Preetha Mani: Conjugal self, conjugal citizen: representations of Indian citizenship in Tamil and Hindi short story writing, 1950-1970
In the wake of Indian Independence, the short story emerged as the most popular and active genre in both Tamil and Hindi literature, through which emergent themes of selfhood and citizenship were expressed in the literary sphere in the context of the recently formed nation-state. This paper looks closely at the short story writing of two prominent women authors of this time, Tamil writer R. Chudamani and Hindi writer Mannu Bhandari, to examine constructions of Indian selfhood in these two distinct literary languages and cultures. I argue that underlying conceptualizations of citizenship in both writers’ short stories is an anxiety over the institution of marriage. Not only is marriage being redefined in both the Tamil and the Hindi literary spheres in this moment, but also it is through this institution that competing notions of citizenship are mediated. Expressions of individual choice and desire shape conjugality in their writing, producing the utterly modern understandings of gender and nation fundamental to post-Independence subjectivity. Significantly, although in both authors’ work conjugality is the pivot upon which selfhood turns, the ways in which these selfhoods are constructed manifest differently in Chudamani’s and Bhandari’s stories. For Chudamani, the subjectivities defined through conjugality are expressed in the language of the body—e.g., physical descriptions, bodily sensations, and sexual desires. For Bhandari, conversely, these subjectivities take form through the language of intellect and emotion—e.g., rationalizations, emotional turmoil, and alienation. This difference, I argue, reveals heterogeneous perceptions of Indian subjectivity between the Tamil and Hindi linguistic and cultural contexts. But, their shared expression through conjugality provides the platform for a cohesive articulation of Indian citizenship,one aligning neatly with the centralizing aspirations of the new Indian state.
Biographical Statement:
Preetha Mani is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of South and Southeast Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Her dissertation, Gender and Genre: Hindi and Tamil short story writing and the framing of the postcolonial Indian nation, 1950-1970, explores the diverse constructions Indian selfhood and citizenship expressed in Hindi and Tamil short story writing in the wake of Independence. Preetha’s research interests include modern Hindi and Tamil literature, translation studies, and gender studies. She is currently finishing her dissertation with the support of the University of California Regent’s Intern Fellowship.
