Revista Digital do e-ISSN 1984-4301 Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras da PUCRS http://revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br/ojs/index.php/letronica/ Porto Alegre, v. 11, n. esp. (supl. 1), s113-s124, setembro 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.15448/1984-4301.2018.s.30663 Memory and the written testimony: the actresses of the public theatre in Calcutta in the 19th & 20th century Memória e testemunho escrito: as atrizes do teatro público em Calcutá nos séculos XIX e XX Sarvani Gooptu1 Netaji Institute for Asian Studies, NIAS, in Kolkata, India. 1 Professor in Asian Literary and Cultural Studies ABSTRACT: Modern theatrical performances in Bengali language in Calcutta, the capital of British colonial rule, thrived from the mid-nineteenth at the Netaji Institute for Asian Studies, NIAS, in Kolkata, India. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1564-1225 E-mail:
[email protected] century though they did not include women performers till 1874. The story of the early actresses is difficult to trace due to a lack of evidence in primarycontemporary material sources. and the So scatteredthough a researcher references is to vaguely these legendary aware of their actresses significance in vernacular and contribution journals and to Indian memoirs, theatre, to recreate they have the remained stories of shadowy some of figures – nameless except for those few who have left a written testimony of their lives and activities. It is my intention through the study of this Keywords: Actresses; Bengali Theatre; Social pariahs; Performance and creative output; Memory and written testimony. these divas and draw a connection between testimony and lasting memory.