A Critique of Modernity: Kannada Poetry -Part 2

                      

     In the impressive literary oeuvre of Chandrashekhara Kambara, the poet-playwright-novelist, the constant locale of all his works is ‘Shivapura’ –a fictitious Utopia like the city of ‘Kalyana’ in the eyes of the 12^th-century-Veerashaiva saints.  Kambara’s most recent work Ellide Shivapura (Where is Shivapura?), published in 2009, is a collection of 54 poems on varied topics; and it is divided into four parts.  Though the poems are on different subjects, collectively, they connote the socio-cultural contours of the ideal society –Shivapura.

A Critique of Modernity: Kannada Poetry -Part 1

     ‘Modernity,’ derived from Latin ‘modernus’ to mean ‘recent’ or ‘just now,’  is a slippery term; and unless we specify a particular field and particular context, it does not mean anything.  For instance, in the field of literature, Kalidasa, Bhavabhuti, and Bana; in religion, Buddhism, Advaita, the 12^th-century Veerashaiva Movement, and Arya Samaj; in political system, absolute monarchy, empire-building, and democracy –all these can be viewed as ‘modern’ since they rebelled against the ideas and practices of their immediate past and set about exploring new paths.  

Book review: Nirdiganta by Dr. Veena Shanteshwar

                          Shanta Imrapur, ed. Nirdiganta; 2Vols.
                 Sindara Pustaka Prakashana, 2009       price= 359
                     “ A Unique  Festschrift”


     Beginning with Sambhaavane, presented to B. M. Shri. in 1941, there is a rich tradition of festschrifts in Kannada; but most of them tend to be felicitation volumes, full of admiration and eulogy for the concerned writer.  However, Nirdiganta,  presented to Dr. Veena Shanteshwar is an exception; the articles in these two volumes  go beyond personal eulogy and critically discuss the form and concerns of the Short Story in different Indian languages.      

Ways of reading Poetry

                                       

     Let me begin with a few general statements.  The ‘meaning’ of a poem is not its summary or paraphrasable  ideas.  Poetry does not convey what can be conveyed in prose.  In other words, a poem does not only tell us something, but it also attempts to convey a unique experience, feelings, and emotions associated with it.  Such a poetic experience is called by Indian aestheticians ‘rasaanubhaava.’

Kannada Poetry Today: Themes and Concerns -Part 2

                  

    

C)  Transcending Ideological Frames:  The poets in this group (such as Aravinda Malagatti, L. Hanumanthaiah, S. G. Siddaramaiah, Savita Nagabhushana, H. L. Pushpa, Pratibha Nandakumar, and others) are those that were active in 80’s and 90’s of the earlier century as the angry poets of ‘Dalit-Bandaya Movement.’    However, most of them now have given up the single agenda of Dalit experience and /or women-subordination and have extended their fields of concern to include either the effects of the recent phenomena of Free Market economy and Globalisation or mystic experience in general.