Pulayathara

Na
Erscheinungsjahr 2020
ISBN: 978-0-19-949143-8
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 212 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 139 mm x 215 mm, Gewicht: 222 g

Written in 1962, Pulayathara is among the earliest novels that records the complexity of Dalit experience. It focuses on the untouchable Pulaya community of Kerala, documenting the experiences of two kinds of Dalits, those who choose to remain within the subordinating Hindu social order, and those, who convert to Christianity in the hope of receiving assured food, shelter, and education. Chirakkarode sharply critiques the hollowness of religious conversion in a cast-ridden society. The converted Dalits are promptly labelled 'New Christians' as against the Syrian Christians who claim superior ancestry and upper caste status due to their ownership of land and other privileges. Ownership of land and the house built upon it become markers of exclusion and separation. Thevan Pulayan collects clay from the backwaters to create a landmass to build his hut. He pays the landlord for the materials. But the thrill of ownership is shattered when the landlord orders another labourer to occupy Thevan's home. The Dalits who convert to Christianity are allowed to build homes, but these houses fail to provide security and asylum as they stand on a defined piece of land, apart from the homes of the upper caste Hindus and Christians.

With the use of language, depiction of Dalit lives, their relationship with the soil, their culture, musical heritage and traditions, Chirakkarode's masterpiece marks a major thematic and stylistic break from canonical upper caste writing.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Chirakkarode, Paul

Weitere Mitwirkende

Thankamma, Catherine

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft: Prosa, Erzählung, Roman, Prosaautoren
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Dialog & Beziehungen zwischen Religionen
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Minderheiten, Interkulturelle & Multikulturelle Fragen
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturgeschichte und Literaturkritik
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Soziale Gruppen & Klassen
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Soziologie von Migranten und Minderheiten

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Introduction

- Pulayathara

- -Thevan Pulayan and Aayiramparapadam

- -Cracks Appear

- -Impasse

- -The Break

- -Asylum

- -For a Spiritual Awakening

- -Stephen-Preacher Arrives

- -Temptation

- -Look at the Birds of the Air.

- -Outha Pulayan's Warning

- -In the Name of the Living God

- -Heart-break

- -Harvest

- -Conversion

- -The Desire to Marry

- -Thoma's Petition for a Home

- -Pathros Agrees to the Wedding

- -Changes

- -Life

- -Being a New Christian

- -A Storm

- -Paulos and Outha Pulayan

- -Paulos Addresses His People

- -A Child Is Born

- -Life Unfurls

- -Yearning

- -Towards a New Tomorrow

- Glossary

- About the Author and Translator

Über Autor(innen)

PAUL CHIRAKKARODE (1938-2008) was a noted Malayalam and English-language novelist, short story writer, biographer, essayist, thinker, social critic, orator and human rights activist. It was through his literary interventions that the miserable and subhuman life of the downtrodden people of Kerala was exposed before the world of letters in an aesthetic manner. The celebrated author has been considered as one of the pioneer's of Dalit Literary Movement in India.

CATHERINE THANKAMMA is a writer and translator. She translated Narayan's 'Kocharethi' (2011) that received the Crossword Book Award. She has also translated Sethu's 'Aliyah' (2016).