A few days ago, on a regular dinner table literary discussion with my daughter Chaitanya, we talked about female writing. Chaitanya has a favorite principle or belief. Pet theories are always initial motivations for young intellectuals.
‘In European literature, many female literary geniuses of the 18th-19th centuries were rejected by the male-oriented critics of the day, omitted from lists, and disappeared over time,’ said Chaitanya.
This rejection occurs in a complex way. Something called the characteristic of women is defined by male intellectuals. Male intellectuals only celebrate women who have written works that express this particular characteristic. The rest receive different labels and face a form of “compassionate rejection.”
That expectation changes with time. Up until a century ago, people celebrated women’s writing as art if it expressed ‘unadulterated youth.’. Later, people appreciated it if it contained ‘feminist fury.’. Today, we anticipate writing about the world of women.
Therefore, we often overlook the contributions of women writers who have presented humanistic perspectives, philosophical views, poetry, and visions. The idealism presented by women writers is often considered excessive and a weak view of compassion that is unique to women. People evaluate women’s emotional writing as melodrama.
In the course of Chaitanya’s speech, she mentioned the idea of starting an English publishing house to introduce women’s writings in Tamil and South Indian languages to the Indian community. The primary objective is to present women’s writings. Books about women and for women will be considered. Books on culture, art, and literature that meet a wide range of criteria will follow.
Kripa Lakshmi, Chaitanya’s friend, joined with her. It is a serious and large publishing house with some investment. The publishing house was named after Kripa Lakshmi’s daughter and 9-month-old baby Manasa.
Manasadevi is the mother who appears at the beginning of the Mahabharata. She is the mother goddess of the Nagas and one of the biggest goddesses in Indian mythology. They have registered the name Mana Publications and launched a website now. Work on the upcoming books has been going on for more than four months. This English publishing house, which will be based in Chennai, does not yet have an office there—they are looking for a place.
On behalf of Manasa Publishing House, Chaitanya and Kripa have been invited to participate in the Bangalore and Kozhikode literary festivals and have created an introduction network. It is crucial to introduce books in English.It seems that continuous literary discussion will also take place on their website. (Blog)
Books written in English are welcome. Translators who translate into English are also needed in large numbers.
Manasa Publishing House has also announced a novel competition. One competition is for girls studying in any educational institution. Another competition is for women who write in English. (Manasa Lit Prize)
As usual, I hope that our friends will cooperate. (For contact, [email protected])
