The Book
For over two and a half centuries, Jane Austen’s works have captivated readers and scholars alike. This volume commemorates Austen’s life and legacy through a thoughtfully curated set of essays exploring Indian responses to her works. Ranging from personal reflections on her lesser-known poetry to critical analyses of her craft and themes, the essays also trace her enduring relevance in cinema, ecocriticism, pedagogy, and other contemporary contexts. Featuring a Foreword by Jerry Pinto, an Afterword by Githa Hariharan, and interviews with well-known Indian writers on their engagement with Austen, this collection will appeal to all Austen aficionados.
The Author(s)
The Editor
Meenakshi Shivram is the winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award for her translation of the novel, Topi Shukla (Oxford University Press), and has taught English Literature at Mumbai University, Madras University, and Christ University in Bengaluru.
Table of Contents
Publisher’s Acknowledgements
Foreword
Jerry Pinto
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Meenakshi Shivram
Part I
1. Emma: The Nested Appeal of the Matryoshka
Usha K. R.
2. Belying Time and Space: Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park for Millennials
Anusha Ramanathan
3. Reflections on Second Chances in Persuasion: Reading Jane Austen again as an Indian
Nikita Mamtora
4. What do we do with Jane? Adapting Austen for the Screen in the 2020s
Ana Manuella Viegas
5. English Wine in Indian Bottles: Austen’s Women – in England then, in India now
Usha Subramanian
6. Eco-precarity, Climate Change, and Austen
Ragesree Roy
7. The Balanced Self: Individualism and Conformity in Austen’s Heroines
Aayushee Garg
8. Postcolonial Pedagogy and Media Literacy: Jane Austen's Free Indirect Discourse as a
Tool for Framing the Universal via the Particular
Anupama Nayar CV
9. Do You Mean What You Say, Jane Austen?
Revathi Siva Kumar
10. Chronicling the Self Through the Poetry of Jane Austen
Bidyut Bhusan Jena
11. The Range of Austen’s Characters: An Algorithmic String
Meenakshi Shivram
Part II: Interviews with Indian Novelists
12. Nandini Sengupta
13. Nandita Bose
14. Prajwal Parajuly
15. Shinie Antony
16. Usha K. R.
Afterword
Githa Hariharan
Editor and Contributors