“Make way poet, jaywalking”: Play and irony in Arun Kolatkar’s work

ABSTRACT

While Arun Kolatkar’s modernist and experimental modes have received critical attention, his application of irony remains under-researched. This article argues that his playful and ironic registers are a form of experimental modernism, employed to address socio-historical phenomena in South Asia. The self-aware irony in Kolatkar’s early work anticipates the use of personae in his later works. His poetry assumes the postcolonial stance of empowering the tyrannized. He ironizes from the perspective of the feminine and non-human to assess foundational myths and 20th-century events in India. As an ironist, Kolatkar acknowledges the speaker’s authoritative position in the text and strives to diminish hierarchies between the ironist and subject. Through textual analysis of the poet’s works, this article demonstrates that the purpose of Kolatkar’s critique and his attention to landscape is to challenge divisive and conservative ideologies that perpetuate conflict and to foreground the resilience of individuals in South Asia.

KEYWORDS:

• Irony
• play
• Kolatkar
• Indian English poetry
• postcolonial humour
• experimental modernism

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the Irish Research Council, the National Library of Ireland, and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, DCU, for funding the research on the Bombay Poets. I would also like to thank Dr Kit Fryatt, Dr Lucy Collins, and Professor Sandeep Parmar for reading my drafts of the article. I am grateful for Dr Bronwen Bledsoe and Dr Anjali Nerlekar’s work on the Bombay Poets Archive that has enriched my work. I intend to thank Professor Fran Brearton and Professor Eugene McNulty for sharing valuable thoughts on my research. I am extremely grateful for the feedback that I received from the two anonymous reviewers and the excellent editorial team at the Journal of Postcolonial Writing.

Disclosure statement

No financial interest or benefit from the research to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This work has been supported by the Irish Research Council, the National Library of Ireland, and Faculty of Arts and Humanities, DCU.

Notes on contributors

Tapasya Narang

Tapasya Narang is the inaugural Irish Research Council Enterprise Partnership Scheme Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Library of Ireland. Previously, she worked at the Departments of English at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, and Dublin City University. Her research interests focus on literary ephemerality, intersectional studies, and intercultural exchanges.