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Papers by Anjali Nerlekar

The Cambridge Companion to the City in World Literature, eds. Ato Quayson and Jini Kim Watson. Cambridge University Press, pp. 149-164., 2023

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Postcolonial Print Cultures, 2023

South Asia: A Journal of South Asian Studies, 2022

The scholar from the UK was Francesca Orsini, then at the University of Cambridge.

South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 2022

The Cornell Bombay Poets’ Archive was initially started with Adil Jussawalla’s donation of his ma... more The Cornell Bombay Poets’ Archive was initially started with Adil Jussawalla’s donation of his massive archive to the Special Collections at Cornell University. Jussawalla has been collecting and documenting the state of Indian letters, more precisely the state of Indian poetry, for over fifty years. This essay takes a representative archival document from this collection to show the abiding engagements of the poet with the world in which he lived. This text is a planner/diary (a ‘date book’), which contains a set of notes for an unwritten novel from the 1970s, when Adil Jussawalla’s career as poet and writer was in its early stages. The planner/diary shows us the multiple trajectories of the conflicted space of the English writer in post-Independence India that we must heed when studying Indian modernisms: the peculiar combinations of pasts and presents to create an Indian modern; the combination of the trans-regional with the translocal with the deeply personal; and the refusal to sentimentalise anything.

Contemporary Archipelagic Thinking" Towards New Methodologies and Disciplinary Formations, Eds. Michelle Stephens and Yolanda Martinez-San Miguel (London; Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Press): pp. 403-422, 2020

A translation of R. R. Borade’s Marathi story, ‘कळा’

As poet, anthologist, journalist and teacher, Eunice de Souza (1940-2017) imprinted the Bombay re... more As poet, anthologist, journalist and teacher, Eunice de Souza (1940-2017) imprinted the Bombay reader’s consciousness over several decades with her concise and strong creative expression. In this interview undertaken at her residence in Santa Cruz in 2011 and 2015, the poet talks about her early years in Pune and Bombay, her dark childhood after the early loss of her father, and the impact it had on her work. Eunice de Souza also discusses the role of small presses in creating a space for writers, and her own point of view as a woman as well as a poet in English – and the way these are connected, in turn, to questions of national identity.

In this joint interview with Adil Jussawalla (b. 1940), conducted between 2014 and 2016, the poet... more In this joint interview with Adil Jussawalla (b. 1940), conducted between 2014 and 2016, the poet reflects on his complicated yet affectionate relation with the older poet Nissim Ezekiel, and on the literary cultures of Bombay. Jussawalla also discusses the political and cultural ferment of the 1960s and 1970s and the ways in which Bombay echoed the ideological struggles and turmoil that were also happening elsewhere. He evokes the leftist student group, the Progressive Youth Movement (PROYOM), at St Xavier’s College where he taught English, and the difficult Emergency years when some of his colleagues were jailed. He also recalls his years at the magazine Debonair, his editorial work behind the landmark 1974 Penguin anthology of New Writing in India, and his experience in starting the Clearing House collective that is seen today as one of the eminent publishing experiments of the period.

Bhalchandra Nemade is the author of six novels, ranging from Kosla (1963) to Hindu (2010). He has... more Bhalchandra Nemade is the author of six novels, ranging from Kosla (1963) to Hindu (2010). He has also published two collections of poetry and several substantial books of criticism. He occupied a significant place in Bombay literary life in the 1960s and is at the center of the Marathi canon today. In this interview, conducted in Dahisar, Mumbai in 2011 and continued in 2015 in Santa Cruz, Mumbai, Nemade discusses his studies in Pune, and his early encounters with the Marathi tradition, his arrival in Bombay and involvement with the journal Rahasyaranjan. He recounts his move to Aurangabad and his part in establishing the little magazine Vacha, and his connections and collaborations with other writers in the intellectual and artistic milieu of the 1960s and after. Nemade also reflects on his defence of nativism or deshivad, and his misgivings about the place of English in Indian education.

Ashok Shahane is one of the very important figures in the publishing of Marathi literature, both ... more Ashok Shahane is one of the very important figures in the publishing of Marathi literature, both in terms of his involvement in the little magazine movement, and through the Bombay publishing house Pras Prakashan, which has brought out the work of many of the most significant Marathi writers. In this interview, conducted in Marathi in 2015 and 2016, and translated into English by his interviewer Anjali Nerlekar, he describes his admiration for Bengali literature and his early ventures in magazine publishing in Bombay in the 1960s. He goes on to discuss his collaborations with Bhalchandra Nemade and Arun Kolatkar, his own work as a literary critic, and his association with Allen Ginsberg during and after the American poet’s 1962 visit to India. Shahane also discusses his little magazine Aso, and the work of Pras Prakashan.

Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 2017

Kiran Nagarkar is a well-known bilingual novelist in Marathi and in English who has written sever... more Kiran Nagarkar is a well-known bilingual novelist in Marathi and in English who has written several notable and award-winning novels as well as plays. In this interview conducted in August 2016, the novelist discusses his background and his beginnings in Marathi writing, and his years in advertising and working with Kersy Katrak. The novelist discusses the biographical connection to the chawls in Bombay and the role of excrement in his own work. Nagarkar also explains the early popular and literary influences on his work, the sense of his own hybridity across the writing in two languages, and his refusal to search for an originary past.

In this interview, conducted in Bombay in June 2015, Gieve Patel reflects on his career as a poet... more In this interview, conducted in Bombay in June 2015, Gieve Patel reflects on his career as a poet, playwright, publisher, artist and educator, from his first arts show in 1966 (a year which also saw the publication of his first collection of poems) to the present. Gieve Patel is also a doctor of medicine, and he discusses the significant place afforded to the human body in his work and his “aromantic” approach to the body in poetry. He recalls the vitality of Bombay as an artistic and literary centre in the 1960s and 1970s, the comradeship among artists at that time, and his involvement in the publishing house Clearing House. He is an important poet and artist in Bombay, who to this day maintains creative contacts across generations of artists.

This essay is about the bilingual poetry of Arun Kolatkar (in Marathi and English), specifically ... more This essay is about the bilingual poetry of Arun Kolatkar (in Marathi and English), specifically about his book, Jejuri, published in two languages and bookending the career of the poet 34 years apart, from the publication of the English book of poems in 1976 to the posthumous publication of the Marathi Jejuri in 2010. It studies how a creative impulse can be said to relate to linguisticity as a faculty or endowment, independent of the language(s) in which it finds embodiment and realisation. The article raises questions about the concept of simple translation and demonstrates the complex variants in this hold-all term that deny any possibility of straightforward transfer of meaning from language A to language B in such a bilingual creative process.

Talking Words: New Essays on the Work of David Dabydeen, 2011

The Cambridge Companion to the City in World Literature, eds. Ato Quayson and Jini Kim Watson. Cambridge University Press, pp. 149-164., 2023

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Postcolonial Print Cultures, 2023

South Asia: A Journal of South Asian Studies, 2022

The scholar from the UK was Francesca Orsini, then at the University of Cambridge.

South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 2022

The Cornell Bombay Poets’ Archive was initially started with Adil Jussawalla’s donation of his ma... more The Cornell Bombay Poets’ Archive was initially started with Adil Jussawalla’s donation of his massive archive to the Special Collections at Cornell University. Jussawalla has been collecting and documenting the state of Indian letters, more precisely the state of Indian poetry, for over fifty years. This essay takes a representative archival document from this collection to show the abiding engagements of the poet with the world in which he lived. This text is a planner/diary (a ‘date book’), which contains a set of notes for an unwritten novel from the 1970s, when Adil Jussawalla’s career as poet and writer was in its early stages. The planner/diary shows us the multiple trajectories of the conflicted space of the English writer in post-Independence India that we must heed when studying Indian modernisms: the peculiar combinations of pasts and presents to create an Indian modern; the combination of the trans-regional with the translocal with the deeply personal; and the refusal to sentimentalise anything.

Contemporary Archipelagic Thinking" Towards New Methodologies and Disciplinary Formations, Eds. Michelle Stephens and Yolanda Martinez-San Miguel (London; Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Press): pp. 403-422, 2020

A translation of R. R. Borade’s Marathi story, ‘कळा’

As poet, anthologist, journalist and teacher, Eunice de Souza (1940-2017) imprinted the Bombay re... more As poet, anthologist, journalist and teacher, Eunice de Souza (1940-2017) imprinted the Bombay reader’s consciousness over several decades with her concise and strong creative expression. In this interview undertaken at her residence in Santa Cruz in 2011 and 2015, the poet talks about her early years in Pune and Bombay, her dark childhood after the early loss of her father, and the impact it had on her work. Eunice de Souza also discusses the role of small presses in creating a space for writers, and her own point of view as a woman as well as a poet in English – and the way these are connected, in turn, to questions of national identity.

In this joint interview with Adil Jussawalla (b. 1940), conducted between 2014 and 2016, the poet... more In this joint interview with Adil Jussawalla (b. 1940), conducted between 2014 and 2016, the poet reflects on his complicated yet affectionate relation with the older poet Nissim Ezekiel, and on the literary cultures of Bombay. Jussawalla also discusses the political and cultural ferment of the 1960s and 1970s and the ways in which Bombay echoed the ideological struggles and turmoil that were also happening elsewhere. He evokes the leftist student group, the Progressive Youth Movement (PROYOM), at St Xavier’s College where he taught English, and the difficult Emergency years when some of his colleagues were jailed. He also recalls his years at the magazine Debonair, his editorial work behind the landmark 1974 Penguin anthology of New Writing in India, and his experience in starting the Clearing House collective that is seen today as one of the eminent publishing experiments of the period.

Bhalchandra Nemade is the author of six novels, ranging from Kosla (1963) to Hindu (2010). He has... more Bhalchandra Nemade is the author of six novels, ranging from Kosla (1963) to Hindu (2010). He has also published two collections of poetry and several substantial books of criticism. He occupied a significant place in Bombay literary life in the 1960s and is at the center of the Marathi canon today. In this interview, conducted in Dahisar, Mumbai in 2011 and continued in 2015 in Santa Cruz, Mumbai, Nemade discusses his studies in Pune, and his early encounters with the Marathi tradition, his arrival in Bombay and involvement with the journal Rahasyaranjan. He recounts his move to Aurangabad and his part in establishing the little magazine Vacha, and his connections and collaborations with other writers in the intellectual and artistic milieu of the 1960s and after. Nemade also reflects on his defence of nativism or deshivad, and his misgivings about the place of English in Indian education.

Ashok Shahane is one of the very important figures in the publishing of Marathi literature, both ... more Ashok Shahane is one of the very important figures in the publishing of Marathi literature, both in terms of his involvement in the little magazine movement, and through the Bombay publishing house Pras Prakashan, which has brought out the work of many of the most significant Marathi writers. In this interview, conducted in Marathi in 2015 and 2016, and translated into English by his interviewer Anjali Nerlekar, he describes his admiration for Bengali literature and his early ventures in magazine publishing in Bombay in the 1960s. He goes on to discuss his collaborations with Bhalchandra Nemade and Arun Kolatkar, his own work as a literary critic, and his association with Allen Ginsberg during and after the American poet’s 1962 visit to India. Shahane also discusses his little magazine Aso, and the work of Pras Prakashan.

Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 2017

Kiran Nagarkar is a well-known bilingual novelist in Marathi and in English who has written sever... more Kiran Nagarkar is a well-known bilingual novelist in Marathi and in English who has written several notable and award-winning novels as well as plays. In this interview conducted in August 2016, the novelist discusses his background and his beginnings in Marathi writing, and his years in advertising and working with Kersy Katrak. The novelist discusses the biographical connection to the chawls in Bombay and the role of excrement in his own work. Nagarkar also explains the early popular and literary influences on his work, the sense of his own hybridity across the writing in two languages, and his refusal to search for an originary past.

In this interview, conducted in Bombay in June 2015, Gieve Patel reflects on his career as a poet... more In this interview, conducted in Bombay in June 2015, Gieve Patel reflects on his career as a poet, playwright, publisher, artist and educator, from his first arts show in 1966 (a year which also saw the publication of his first collection of poems) to the present. Gieve Patel is also a doctor of medicine, and he discusses the significant place afforded to the human body in his work and his “aromantic” approach to the body in poetry. He recalls the vitality of Bombay as an artistic and literary centre in the 1960s and 1970s, the comradeship among artists at that time, and his involvement in the publishing house Clearing House. He is an important poet and artist in Bombay, who to this day maintains creative contacts across generations of artists.

This essay is about the bilingual poetry of Arun Kolatkar (in Marathi and English), specifically ... more This essay is about the bilingual poetry of Arun Kolatkar (in Marathi and English), specifically about his book, Jejuri, published in two languages and bookending the career of the poet 34 years apart, from the publication of the English book of poems in 1976 to the posthumous publication of the Marathi Jejuri in 2010. It studies how a creative impulse can be said to relate to linguisticity as a faculty or endowment, independent of the language(s) in which it finds embodiment and realisation. The article raises questions about the concept of simple translation and demonstrates the complex variants in this hold-all term that deny any possibility of straightforward transfer of meaning from language A to language B in such a bilingual creative process.

Talking Words: New Essays on the Work of David Dabydeen, 2011

Journal of Postcolonial Writing , 2017

This double special issue of the Journal of Postcolonial Writing, co-edited with Anjali Nerlekar,... more This double special issue of the Journal of Postcolonial Writing, co-edited with Anjali Nerlekar, is geared towards the larger cultural, linguistic, publishing and creative backgrounds against which we can read “Bombay poets" in English, in Marathi, and in Gujarati, and towards the deep symbiotic culture between writers, visual and graphic artists, publishers, admen, filmmakers or musicians in post-independence Bombay. It brings together critical essays by scholars from different disciplines (from anthropology, art and theater history, and literature with articles by William Mazzarella, Emma Bird, Graziano Krätli, Anupama Rao, Vinay Dharwadker, Shanta Gokhale) and personal memoirs by various writers and artists on the different aspects of Bombay’s creative worlds (Arun Khopkar, Jerry Pinto, Sidharth Bhatia). It also features new interviews with major literary and artistic practitioners of the time (such as Gulammohammed Sheikh, Ashok Shahane, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, Gieve Patel, Eunice de Souza, Amit Chaudhuri, Raja Dhale, Bhalchandra Nemade), as well as key visual and textual documents of these 'Bombay worlds', some of which are published here for the first time.
Check the entire issue online: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rjpw20/53/1-2?nav=tocList

http://www.nupress.northwestern.edu/content/bombay-modern

This event will introduce the work of the book and of its contributors, many of whom were fellows... more This event will introduce the work of the book and of its contributors, many of whom were fellows in the CCA seminar on Archipelagoes in 2015-2016. Island networks interrogate mainstream continental frameworks that implicitly inform many fields of study. The book explores the contributions of archipelagic thinking for the study of geopolitics, history, and culture.