Breast StoriesThis cluster of short fiction has a common motif: the breast. As Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak points out in her introduction, the breast is far more than a symbol in these stories. It becomes the means of a harsh indictment of an exploitative social system. In Draupadi , the protagonist Dopdi Mejhen is a tribal revolutionary who, arrested and gang-raped in custody, turns the terrible wounds of her breasts into a counter-offensive. In Breast-Giver , a woman who becomes a professional wet-nurse to support her family dies of painful breast cancer, betrayed alike by the breasts that for years became her chief identity and the dozens of sons she suckled. In Behind the Bodice , migrant labourer Gangor s statuesque breasts excite the attention of ace photographer Upin Puri, triggering off a train of violence that ends in tragedy. Mahasweta Devi is one of India s foremost writers. Her powerful fiction has won her recognition in the form of the Sahitya Akademi (1979), Jnanpith (1996) and Ramon Magsaysay (1996) awards, amongst several other literary honours. She was also awarded the Padmasree in 1986, the title of Officier del Ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres (2003) and the Nonino Prize (2005) for her activist work among dispossessed tribal communities. Translator, critic and scholar Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University, introduces this cycle of breast stories with thought-provoking essays which probe the texts of the stories, opening them up to a complex of interpretation and meaning. |
Common terms and phrases
Bakuli Bengali bodice Brahmin breast Breast-Giver Calcutta cancer choli choli ke pichhe cloth cook critique cultural deconstructive discourse divine doctor Dopdi Dopdi Mejhen Draupadi Dulna eldest daughter-in-law elite English essay eyes female Feminism feminist fiction forest Gangor gayatri chakravorty spivak gender goddess Gopal Haldar Haldar house Haldarbabu Hindu hospital husband ideology imperialism India Jashoda Jashoda's body Jashoda's milk Jharkhani Jharoa jouissance Kangali Kangalicharan kounter labour Lacan language liberal feminism Lionseated literary literature living look Mahabharata Mahasweta Devi Mahasweta's story Marxism Marxist feminism Mistress Mother Motherhood Nabin narrative Naxalbari Naxalites object patriarchal pilgrim-guides police political position Press production rape reading reproduction rice Sanjeev Kumar Santal says Senanayak sense Seopura sexual Shital social Spivak Stanadayini Subaltern Studies suckled Surja tell temple thematics theory Third World thought translation tribal Ujan Upin Upin's West Bengal What's wife woman women word writing