Same Sex Desire
in Present India: An
Anthology of Literary Texts and Contexts by Dipak Giri
Reviewed by
Priyabrata Dey Sarkar
Department of English
State Aided College Teacher
Sukanta Mahavidyalaya
Dhupguri, West Bengal, India
Same Sex Desire in Present India: An Anthology of
Literary Texts and Contexts | Literary Criticism | Dipak
Giri
Lambert Academic
Publishing, 2019, pp. 256, $85
ISBN-978-620-0-23799-6
In the vast and diverse landscape of India, a country where tradition and modernity coexist in a delicate balance, the topic of same sex desire remains a subject of intrigue, controversy and gradual acceptance. The present Indian society, with its roots deeply entrenched in cultural and religious beliefs, has long grappled with the concept of same sex relationships, oscillating between denial, tolerance and recently recognition. India’s cultural environment which is deeply ingrained in tradition and rich in diversity greatly influences how people view same sex desire. Literature too has been a powerful medium for exploring same sex desire in India.
Research so far done in the field of Indian English literature is more confined to mainstream literature where heteronormativity is the subject of celebration and so far as the subject of homosexuality is concerned, it is kept remotely aside from literary and scholarly arena and so very few writings in this area are presently conspicuous. Various factors are responsible for this lack of research. Those which have played major roles in this connection are patriarchy, inequality of sex, age-old value structure and prevailing social and religious taboo in Indian society. As a result very few writers and researchers could gather courage to boldly treat homosexuality against the long run institution of heteronormativity. In this connection, Same Sex Desire in Present India: An Anthology of Literary Texts and Contexts written by Dipak Giri is an important addition to the field of Indian queer studies.
Dipak
Giri’s Same Sex Desire in Present India:
An Anthology of Literary Texts and Contexts
not only tries to break the prevailing silence in the academia but also
destabilizes the common assumption that heterosexuality is a norm and
homosexaulity is a transgression in reference to literary texts which come in
contradiction with the prevalent idea of hetero/homo binarism and glorify the
homosexual ties over the heterosexual imposition after the demolition of any
such binarism that subordinates the homosexual non-normative minorities to
heterosexual normative majorities well analyzed through literary characters in
Indian context.
Dipak
Giri’s Same Sex Desire in Present India:
An Anthology of Literary Texts and Contexts lays bare many new ideas in Indian context related with homoerotic desire in reference to literary texts. The book is the
celebration of same sex love in India. It also endeavours to make a quest toward the legal, social and cultural
freedom of homosexual minorities which is the need of the day.