India has a rich literary assemblage produced by its many different regional traditions, religious faiths, ethnic subcultures and linguistic groups. The published literature of the 20th-century is the focus of this book as it reflects the provocative conjuncture of the transistions of Indian modernity. it surveys the major regional literatures of contemporary India in the context of the country's diversity and heterogeneity. The volume focuses on literatures written in languages other than English, rather than the more commonly studied English-language postcolonial works. Given India's enormous linguistic diversity, not all of the major regional literatures have been covered, although the book is as comprehensive as possible. An introductory essay overviews theoretical concerns, ideological and aesthetic considerations, developments in various genres and the history of publishing in regional literatures. The introduction provides a context for approaching the chapters that follow, each of which is devoted to the literature of a particular region. Each chapter begins with a concise introductory section.
The body of each chapter is structured according to social and historical events, literary forms, or broad descriptive or analytic trends, depending on the particular subject matter. Each chapter then closes with a bibliography of primary works, thus documenting the rich literary tradition of the region. Some chapters also cite secondary sources as an aid to the reader. The final chapters of the book address special topics, such as sub-cultural literatures or the interplay between literature and film. A list of additional sources of general information concludes the volume.