Speaking For Myself

Description

This anthology of stories and poems challenges the stereotypical image of women, particularly Asian women, as passive and submissive. While the women in these stories come from diverse cultural backgrounds, their voices give poignant expression to many issues which are common-motherhood, family dynamics, economic deprivation, sexuality-questioning the patriarchal authority under which they lead their lives. Drawing upon the work of over sixty authors-from China, Mongolia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Macau, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq and many others-the book offers a filigree of existential concerns and overlapping cultural patterns reflected in the literatures of these nations, transcending political boundaries. The creativity of the women writers represented in Speaking for Myself poses an alternative image of the Asian woman-strong, innovative and inspiring-and opens possibilities for dialogue across borders through literature.

Malashri Lal has to her credit fifteen books including In Search of Sita: Revisiting Mythology (Penguin 2009), Tagore and the Feminine: A Journey through Translations (Sage 2015), and Cosmopolitan Spaces: Indian Literature and Counterpoints of Modernity (Sahitya Akademi, 2018). Sukrita Paul Kumar is a well-known poet and critic, who held the Aruna Asaf Ali Chair at the University of Delhi till recently. She has published several collections of poems and many critical books including Dream Catcher, Untitled, Without Margins, Folds of Silence and Narrating Partition.