array(2) { [0]=> string(4) "toto" [1]=> string(4) "titi"} Literature and History in South Asia: Fertilizations

Les ateliers du quinquennal 2019-2023 |

Literature and History in South Asia: Fertilizations

Coordinators: Anne Castaing (CEIAS) et Ève Tignol (CEIAS/UGent)

 

 

 

This thematic workshop aims to enquire into the ongoing dialogue in South Asia about literature as creation and history as writing of the past, focusing both on the literary uses of history and the historical uses of literature.

In contrast to disciplinary approaches that have opposed history as authentic representation, deprived of literality, and literature as chimeric reconstruction of reality, deprived of historicity, this workshop aims to highlight the productive links between creation, narrative and history forged in South Asia, from classical epics to contemporary works, including "hybrid" forms (hagiographies, life stories, chronicles), which constitute the literary heritage of the Indian subcontinent.

The workshop will first examine contemporary debates on the relationship between literature and history in South Asia and investigate the sometimes disputed uses of literature by historians. We will focus both on the controversy over the use of literature in history, challenged by supporters of the linguistic turn, and on the methodological issues raised by the status of literary sources; the uses of literary works by Subaltern Studies historians, as well as their reconsideration in the light of their social and historical context by literature scholars themselves. Addressing the tensions and ties between history and fiction, between text and context, this workshop consequently considers the impact of literature on history as a discipline, as well as on historiography, such as the re-assessment of sources (are literary sources reliable? To what extent is a source "historical"?) as well as disciplines (from the perspective of the hybrid genres of vernacular histories, such as Persian nāmah, Assamese buranjī, ancient and modern autobiographies, etc.). The objective is to provide a space for reflection on the question of disciplinary interactions in the humanities and social sciences in South Asia.

On the other hand, the workshop aims to investigate the writing of history developed by literature in South Asia, and the role of literature in the construction of history. We will thus consider testimonies and life narratives that, in some cases, enable the writing of social history and provide frameworks and subaltern or alternative histories that challenge traditional historical narratives (Arnold and Blackburn, 2004); the role of literature and literary spheres (magazines, publishers, etc.) in the "reinvention" of the past and the crystallization of identities, whether communal, national or linguistic; the part of literature in politics and the interpenetration of literature and political life (pamphlet-literature, propaganda, literary activism, didactic literature); and, finally, the literary representation of history, which represents one of the major themes of modern South Asian literature and offers opportunity for both the documentation and writing of the past, taking an active part in the imaginary construction of history.

But the aim is also—and that is where the link between literature and history is most productive—to show how literarity opens room to weave a discourse on history, how narrative and stylistic strategies reveal existing tensions (S. Chandra on H. Bhartendu; A. Mufti on S. H. Manto) and collective ideals (A. Bernard ; S. Kaviraj), and how it shapes the historical experience. In other words, how literature does not reproduces history so much as produces it within its own poetics.

EHESS
CNRS

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