The Politics of Aesthetics of Tara Books'The London Jungle Bookby Bhajju Shyam

Abstract

This article discusses the conditions surrounding the production and reception of Pardhan-Gond art as book illustration and visual narrative in Bhajju Shyam's The London Jungle Book (2004). It argues for the need for new frameworks and approaches to understand the poetics and politics of the narrative which depend on the visual art by the artist, as well as the paratextual elements of the print form and the collaborative-creative process of publishing. While the narrative makes an important argument regarding the social structures and power relations affecting the production and reception of non-western art forms in the west, the form of the narrative also holds important clues for understanding and experiencing the unique conditions of the production and adaptation of the art form as crossover picturebook.