Decline in literary activism: Hindi writers

New Delhi, Feb 11 (PTI) A "sense of urgency" and widespread social activism are pre-requisites for producing good literature according to eminent Hindi writers and activists who revisited their days of literary activism here recently. A panel discussion on "Contemporary Hindi Literature" highlighted the role of Hindi literature produced during 1960s and 70s and how it was the product of various ideological discourses that prevailed over the country in the form of social movements. Poet Mangalesh Dabral, filmmaker and scriptwriter Asghar Wajahat and writer Rama Pandey were part of the discussion moderated by the noted theatre director and playwright Bhanu Bharti, which pointed that the decline in the social activism marked the downfall of literary activism. The event was part of the two-day Delhi Literature Festival, which concluded here last evening. "The world certainly has changed. That was an era of major movements of Lohiaties, Socialists and Naxalites. Those years also witnessed emergence of literary discourses in the form of 'Hungry Generation' and 'Beat Generation'. Every youth was influenced by these movements. Everybody was hoping that was about to come. That was an era of urgency. Now that age has gone and literature can’t be generated without urgency," said Dabral. The 'Hungry Generation', was an avant garde literary movement in Bengali language launched by Shakti Chattopadhyay, Malay Roy Choudhury, Samir Roychoudhury and Debi Roy during the 1960s in Kolkata. They challenged and significantly changed the language and the vocabulary used by contemporary writers to express their feelings in literature and painting. The 'Beat Movement', meanwhile, originated in America. In 1962 Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky, two main figures in the Beats, set off to meet fellow progressive thinkers and poets embarking on a soul searching journey though India. "What we people have done was really important. But we feel our work has not been accomplished," said Dabral, who has several anthologies of poems to his credit and has also translated writers as Bertolt Brecht, Pablo Neruda and Herman Hesse from English into Hindi. (MORE) PTI APS ANS DBL ANS