Early Women's Writings in Orissa, 1898-1950

A Lost Tradition

Based on archival research, this fascinating book brings together many of the neglected writings of Oriya women of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Sachidananda Mohanty focusses on a period when women’s writings dealt not only with questions of gender and identity but also with cultural, political and ideological issues of their times. Utilizing different forms—short stories, poems, essays, travel writings, novels and letters—these women writers responded honestly both to the world that was in turmoil around them and to the demands of their own inner selves. By articulating and advancing the personal in the public and by imbuing the personal with the social and the political, these ‘literary domestics’ transcended their limitations and became the precursors of a tradition that critically examined both traditional values and modern contingencies, yet sought to bring them together to fruition.