Exploring the major trends in Marathi theatre, this three-volume set presents a detailed history of the development of modern Marathi theatre. The work is written in the form of a dialogue between a writer and a clown, where the clown goes on to educate the writer, by narrating to him the history of Marathi theatre, taking him through its inception in 1842 to 1985. Originally written in Marathi, this encyclopaedic work would narrate a social history of Maharashtra and of India as seen through the window of theatre. The narration proceeds through thirty nights, loosely following the structure of Arabian Nights, woven around the question, 'Who am I?' The methodology that Sathe follows is complex but systematic and logical as it is predicated on a sound understanding of both history and culture. He views theatre as a cultural construct shaped by the dialectical interaction between the playwright and the cultural political ethos around. The three volumes present the various stages of the historical development of modern Marathi theatre. The conversations between the writer and the clown take place at night; each night is progressively devoted to the discussion of certain historical stages.

The idea of transitions in Indian history emerged early when the term ‘transition’ denoted shifts from one period to another. The notion of transition itself has moved beyond being primarily economic to include dimensions of society, culture and ideology. This volume brings together scholarly works that re-examine and re-define the concept of transition by looking into a range of subjects including religion, culture, gender, caste and community networks, maritime and mercantile modes, ideas of nationalism and historiographies across geographical and temporal settings. With contributions by leading scholars from South Asia, this book will be useful to scholars and researchers of ancient history, modern Indian history, sociology and social anthropology, and South Asian studies.

There have been several researched studies of Marathi Theatre, there have been valuable monographs on single dramatists and many insightful articles in Marathi journals. However, comprehensive surveys of specifically political theatre are scarce.

Women and the word marginalization have never remained oxymoronic – the cross-cultural texts and Engels interest on subjugation make a perfect recipe for this incongruity. Multicultural and Marginalized Voices of Postcolonial Literature traces multifarious facets of marginalized literature across the world, giving a brilliant overview of the historical roots of multiculturalist and marginalized sections. The fourteen chapters relate key literary and cultural texts and cover a broad spectrum of historical, linguistic and theoretical issues. There are three sections in the book – section I has four chapters, dealing specifically theoretical constructions and representations. Section II consists of four chapters that offer varied spectrum of discourses on world literature, intersecting with the frameworks of literary theories. Section III comprises six chapters that explore the mind of dalits, subalterns, colonial women and gender issues of a variety of Indian English Writers and draw varied perspectives of it.

World Literature and the Question of Genre in Colonial India describes the way Marathi literary culture, entrenched in performative modes of production and reception, saw the germination of a robust, script-centric dramatic culture owing to colonial networks of literary exchange and the newfound, wide availability of print technology. The author demonstrates the upheaval that literary culture underwent as a new class of literati emerged: anthologists, critics, theatre makers, publishers and translators. These people participated in global conversations that left their mark on theory in the early twentieth century. Reading through archives and ephemera, Kedar Arun Kulkarni illustrates how literary cultures in colonised locales converged with and participated fully in key defining moments of world literature, but also diverged from them to create, simultaneously, a unique literary modernity.

This book explores the expressionist elements found in four plays by Mahesh Elkunchwar - The Old Stone Mansion, Pond, Apocalypse and An Actor's Exits. It examines how Elkunchwar used Expressionism to depict the Indian psyche in the context of Western dramatic influences. It also highlights how Indian playwrights, like Elkunchwar, were inspired by European expressionism, contributing to the evolution of postmodern Indian drama.

The book Decolonial Existence and Urban Sensibility: A Study on Mahesh Elkunchwar meticulously reflects upon some of the selected translated plays of Marathi playwright Mahesh Elkunchwar. It revolves around the themes of decolonial existence and urban sensibility in contemporary India as portrayed in his plays with respect to post-independent urban existence, socio-cultural existence and gender. The book also looks forward to establish a counterargument against the idealized and totalitarian definitions of West-centric existentialist philosophy, and establish indigenous dimensions of decolonial existence within specific contexts. It dismantles the colonially structured existing binaries of urban/rural, ethical/unethical and high culture/low culture through the diverse portrayal of human relationships in contemporary India and broadly addresses two inter-mingled perspectives. Firstly, it outlines the thematic and dramatic perspectives of the selected plays of Mahesh Elkunchwar and secondly, it explores the multi-dimensional philosophical perspectives that encapsulate the theoretical latitude of decoloniality and urban sensibility.

In the light of current digital advancements, the discourse surrounding digitalization has increased in importance, and the International Scientific Conference “Social Discourse in Challenging Times” reflected upon this trend. Coordinated by the University of Economics in Bratislava, this event was organized within the ODDEA project, at the University of Economics in Bratislava, between May 17th-20th, 2023. A significant attribute of the conference was its hybrid form, utilizing both face-to-face interaction at the University premises, and MS TEAMS for virtual involvement. This conference focused on the exploration of two fundamental areas of study. The first explored interdisciplinary topics of the current discourse, while the second dived into the digital transformation occurring within the EU and Southeast Asian countries. The second area was specifically devoted to presentations of research findings from the first work package of the ODDEA project. This not only brought to the forefront the work of the project's researchers, but it also fostered synergies within the consortium, enhancing the project’s implementation. The value and impact of the ODDEA project are also reflected within this volume. From discussions around current discourses to the exploration of the digitalization pathways, this collection represents a milestone in our journey towards a digital society research that would be both inclusive and resilient. These presentations provide insights into the selected problems of digital transformation and are invaluable contributions to the understanding of digitalization during these challenging times. Our sincere appreciation goes out to the researchers, contributors, reviewers and the academic community who have made this significant contribution possible. We hope that this volume will fuel further discussions, inspire additional research, and drive innovative breakthroughs in digitalization and interdisciplinary studies.

This book is a critical history of Marathi cinema, from its formative years in the 1920s till the end of 1990s. It is the first work to explore the industrial and aesthetic dynamics of Marathi cinema, and elaborate on the idea of region as performance using the framework of critical socio-spatial analysis. Against the dominance of Hindi cinema, the Marathi film industry, as a regional film practice in India, has developed within a cultural and spatial liminality. This historical situation of the Marathi film industry is formulated here as the shaping and dispersal of a vernacular cultural space; and is traced over a period of seven decades, across genres like the saint-film, social melodramas, and the tamasha film, as well as in urban and mofussil sites of film circulation. The book aims to be a useful resource for students, researchers, and general readers, while attending to a lack of scholarly inquiries on this important regional film culture.