• 0 Items - £0.00
    • No products in the cart.

£75.99

Translations and Ruptures

Hegemonic Social and Literary Practices in 19th-Century Marathi Theatre
Kavita Patil

£75.99

This book examines the interplay of translation, theatre, and social reform in nineteenth-century Maharashtra. It reveals how translation was not just a literary activity, but a political tool used both to sustain caste hierarchies and to forge emancipatory possibilities.

This book examines the complex interplay between translation, theatre, and social reform in nineteenth-century Maharashtra, foregrounding how practices of literary translation fashioned and challenged modernity.…
£75.99
£75.99
1-0364-6968-9 , , , ,
Share

This book examines the complex interplay between translation, theatre, and social reform in nineteenth-century Maharashtra, foregrounding how practices of literary translation fashioned and challenged modernity. By studying over a hundred Marathi translations of European plays alongside Jotirao Phule’s Tritiya Ratna and Satyashodhak Jalsa performances, it interrogates the politics of representation and the imperatives of cultural transfer. The book argues that translation functioned not only as a literary activity but as a metaphor structuring hegemonic and counter-hegemonic discourses in parallel theatrical traditions. Drawing on concepts of rupture (Foucault), hegemony and intellectuals (Gramsci), and afterlife (Benjamin), it situates mainstream theatre as complicit in sustaining caste hierarchies while illuminating the radical, though limited, potential of counter-discourses. Combining archival research with theoretical insights, this study contributes to debates on vernacular modernity, gender, caste, and the politics of performance, inviting readers to rethink translation as both an instrument of domination and a tool for emancipatory possibilities.

Kavita Patil is an Assistant Professor of English with expertise in literary studies, translation, and research. Fluent in Marathi, English, and French, she brings cultural sensitivity and scholarly depth to her translation practice.
Her academic specialisations include Translation Studies, Shakespeare, Marathi Literature, Dalit Writing, Archival Research, and Nineteenth-Century Marathi Theatre. With formal research training in translation through rigorous postgraduate and doctoral studies, she has contributed significantly to cross-cultural literary discourse, and her scholarship has been published internationally. Her recent work appears in Translation Studies: Retrospective and Prospective Views, an internationally indexed journal published by the Faculty of Letters, “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galați, Romania.
She currently teaches at B. M. Ruia Girls’ College, Mumbai, India and is a life member of the Comparative Literature Association of India.

Hardback

  • ISBN: 1-0364-6968-9
  • ISBN13: 978-1-0364-6968-9
  • Date of Publication: 2026-04-21

Subject Codes:

  • BIC: HBTB, DSGS, CFP
  • BISAC: LIT008020, LIT013000, LIT024040, PER011020, PER011000, PER009000
  • THEMA: NHTB(2ACB), DSG(5PX-GB-S), DSBD, CFP
393
  • "A well-structured, comprehensive academic work where translation, performance, and social authority converge. […] What draws the initiated reader’s attention is the impressively wide range of rare vernacular sources used to show how oral and written cultures, as well as elite and popular forms of expression, work together in an intricate manner, worth exploring in depth. In the end, it gives a detailed picture of how theatre both reflected and changed social hierarchies in colonial India."
    - Corina Dobrota, Dunarea de Jos University of Galati, Romania

Meet The Author

Processing Your Order

Please wait while we securely process your order.
Do not refresh or leave this page.
You will be redirected shortly to a confirmation page with your order number.