Oxford University Press Ten Twentieth Century Indian Poets [Paperback] [Jan 01, 2004] Parthasarathy R.

by R. Parthasarathy (Editor)

Since its first publication in 1976, this book has become the most widely accepted and used anthology of modern Indian poetry in English. Compiled by R. Parthasarathy, himself an eminent writer, it contains verse by the country's best-known poets as well as brief introductory notes on each of them.

Genres: Poetry

114 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

R. Parthasarathy also known as Rajagopal Parthasarathy, is an Indian poet, translator, critic, and editor, worked as an associate professor of English and Asian Studies at Skidmore College.

His works include Poetry from Leeds in 1968, Rough Passage brought out by Oxford University Press in 1977, a long poem (Preface "a book where all poems form part of a single poem, as it were" – R. Parthasarathy) and edited Ten Twentieth-Century Indian Poets published by Oxford University Press in 1976 which went into Sixteenth Impression only in 2002. He translates from Tamil to English. His translation into modern English verse of the 5th-century Tamil epic, The Cilappatikāram of Iḷaṅkō Aṭikaḷ was brought out by Columbia UP in 1993. It has received significant awards including the Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize in 1995 and The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. – A.K. Ramanujan Book Prize for Translation in 1996. He was awarded the Ulka Poetry Prize of Poetry India in 1966. He was a member of the University of Iowa Writing Program during 1978–79. He was member of the Advisory Board for English of the Sahitya Akademi – the National Academy of Letters, New Delhi, India.

Reviews

[Priyanka Suresh · Rating 4 out of 5]

R Parthasarathy & A K Ramanujan were my favourite
Loved the works of Kamala Das, Shiv K Kumar, Arvind Krishna Mehrotra

Others to come back to -
The Ghaghra in spate - Keki N. Dharuwalla
Night of the scorpion, Poet, Lover, Birdwatcher, The visitor, Poem of Separation* - Nissim Ezekeil
An old woman, The blue horse - Arun Kolatkar
A missing person, The whorehouse in a Calcutta street - Jayanta Mahapatra

[Tuscany Bernier · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think other reviewers were kind of harsh towards this book. It was a solid introduction to a wide variety of poets. They all have unique styles and views so naturally I don’t enjoy every poem within the book. I don’t think that impacts the score though, because ultimately each one was better at poetry than I ever would be.

Some of these authors are known for writing poetry not just in English but in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Marathi, and more. I can’t fathom being so bilingual that I could make poetry in more than one language honestly.

Anyway, I think it’s a 10/10 collection but definitely not the extent of fantastic Indian poets. I can’t wait to read more in the future, but until then, I’d say this is a solid introduction into it.

[Anuradha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funeral pyres, sex, alienation, growing old - those are the major impressions left in my mind after a first (and admittedly unfocused) reading. I enjoyed the works of R. Parthasarathy, Keki Daruwala and Nissim Ezekiel.

A little annoyed with how the poets pander to the western gaze at times. Why should Indian women have "Mississippi-long" hair? Then again, maybe I shouldn't read Indian poets writing in English if I'm irked by colonialism.

I should come back to this book someday and understand it better, though I doubt I will enjoy it much more.

[Swastik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ezekiel, Kamala Das & Ramanujan were exceptionally good. Mehrotra was great too. The rest were ehhhh. Solid collection overall, although I wasn't a big fan of how haphazardly some of the longer poems were cut up.

[Arushi Bhaskar · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. Kamala Das is queen.
2. Men are way too obsessed with women's breasts.
3. Very glad I was introduced to Arun Kolatkar through this book.