Intervention : Anne Castaing

This paper aims at highlighting the manifestation and consequences of the gendering of the emerging Nation, that literature in India’s nationalist period (1920-1940) has generated, nurtured and reinforced. With some poems written by Hindi and Bengali « committed » writers, such as Maithili Sharan Gupta (1886-1964), Harivansh Rai Bachchan (1907-2003) and Jibanananda Das (1889-1954), this paper will show that different types of ideological discourses can appropriate womanhood as a symbolic vehicle of national utopias, and iconify “Woman” as both a romantic figure and a sacred land. Finally, this paper will show the way drawing on the imaginary of womanhood has led to justifiy gendered violence that occurred at the time of India’s independence.

Thematic axes : Transferts culturels dans les arts et la littérature, Politiques des littératures et des arts : enjeux et situations

Keywords : Gender studies, Literature & Contexts, Indian Studies, Anthropology