India: Fifty Years After Independence

Focusing on literature, film and the broadcast media, these essays are drawn from a conference at the University of Barcelona in Spain to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of India’s independence. The essays look both backwards and forwards in time, both to developments within India and to the growth of Indian communities settled throughout the world. In particular, the volume explores the position of women, both in literary and filmic portrayals, and through the emergence of important women’s voices in Indian writing.

This collection of essays on Indian literature, film, and broadcast media is drawn from a conference at the University of Barcelona in Spain, with which editor Firth is affiliated, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of India's independence. Dealing mainly with postcolonial literature, the volume is divided into four thematic sections ("Female Voices," "The Storytellers," "Indians Abroad," and "India on the Move"), each containing essays that deal with such topics as feminism in Indian literature, Indian women's writing in English, Bengali fiction and its role in shaping the Indian National Movement, and the writings of the Indian Diaspora in Britain, Canada, and the United States. One noteworthy chapter is devoted to a concise history of Indian media. The strongest critiques are from some of the new writers, such as Rohinton Mistry, M.G. Vassanji, and R.K. Narayan. Regrettably, the chapter titled "India on the Screen in the 1980s and 1990s" is misleading, as it critiques four Hollywood films portraying India and not indigenous productions. For academic libraries and comprehensive postcolonial literature collections. Ravi Shenoy, Naperville

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