, existed
for over 25 years. Adiga and his contemporaries like U R Ananthamurthy, P.
Lankesh, AK Ramanujan, BC Ramachandra Sharma, Yashavantha Chittala,
Shanthinatha Desai and others evolved a "stylized" form of literature
influenced heavily by Western writers such as Eliot, Kafka, Camus, Samuel
Becket and others. Their poetry was devoid of meter and rhyme. They chose to
write about man's innermost feelings, and about relationship between man
and woman. Their writings often echoed despair, boredom, monotony, helplessness
of human beings. Many of them were strong critics of Nehruvian politics.
However, the experience of modernity
is not confined to Kannada alone. We are not very sure how the phenomenon of
modernity is recreated in other Indian languages. We assume that there must be
lots of similarity and difference in different Indian language. As we know,
some of the Indian writers of fifties and sixties felt betrayed by the post Indian
independence developments, some were worried about the movement of the
civilized world into a bloody conflict. Many considered that the democratic
institutions are not reliable means to achieve the desired goals of individuals
and society; therefore, they looked within themselves to discover the answers.
Few writers felt that ‘The Generation is lost’.
This
three days seminar intends to find out how Indian writers during
post-independence period conceived the concept of modernism and responded to it
through their creative and critical writings. As we know, it was not monolithic
and one-dimensional. Some opposed the tradition, some tried to appropriate it and
few radicalized the very consciousness of modernity. It was truly a
multifaceted phenomenon which evoked multiple responses in different linguistic
and cultural contexts. The seminar intends to document the whole range of
responses to modernity by discussing the creative and discursive writings of
different languages of India.
Schedule
of the seminar:
Two
papers, one on creative (fictional) writings and the other is on non-fictional
writings, will be presented in the following Indian Languages-
Day 1: January 19, 2017
11. OO-12.30: Inaugural Session
Inauguration: Prof. M.
Jagadesh Kumar, Vice Chancellor
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Key Note address: Prof.
HS Shivaprakash, Eminent poet, New Delhi
Presided
by: Prof. Chandrashekhar Kambara, Vice President, Sahithya
Akademi, New Delhi
12.30-01.30:
Lunch break
01.30-
03.00: Modernity in Kannada
Literature
Paper 1: Prof. Prithvi Datta Chandra Shobhi, Mysore
University, Karnataka
Paper 2: Prof
Rajendra Chenni, Kuvempu University, Karnataka
03-03.15:
Tea break
03.15-04.30:
Modernity
in Malayalam Literature
Paper 1: Prof. Udaya Kumar, Jawaharlal Nehru University,
New Delhi
Paper 2: Prof. P. Krishnan Unni, Delhi University, Delhi
Day 2: January 20, 2017
10.00 – 11.30: Modernity
in Tamil Literature
Paper-1: Dr. N. Dr. N. Chandra Segaran / Manivannan Murugesan, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Paper 2: Mr.
Jagadeesan, Banaras Hindu
University, Varanasi
11.30- 01.00: Modernity
in Telugu Literature
Paper 1: Dr. E Muralidhara Rao,
Venkateshwara College, New Delhi
Paper 2: Prof.
B Venkateshwaralu , Banaras Hindu
University, Varanasi
01.00-01.45: Lunch Break
01.45-3.15 Modernity
in Hindi Literature
Paper 1: Dr. Raman P. Sinha, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Paper 2: Dr.
Ganapat Teli, Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi
03.15 -03.30
Tea break
03.30 –
05.00: Modernity in Urdu Literature
Paper 1: Prof.
S M Anwar Alam , Jawaharla Nehru University, New Delhi
Paper 2:
Prof. Prof. Mohd. Zaman
Azurdah, Kashmir University, Shrinagar
Day 3: January
21, 2017
10.00-11.15: Modernity
in Punjabi Literature
Paper 1: Prof. RaviderSingh, Dyal
Singh College, New Delhi
Paper 2: Prof. Gurupal Sandhu,
Punjab University, Chandigarh
11.15-11.30: Tea Break
11.30-01.00: Modernity
in Bangla Literature
Paper 1: Prof. Ms Paramita Chakraborty, Delhi University, Delhi
Paper 2: Ms.
Suranjana Ray , Delhi University, Delhi
01.00-01.45: Lunch Break
01.45-03.15: Modernity in Odia and Marathi
literature:
Paper 1: Prof.
Nandini Sahu, Indiara Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi
Paper 2: Prof.
P C Pattanaik. Delhi University, Delhi
03.15- 03.45: Modernity
in Marathi Literature
Paper 1: Dr.
Kamalakar Bhat, Pune
03.45-04.00- Tea
Break
04.00-05.00: Concluding Remarks by Ashok Vajpeyi, Eminent writer, New Delhi
Organizers
of the seminar:
Kuvempu
Bhasha Bharathi,
is an Institution established by the Govt. of Karnataka under the auspices of
Dept. Kannada and Culture. Kuvempu Bhasha Bharathi which was earlier known as
Translation Academi, aims to create meaningful dialogues between different
languages in India, through translation, publications, workshops, writers
exchange programme and so on. Recently the institution has published the
translations of Will Durant’s (5volumes) Collected Writings of Ambedakar
(12volumes). So far, the institution has nearly published more than 200 books
on fiction, short stories, discursive writings, travelogues, lexicons,
glossaries, and annotated editions, books related to Science, Law, and Medicine
from different languages of India. Bhasha Bharathi intends to initiate
meaningful dialogues between the languages of India, which live, flourish side
by side, but have turned out be total strangers to each other for a long time.
It periodically conducts national, regional workshops to deliberate on
different issues and has published the proceedings in the book form. The compilation
of the papers presented in the seminar is published in the book form (both in
Kannada and English) and the books are released on the first day of the
seminar.
Kannada Language Chair is the latest chair installed at
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) with the financial help of Govt. of Karnataka
under the auspices of Dept. Kannada and Culture. It is part of Centre of Indian
Languages (CIL) and is situated in the School of Languages, Literature and
Culture Studies, JNU, New Delhi. The Chair started functioning from October,
2015 and it intends to represent Karnataka, its languages and cultures, in all
its multilingual and plural identities.
The Chair in its short history has
organized a grand ‘Yakshagana’ performance on the occasion of its inception; a
cultural programme on ‘Folk Dances of Karnataka’ and a National Seminar on
Saint Poet Kanakadasa. The Chair has been represented at various conferences
including an international workshop on ‘Disability in the Indian Short Story’
The Kannada Language Chair has set a
library of its own at the ‘School of Languages’ library and housed around
10,000 books. The books range from Ancient/Medieval/Modern literature to
folklore, criticism, translations etc. There is also a translation project that
aims to translate classical Kannada texts into English. The ninth-century
Kannada work Kavirājamārgaṁ by Śrīvijaya has been translated as ‘The Way of the
King of Poets’ and will be released shortly.
The current seminar on ‘Modernity in
Post-Independence Indian Literature’ is another of the objectives of the Chair
in establishing and spreading the awareness of Kannada language, literature and
cultural heritage. The idea of this conference is to bring together a pool of
papers in various languages from different regions of India and develop a pan
Indian perspective on ‘Modernity’ in Indian Literature. The Chair realizes the
privileges of being placed at a University like JNU and emphasizes on the
importance of joint collaborations with other academics and institutions.
