Presenter
Nanda Archit - Queen Mary University of London, Queen Mary University of London, London, United KingdomPanel
06 – At the margins of the periodical: reading advertisements in early twentieth-century regional periodicalsAbstract
Books and magazines were commonly advertised in Hindi periodicals of the colonial and post-colonial period. This presentation analyses advertisements of books and magazines in Hans (1930-1936) under the editorship of Premchand. At times, a single issue of Hans (January 1933 issue) advertised more than fifty books, ranging from full-page advertisements to titles of individual books. The aim of these advertisements was to cultivate a reading culture, intervene in public discourse and, most importantly, to sell more books. Hans even offered a 25% discount for individuals advertising literary books. Therefore, books consistently remained the most advertised consumer product in Hans. Hans also acted as a marketing platform for Saraswati Press and its editor, Premchand. The magazine claimed to have a circulation of ‘20,000’ and ‘was delivered to all provinces of India and countries like Germany, Japan and America.’ These were exaggerated claims about circulation that aimed to attract new readers and clients. Premchand was referred to as ‘upanyāsa-samrāṭa’ or ‘the emperor among novelists’ in advertisements of his own books. My presentation argues that advertisements offered a space for self-fashioning where Premchand could project an image of an intellectual as a successful novelist, editor and publisher.
