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Bombay Modern The FlashPoints series is devoted to books that consider literature beyond strictly national and disciplinary frameworks, and that are distinguished both by their historical grounding and by their theoretical and conceptual strength. Our books engage theory without losing touch with history and work historically without falling into uncritical positivism. FlashPoints aims for a broad audience within the humanities and the social sciences concerned with moments of cultural emergence and transformation. In a Benjaminian mode, FlashPoints is interested in how literature contributes to forming new constellations of culture and history and in how such formations function critically and politically in the present. Series titles are available online at http://escholarship.org/uc/flashpoints. series editors: Ali Behdad (Comparative Literature and English, UCLA), Founding Editor; Judith Butler (Rhetoric and Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley), Founding Editor; Michelle Clayton (Hispanic Studies and Comparative Literature, Brown University); Edward Dimendberg (Film and Media Studies, Visual Studies, and European Languages and Studies, UC Irvine), Coordinator; Catherine Gallagher (English, UC Berkeley), Founding Editor; Nouri Gana (Comparative Literature and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLA); Susan Gillman (Literature, UC Santa Cruz); Jody Greene (Literature, UC Santa Cruz); Richard Terdiman (Literature, UC Santa Cruz) A complete list of titles begins on page 293. Bombay Modern Arun Kolatkar and Bilingual Literary Culture Anjali Nerlekar northwestern university press ❘ evanston, illinois this book is made possible by a collaborative grant from the andrew w. mellon foundation. Northwestern University Press www.nupress.northwestern.edu Copyright © 2016 by Northwestern University Press. Published 2016. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data are available from the Library of Congress. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.4811992. ISBN 978–0–8101–3274–0 (cloth) ISBN 978–0–8101–3273–3 (paper) ISBN 978–0–8101–3275–7 (e-book) To my mother, Saraswati Kadekodi (1940–1984). She is at the source of all I do. My pencil is sharpened at both ends . what I write with one end comes out as English what I write with the other comes out as Marathi —Arun Kolatkar, “Making Love to a Poem” Contents Note on Transliteration and Sources xi List of Illustrations xiii Acknowledgments xv Introduction: Archiving the Ephemeral 3 part one The Context Overview: The Sathottari Period 35 1. Little Magazines and the New Space for Literary Writing 40 2. Small Presses and Stabilizing the “Littles” 74 3. Translation and the Local Nexus of the Global in Sathottari Indian Literature 106 part two The Texts Overview: Arun Kolatkar’s Life and Work 135 4. The Book as a Little Magazine: The Cosmopolitan Localism of Bhijaki Vahi 140 x ❘ Contents 5. Material Modernisms of Small Press Publishing in Jejuri, Kala Ghoda Poems, and Sarpa Satra 168 6. The Rough Ground of Translation in the Marathi and English Jejuri 195 Epilogue: No Singular Truths 213 Notes 219 Bibliography 263 Index 281 Note on Transliteration and Sources I have used the customary English spelling for Marathi and other Indian-language words and have tried to keep the spellings as simple and understandable as possible. When I quote from a source, I retain the transliteration and spelling of the source. Most Indian-language words are italicized, except where the word is easily recognizable in English. There are a few Marathi words that are consistently used in the text and I give their pronunciations here: sathottari is pronounced as sāṭhottari katta is pronounced as kaṭṭā Translations, when not attributed, are mine; I mention the source of another’s translation. I have interviewed people associated with the writing community in and around Bombay over the last eleven years and therefore do not list each interview I have recorded. Where I refer to a personal interview or to statements made, they are part of the series of conversations held over many years. The names of a few sources require explanation: Sarpa Satra: Sarpa Satra. Mumbai: Pras Prakashan, 2004 (to be distinguished from “sarpa satra,” a long poetic sequence in Bhijaki Vahi; the quotes around an italicized title indicate it is a poem and not a book). xi xii ❘ Note on Transliteration and Sources Kolatkar Papers: Unpublished papers, drafts of poems, and diary entries in Marathi and in English, including sketches by the poet, a musical score of “The Butterfly,” the Balwant Bua book proposal for Penguin (1986), the manuscript of the long narrative Balwant Bua, the manuscript on Royan, newspaper clippings, and notes. Clearing House Papers: Unpublished personal correspondence between Adil Jussawalla and Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, compiled by Jerry Pinto. Adil Jussawalla Papers: Papers, including personal correspondence and magazine clippings. Illustrations 1.1. Cover of Arvind Krishna Mehrotra’s little magazine, ezra, 4, and the editorial statement 45 1.2. Bhalchandra Nemade’s Vacha (1968) and Ashok Shahane’s Aso 16 47 1.3. The Marathi little magazine Atta (Now), started by Raja Dhale 50 1.4. Inscribed copy of Allen Ginsberg’s Collected Poems 62 1.5. “September on Jessore Road,” by Allen Ginsberg, published by Ashok Shahane 63 2.1. “Ratricha Ek” (“The One in the Night”) by R. K. Joshi 87 2.2. Publicity material designed by Arun Kolatkar to advertise books published by the Clearing House Collective 91 2.3. Cover of Gieve Patel’s How Do You Withstand, Body 96 2.4. Poem 3 from the “Cassandra” sequence in Bhijaki Vahi 104 3.1 Cover page of the little magazine from Fergusson College, Pune: Katta 123 4.1. Kolatkar’s sketches for the cover image of Bhijaki Vahi 148 xiii xiv ❘ Illustrations 4.2. Cover page of Bhijaki Vahi 151 4.3. Arun Kolatkar with Allen Ginsberg in the United States, 1986 153 5.1. “Between Jejuri and the Railway Station,” Jejuri 174 5.2. “The Priest’s Son” and “The Butterfly,” Jejuri 176 5.3. Front and back covers of Jejuri 178 5.4. “The Potato Peelers,” Kala Ghoda Poems 183 5.5. Back cover, Kala Ghoda Poems 185 5.6. Front and back cover of Sarpa Satra 191 5.7. Last two pages of Sarpa Satra 192 6.1. “Phulapakharu” (“The Butterfly”) from the Marathi Jejuri 205 6.2. Musical score by Kolatkar for the poem “The Butterfly” 206 Acknowledgments I have spent over a decade engaging with the texts and the people related to Bombay sathottari poetry and I have found a community of friends, mentors, and supporters whom I will briefly acknowledge but who deserve more than I can say here. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to present my research at various workshops and seminars where the discussions have helped hone the book’s argument: the workshop “The View from Below” at Cornell in 2008; the Maharashtra Studies conference in 2011 and 2014; the Cornell South Asia Studies Seminar in 2012; the Center for Cultural Analysis, Rutgers, in 2012; the two-part Workshop on Indian Literature as Comparative Literature, held in 2013 at Rutgers and in 2014 at the French Institute, Pondicherry, India; and the Madison con- ference on South Asia in 2014. I am also grateful for the fellowship with the Center for Cultural Analysis in 2012, the Rutgers Council Grant in 2011, the Women of Color Initiative Grants in 2012 and 2013, and the AMESALL department that provided me with the time and the resources necessary for my research. My students (especially Jacob Meeks, Hanna Campbell, and Megha Patel) have also provided valu- able insight into my readings over the years that I have taught Arun Kolatkar’s poetry at Ithaca College and at Rutgers University and I am lucky to have had them in my classes. My heartfelt thanks to those who gave me access to their valu- able collections: Bhalchandra Nemade, Satish Kalsekar, Mangesh xv xvi ❘ Acknowledgments Narayan Kale, Avadhoot Dongare, Pat Rodrigues, Michael Perreira, and Dhananjay Paranjape. Thanks in particular to Jerry Pinto for giv- ing me access to the compilation of the Clearing House letters, the Bhandarkar Library in Pune for giving me access to Kolatkar’s books and clippings, the SCILET library in Madurai for access to their vast collection of Indian English texts, the library at Cornell, and Bronwen Bledsoe. For their liberal sharing of time and memories, I am grateful to Gieve Patel, Vijaya Chitre, Bhalchandra Nemade, Eunice de Souza, Meera Kosambi, Sujit Patwardhan, Vilas Sarang, Ashok Kelkar, Satish Kalsekar, and Manohar Shetty. I am profoundly grateful to Mrs. Soonoo Kolatkar and Ashok Shahane for giving me permission to reproduce writing from Arun Kolatkar’s published books and unpublished manuscripts. Vrindavan Dandavate has unhesitatingly given me access to his collection of sath- ottari documents. He created the wonderful personalized cover illus- tration for the book and I am extremely fortunate to have his support in this project. To the members of the Military Café/Stadium Café katta, Ashok Shahane, Avinash Gupte, Vrindavan Dandavate, Ratan Sohoni, Dilip Bhende, and Michael Perreira, who allowed me to be part of the rambunctious group and considered me one of their own, my deepest gratitude. I also owe an immense debt to Kiran Nagarkar, who spent many weeks in the United States and India discussing literature and the sathottari period with me. It is lovely to get the opportunity to thank so many friends who have contributed toward the book in tangible and intangible ways: to Pra- chi Deshpande for inspiration, scholarly support, and deep affection; to Aparna Balachandran, Kelly Dietz, Ujwala Samarth, Ashok Gopal, and Hartman De Souza, dear friends and collaborators in things scholarly as well as extremely silly; to Ann Volin, Jill Zasadny, Joan Wingert, and Paivi Giannios for long-enduring friendships and deep understanding; to Nahyan Fancy for neighborly chats and help; and to S.