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Abstract
This is a translated extract from a Marathi essay that is commonly seen as one of the foundational documents of the sathottari Marathi modernism in Bombay. Ashok Shahane’s piece began as “Literature and Commitment”, a seminar presentation in English presented at a symposium organized by the Indian Congress for Cultural Freedom (ICCF) in 1963. It was translated and published as an essay in the Marathi journal Manohar in the same year, and was widely debated and discussed in Marathi literary circles. It was later included in Shahane’s 2008 collection of essays, Napeksha. The importance of the essay as a whole lies in its definition of a “generation” of young rebels, the way it redefines the nature and purpose of literary writing, and its characterization of the philosophy of a cohort of 1960s Bombay writers who rejected the status quo in literature and society.
Notes
* Ashok Shahane is an important figure in the publishing of Marathi literature, both in terms of his involvement in the little magazine movement, and through the Mumbai publishing house Pras Prakashan, which has brought out the work of many of the most significant Marathi writers. He was also the editor of the little magazine Aso, has collaborated extensively with Bhalchandra Nemade and Arun Kolatkar, and has had a significant impact on the course of modern Marathi literature.
1. Sant Dnyaneshwar is a universally-revered bhakti saint from 13th-century Maharashtra. His most famous work is the Dnyaneshwari and he is known and loved for the rich metaphoricity of his writing style.
2. Shahane indicates here the need to go beyond the words on the page or the black marks on the white expanse.
3. This is a summary of the theme of Ortega y Gasset’s (Citation[1930] 1957) The Revolt of the Masses, particularly Ch. 3 (“The Height of the Times”).
4. It is interesting to note that Shahane did include one poem by Aarti Prabhu in his first little magazine Atharva.
5. Bhau Padhye (1926–96) is a modern novelist in Marathi literature who was one of the earliest writers to bring the language of the street inside the walls of literary writing. The novels referenced here are likely to be Dombaryacha Khel (1960) and Vaitag Vadi (1965).
6. Shabda is considered as the first Marathi little magazine of note in the post-Independence period in Bombay. It was a collaboration between various writers and artists including Arun Kolatkar, Dilip Chitre, and Ramesh Samarth.
7. Atharva was the first little magazine edited by Ashok Shahane. It published just one issue before it was shut down. See the interview with Ashok Shahane in this issue of the Journal of Postcolonial Writing for more details.
8. One of the earliest Marathi women to make a literary mark with her extraordinary autobiography, Smritichitre [Pictures from memory], Laxmibai Tilak (1868–1936) is a renegade and courageous voice in a literary world dominated by men.
9. What is notable in this eclectic list is the combined presence of Bengali, Marathi, Hindi and Kannada writers along with an array of European authors. There is also the presence of many bhakti saints in the list and one singular woman, Laxmibai Tilak.
10. This was a novel titled Tyachi vyali ase pore [His children were birthed thus]. Mrs Chitre states that the manuscript of the novel was lost by Chitre soon after he gave it to a small unknown publisher at the time.
11. Younger brother of Arun Kolatkar.
12. Shahane refers here to the business-as-usual mentality of the Satyakatha editors and writers.
13. In Marathi, this is “Aso” (so be it). In the same year 1963, Ashok Shahane started his little magazine of the same name, Aso, which is seen today as the trailblazer in the post-1960 Marathi literary world.