“The only thing I know how to do”: an interview with Mahasweta Devi

Abstract

Mahasweta Devi is a distinguished writer of Bengali fiction, as well as being a prominent activist who works on behalf of the most oppressed communities in India. This interview focuses on the interaction of these aspects of her public life. Mahasweta argues that the separation of creative and social objectives is a contemporary phenomenon in Indian literature, but also maintains that her activism chronologically and significantly follows her creativity. Drawing a clear distinction between “theoretical” and “real” concerns, Mahasweta expresses her commitment to realism. Though her work has been subject to intense theoretical scrutiny, especially through the lens of Subaltern criticism, Mahasweta emphasizes a critical humanism that views the very purpose of literary study to be the knowledge and sympathy for people in different contingent circumstances.