Why are abnormal figures at the heart of literary canon and what do they tell us about the society that writes and circulates these stories? This book studies the constitution of disability and discusses concepts of corporeal difference that are socio-historically rooted in the Indian cultural milieu. The volume aims at looking at the central issue of the various aspects of disability representation, the impact of these representations on the materially embodied experience of disablement, the political imperatives shaping the narratives of corporeal difference, and the influences of highly particularised local cultural context on the constitution of epistemic and discursive notions of corporeality. The volume follows three routes of inquiry: How do we find 'disability' in texts or, what are 'disability texts'? How do we read concepts historically using literary and cultural texts and what would a similar study of the Indian context reveal? How do we study culturally distinct ways of narrating bodyminds? These questions will be answered through a discussion of representation histories of the abnormal informed by histories of disease conditions and its representations, with the aim of developing ways of thinking and talking about concepts of corporeal difference that are socio-culturally and socio-historically located away from the western context and to explore the intersections between gender, caste, religion, sexuality, class and disability.

Why are abnormal figures at the heart of literary canon and what do they tell us about the society that writes and circulates these stories? This book studies the constitution of disability and discusses concepts of corporeal difference that are socio-historically rooted in the Indian cultural milieu. The volume aims at looking at the central issue of the various aspects of disability representation, the impact of these representations on the materially embodied experience of disablement, the political imperatives shaping the narratives of corporeal difference, and the influences of highly particularised local cultural context on the constitution of epistemic and discursive notions of corporeality. The volume follows three routes of inquiry: How do we find 'disability' in texts or, what are 'disability texts'? How do we read concepts historically using literary and cultural texts and what would a similar study of the Indian context reveal? How do we study culturally distinct ways of narrating bodyminds? These questions will be answered through a discussion of representation histories of the abnormal informed by histories of disease conditions and its representations, with the aim of developing ways of thinking and talking about concepts of corporeal difference that are socio-culturally and socio-historically located away from the western context and to explore the intersections between gender, caste, religion, sexuality, class and disability.

With commentary and annotations throughout, Ming Dynasty Tales: A Guided Reader presents for the first time in English 10 key stories from China's Ming Dynasty era. Casting new light on this significant period in Chinese literary history, these tales bring Ming era China vividly to life, from its chaotic beginnings to its imperial heyday. As well as bearing witness to social change across the 100-year life of the Yuan Dynasty from 1260 to 1368, these tales tackle key themes of war and peace and Confucian values of loyalty, filiality, chastity, and righteousness.

Although Mikhail Bakhtin's study of the novel does not focus in any systematic way on the role that translation plays in the processes of novelistic creation and dissemination, when he does broach the topic he grants translation'a disproportionately significant role in the emergence and constitution of literature. The contributors to this volume, from the US, Hong Kong, Finland, Japan, Spain, Italy, Bangladesh, and Belgium, bring their own polyphonic experiences with the theory and practice of translation to the discussion of Bakhtin's ideas about this topic, in order to illuminate their relevance to translation studies today. Broadly stated, the essays examine the art of translation as an exercise in a cultural re-accentuation (a transferal of the original text and its characters to the novel soil of a different language and culture, which inevitably leads to the proliferation of multivalent meanings), and to explore the various re-accentuation devices employed over the span of the last 100 years in translating modern texts from one language to another. Through its contributors, The Art of Translation in Light of Bakhtin's Re-accentuation brings together different cultural contexts and disciplines (such as literature, literary theory, the visual arts, pedagogy, translation studies, and philosophy) to demonstrate the continued international relevance of Bakhtin's ideas to the study of creative practices, broadly understood.

A bestselling modern classic—both poignant and funny—narrated by a fifteen year old autistic savant obsessed with Sherlock Holmes, this dazzling novel weaves together an old-fashioned mystery, a contemporary coming-of-age story, and a fascinating excursion into a mind incapable of processing emotions. Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, Christopher is autistic. Everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning for him. At fifteen, Christopher’s carefully constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbour’s dog Wellington impaled on a garden fork, and he is initially blamed for the killing. Christopher decides that he will track down the real killer, and turns to his favourite fictional character, the impeccably logical Sherlock Holmes, for inspiration. But the investigation leads him down some unexpected paths and ultimately brings him face to face with the dissolution of his parents’ marriage. As Christopher tries to deal with the crisis within his own family, the narrative draws readers into the workings of Christopher’s mind. And herein lies the key to the brilliance of Mark Haddon’s choice of narrator: The most wrenching of emotional moments are chronicled by a boy who cannot fathom emotions. The effect is dazzling, making for one of the freshest debut in years: a comedy, a tearjerker, a mystery story, a novel of exceptional literary merit that is great fun to read.

A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org. During the height of Muslim power in Mughal South Asia, Hindu and Muslim scholars worked collaboratively to translate a large body of Hindu Sanskrit texts into the Persian language. Translating Wisdom reconstructs the intellectual processes and exchanges that underlay these translations. Using as a case study the 1597 Persian rendition of the Yoga-Vasistha—an influential Sanskrit philosophical tale whose popularity stretched across the subcontinent—Shankar Nair illustrates how these early modern Muslim and Hindu scholars drew upon their respective religious, philosophical, and literary traditions to forge a common vocabulary through which to understand one another. These scholars thus achieved, Nair argues, a nuanced cultural exchange and interreligious and cross-philosophical dialogue significant not only to South Asia’s past but also its present.

Networks, Labour and Migration among Indian Muslim Artisans provides an ethnography of life, work and migration in a North Indian Muslim-dominated woodworking industry. It traces artisanal connections within the local context, during migration within India, and to the Gulf, examining how woodworkers utilise local and transnational networks, based on identity, religiosity, and affective circulations, to access resources, support and forms of mutuality. However, the book also illustrates how liberalisation, intensifying forms of marginalisation and incorporation into global production networks have led to spatial pressures, fragmentation of artisanal labour, and forms of enclavement that persist despite geographical mobility and connectedness. By working across the dialectic of marginality and connectedness, Thomas Chambers thinks through these complexities and dualities by providing an ethnographic account that shares everyday life with artisans and others in the industry. Descriptive detail is intersected with spatial scales of ‘local’, ‘national’ and ‘international’, with the demands of supply chains and labour markets within India and abroad, with structural conditions, and with forms of change and continuity. Empirically, then, the book provides a detailed account of a specific locale, but also contributes to broader theoretical debates centring on theorisations of margins, borders, connections, networks, embeddedness, neoliberalism, subjectivities, and economic or social flux.