A Poetics of Modernity

Aparna Bhargava Dharwadker is Professor of English and Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and author of 'Theatres of Independence: Drama, Theory, and Urban Performance in India Since 1947' (2005), which won the Joe A. Callaway Prize in 2006. She has also contributed critical introductions to the three volumes of Girish Karnad's Collected Plays (2005-2017), and co-translated Mohan Rakesh's classic modernist play, 'Ashadh ka ek din', as 'One Day in the Season of Rain' (2015). Aparna's essays and articles have appeared in numerous journals and collections in north America, Britain, and India. She is married to the scholar, poet, and translator Vinay Dharwadker, and has two children-Aneesha, an architect, and Sachin, a filmmaker.

Acknowledgments
Editor's Note
Abbreviations
Glossary Of Terms

General Introduction
Primary Readings, 1850 to the Present

· Tara Charan Shikdar (Preface to Bhadrarjuna (Subhadra and Arjun; Bengali, 1852)
· Syed Agha Hasan Amanat ('The Reasons for the Composition of the Book Indar sabha'; Urdu, 1854; English trans. 2007)
· Michael Madhusudan Dutt (Advertisement to Translation of Ratnavali (English, 1858); Preface to Sermista (English, 1859); From Letters (English, 1856-1860))
· Dinabandhu Mitra (Preface to Nil-durpan (The Indigo Mirror; English, 1860))
· Sri Pu ('Acting for the Theatre' (Bengali, 1875))
· Government of India ( Text of the Dramatic Performances Control Act (English, 1876))
· Anonymous ('Prostitutes in Playhouses' (Bengali, 1877))
· Girish Chandra Ghosh (From 'The Art of the Bahurupi' (Bengali, 1910))
· Vishnushastri Chiplunkar (From 'Should Plays be Performed or Not?' (Marathi, 1881))
· Bharatendu Harishchandra (From 'Natak' (Drama; Hindi, 1885))
· Rabindranath Tagore ('The Theatre' (Bengali, 1903; English trans. 2001); Preface to Raja o rani (King and Queen; Bengali, 1889; English trans., 1937); 'Red Oleanders: Author's Interpretation' (English, pub. 2007))
· Binodini Dasi (From My Story (Bengali, 1912; English trans. 1998))
· Gurazada Apparao (Preface to 1st Edition of Kanyasulkam (Girls for Sale, English, 1898); Preface to 2nd Edition of Kanyasulkam (English, 1909))
· S. K. Kolhatkar (From 'Women and the Theatre' (Marathi, pub. 1972))
· K. P. Khadilkar (From 'Preface to the Inaugural Issue of Rangabhumi', (Marathi, 1907))
· Autobiographies from the Commercial Theatre (From Narayan Prasad 'Betab', The Deeds of Betab; (Hindi, 1929; English trans., 2011); From Radheshyam Kathavachak, My Theatre Days (Hindi, 1932; English trans., 2011); From Jaishankar Sundari, Some Blossoms, Some Tears (Gujarati, 1976; English trans., 2011); From Fida Husain, Fifty Years in the Parsi Theatre (Hindi, 1982; English trans., 2011))
· Pammala Sambanda (From Over Forty Years Before the Footlights Mudaliyar (Tamil, 1932-1938; English trans., 1996))
· Munshi Premchand (Preface to Karbala (Hindi, 1924); From 'The Nature and Purpose of Literature'; (Hindi, 1936; English trans.,1986))
· Bellary Raghava (From 'The Role of an Actor' (Telugu, 1940s; trans., 1940s))
· Bhargavram Vitthala ('Mama') Varerkar (Preface to Satteche gulam (Slaves to Entitlement; Marathi, 1944)
· Jaishankar Prasad (From 'The Place of Drama in Hindi' (Hindi, 1923); From 'The Stage' (Hindi, 1936)
· Sisir Kumar Bhaduri ('The Form of National Drama' (Bengali, pub. 1957))
· Anil de Silva et al. (From 'The First Bulletin and Draft Resolution of the Indian People's Theatre Association' (English, 1943)
· Bijon Bhattacharya (From Preface to Nabanna (New Harvest; Bengali, 1962))
· Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay (From Towards a National Theatre (English, 1945))
· Mulk Raj Anand (From 'Indian Theatre in the Context of World Theatre' (English, 1956))
· Sombhu Mitra (From 'Amateur Theatre in India' (English, 1956))
· Adya Rangacharya (From 'Towards A Professional Theatre' (English, 1968))
· V. K. Narayana Menon (From 'Radio Drama' (English, 1959))
· Thoppil Bhasi (Introduction to Memories in Hiding (Malayalam, 1992; English trans., 1996))
· Ritwik Ghatak (From 'My Coming into Films' (English, pub. 1987); From 'On My Own Way' (Bengali, 1962; English trans., 2003); From 'I Often Created Trouble But Did Not Harm Anyone' (Bengali, 1976; English trans., 2003))
· Habib Tanvir ( From 'Waiting for the Playwright' (English, 1962); From 'The Indian Experiment' (English, 1977))
· Mohan Rakesh (Prefaces to First and Second Editions of Ashadh ka ek din (Hindi, 1958;English trans., 2014); Preface to Laharon ke rajhans (Hindi, 1963; English trans., 2014); 'The Playwright and the Stage' (Hindi, 1966))
· Dharamvir Bharati (Preface to Andha yug ( Hindi, 1954); From 'Hindi Playwriting: Some Problems'(Hindi, pub. 1998))
· Utpal Dutt (From 'Theatre as a Weapon' (English, 1971); From Towards a Revolutionary Theatre (English, 1982)
· Tapas Sen (From 'A Tale of Three Cities' (Bengali, 2000))
· P. L. Deshpande ('On Translations and Adaptations' (English, 1979))
· Vijay Tendulkar (From The Play is the Thing (English, 1997); From 'A Testament' (English, 1992))
· Badal Sircar (From The Third Theatre (English, 1978); From 'Buying and Selling in the Theatre' (Bengali, 1978; trans. Into English, 2009))
· Ebrahim Alkazi (From 'Ebrahim Alkazi: Interview' (English, 1975))
· K. V. Subbanna (From 'Ninasam: The Springs of Inspiration' (Kannada, 1995; English trans., 2009)
· Vijaya Mehta (From 'Vijaya Mehta' (Interview with Shanta Gokhale; English, 1989))
· Satyadev Dubey (From 'Contemporary Indian Plays' (English, 1971); From Satyadev Dubey: A Fifty-year Journey Through Theatre (English, 2011))
· K. N. Panikkar (From 'The Alphabets of Theatre' (English, 2010))
· Indira Parthasarathy (Preface to Ramanujar (English, 2008) )
· Girish Karnad (From 'In Search of a New Theatre' (English, 1985); From 'Theatre in India' (English, 1989))
· Chandrashekhar Kambar ('Folk Theatre as I See It' (English, 1989); From 'Alienation and Theatre' (English, 1998); From Traditional Theatre to Total Theatre' (English, 1985)
· B. V. Karanth (From Here, I Cannot Stay; There, I Cannot Go (Kannada, 1998-2002; English trans., 2012))
· G. P. Deshpande (From Preface to Political Plays (English, 1998))
· Mahesh Elkunchwar (From 'My Theatre Journey Upto the Present' (Marathi, 1985))
· Suresh Awasthi (From 'In Defence of the Theatre of Roots' (English, 1985))
· Nemichandra Jain (From 'Some Notes on the Use of Tradition in Theatre' (English, 1985))
· Datta Bhagat (From 'Dalit Consciousness and Dalit Theatre in Marathi' (Marathi, 1974; Hindi trans., 2015))
· Satish Alekar (From 'The Playwright in Conversation' (Marathi, date unknown; English trans., 2003); From 'Interview with Samik Bandyopadhyay' (English, 2008))
· Asghar Wajahat ('Jis Lahore nai dekhya o jamyai nai: A Twenty Year Journey' (Hindi, 2009))
· Lokendra Arambam (From 'Experimental Theatre in Manipur: At a Critical Juncture' (English, 1997))
· H. Kanhailal (From 'Theatre is Only a Link Between Heritage and 589 Community' (English, 1997)
· Ratan Thiyam (From 'The Audience is Inside Me' (English, 1997))
· Mahesh Dattani ('Contemporary Indian Theatre and Its Relevance' (English, 2002); From Preface to Collected Plays (English, 2005))
· Rustom Bharucha ('Anatomy of Official Cultural Discourse: A Non-Government Perspective' (English, 1992))
· Safdar Hashmi (From 'The First Ten Years of Street Theatre' (English, 1989))
· Sudhanva Deshpande (From 'The