{"product_id":"lavanyadevi-9789354428579","title":"Lavanyadevi","description":"\u003cp\u003e • Author(s): Kusum Khemani\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher: Orient Blackswan Pvt Ltd\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher Imprint: Orient Blackswan Pvt Ltd\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMarwari literature from Bengal reflects a rich interplay of migration, dislocation and fluid identities. As a Kolkata Marwari, in Kusum Khemani’s fiction the schisms between ‘Bengali’ and ‘Marwari’ blur to reveal a delightfully plural, composite, and distinctively Indian ethos. \u003cem\u003eLavanyadevi\u003c\/em\u003e, her award-winning 2013 novel, follows a traditional aristocratic Bengali family as it transitions into modernity, from British India to the present.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSpanning five generations of a zamindar family, \u003cem\u003eLavanyadevi \u003c\/em\u003eis a story about women and their search for self, about shared laughter and friendships that endure across generations, beliefs and cultures—between mother and daughter, grandmother and granddaughter, and Marwari and Bengali women. Khemani’s women protagonists are strong, clear-sighted, both worldly and sublime, embodying a larger-than-life idealism while being grounded firmly in the everyday. Lavanyadevi—a compelling woman of perfection, extraordinary vision, qualities, and grace—remains real and credible because she is self-aware, self-critical, open to others, and to change.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eChronicling change in women’s lives over two centuries, \u003cem\u003eLavanyadevi \u003c\/em\u003eis as valuable today for its questioning of majoritarian perspectives of caste, culture, sexuality, and faith, as for its advocacy of humanitarianism beyond borders. The strong bonds between grandmother and grandchildren, who continue Lavanyadevi’s legacy of universal humanism, rooted in Hindu philosophy, underscore that progress does not always mean breaking from the past. It is also a deeply political novel that contests colonialism and Western modernity, and advocates sustainable, indigenous approaches to life.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWinner of the PEN\/Heim Translation Grant 2021, the jury called \u003cem\u003eLavanyadevi \u003c\/em\u003ean ‘ambitious, far-reaching’ novel, lauding Khemani’s ‘energetic prose, deadpan sense of humor, and exquisite control’,\u003cbr\u003e and Banibrata Mahanta’s translation that ‘stretches and manipulates language to produce a vivid text’ and a must-read for lovers of Indian literature.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Orient Blackswan Pvt Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":45616496574615,"sku":"9789354428579","price":681.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/3471\/1191\/files\/9789354428579.webp?v=1769294978","url":"https:\/\/atlanticbooks.com\/products\/lavanyadevi-9789354428579","provider":"Atlantic Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}