Table Of ContentIndian Writing in English and Issues of
Visual Representation
DOI: 10.1057/9781137474223.0001
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DOI: 10.1057/9781137474223.0001
Indian Writing in
English and Issues of
Visual Representation:
Judging More Than a
Book by Its Cover
Lisa Lau
Keele University, UK
and
E. Dawson Varughese
Independent Scholar, UK and India
DOI: 10.1057/9781137474223.0001
© Lisa Lau and E. Dawson Varughese 2015
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-47421-6
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
Saff ron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
Th e authors have asserted their rights to be identifi ed as the authors of this work
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2015 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fift h Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN: 978–1–137–47422–3 PDF
ISBN 978-1-349-50151-9
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
www.palgrave.com/pivot
doi: 10.1057/9781137474223
Contents
List of Figures vi
Acknowledgements vii
List of Acronyms ix
1 Contextualising Book Covers and
Their Changing Roles 1
Lisa Lau
2 Positioning Indian Women’s Writing in
English (IWWE) 27
Lisa Lau
3 The Mediated Woman on Indian Women’s
Writing in English (IWWE) Book Covers 54
Lisa Lau
4 The Post-Millennial Indian Woman on
the Book Covers of Kala’s Almost Single
(2007) and Gokhale’s Priya in Incredible
Indyaa (2011) 91
E. Dawson Varughese
5 Conclusion 124
E. Dawson Varughese
Index 131
DOI: 10.1057/9781137474223.0001 v
List of Figures
3.1 The Any-Subcontinental-Woman 59
3.2 Sari/Fabric 61
3.3 Feet 69
3.4 Truncated Torsos 71
3.5 Backs of Women 73
3.6 Unclad Bodies 76
3.7 Full Face 77
3.8 Half Face 79
3.9 Truncated Face 80
4.1 Almost Single (2007) 96
4.2 Almost Single (2009) 97
4.3 Almost Single (2010 and 2012) 98
4.4 Priya in Incredible Indyaa (2011) 108
4.5 Paro: Dreams of Passion (1984) 113
4.6 Paro: Dreams of Passion (1999a) 115
4.7 Paro: Dreams of Passion (2011) 117
4.8 Paro: Dreams of Passion (1999b) 119
vi DOI: 10.1057/9781137474223.0002
Acknowledgements
To the many who have been interested, supportive, and
enthusiastic about this project, our appreciation and grati-
tude. We hope you enjoy the read!
We are grateful to Susan Chacko (PhD) for creating and
maintaining the digital database of IWWE book covers
over the years, and for being part of this project from its
inception.
A special thank you to Dr Rashmin Gunasekera, who
unfailingly made this journey – and all my academic
journeys – by my side; thank you for the strength (LL).
Deep appreciation to LKH, CBK and 15 Jln Desa Permai,
for a working sanctuary and more, April 2015 (LL).
We also wish to convey our thanks to Benjamin Doyle,
Tomas Rene, and the Palgrave Pivot publishing team, for
supporting this project and for working with us on it.
For M.V.V – with me always (EDV).
Other acknowledgements: Front covers reproduced
with permission from Penguin Books India, publishers
of Paro: Dreams of Passion and Priya in Incredible Indyaa by
Namita Gokhale.
Paro: Dreams of Passion by Namita Gokhale. Published
by Chatto and Windus. Reprinted by permission of the
Random House Group Ltd.
Jacket Cover copyright © 2007 by Bantam Books, an
imprint of Random House LLC from Almost Single by
Advaita Kala. Used by permission of Bantam Books, a
division of Random House, Inc. Any third party use of
this material, outside of this publication, is prohibited.
Interested parties must apply directly to Random House,
Inc. for permission.
DOI: 10.1057/9781137474223.0003 vii
viii Acknowledgements
If Today Be Sweet by Thrity Umrigar. Reprinted by permission of
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. © 2015 (Lau and Dawson Varughese)
Front cover of Queen of Dreams by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni repub-
lished here by permission from Little, Brown Book Group.
Thanks also to Random House Trade Paperbacks, Soho Press, St
Martin’s Griffin, Bantam, Viking, Manju Kapur, St Martin’s Press, for
permission to republish the cover images of Love Marriage by V. V.
Ganeshananthan, Haunting Bombay by Shilpa Agrawal, Mistress by Anita
Nair, The Hindi-Bindi Club by Monica Pradhan, The Rice Mother by Rani
Manicka, Difficult Daughters by Manju Kapur, and Bitter Sweets by Roopa
Farooki.
DOI: 10.1057/9781137474223.0003
List of Acronyms
IWE Indian writing in English
IWWE Indian women’s writing in English
DOI: 10.1057/9781137474223.0004 ix
