Presenter
N S Gundur - Department of Studies and Research in English, Tumkur University, Tumakuru, IndiaPanel
26 – Printing to Instruct and Instructing to Print in Early Modern and Colonial South AsiaAbstract
Publishing houses have played a crucial role in shaping intellectual cultures across the globe, but when it comes to the representation of their presence, English-language publishing houses make a lot of sound and fury, and the voices from non-western or non-English publishing houses are not heard though their commitment to build, for example, literary cultures in South Asian languages is no mean achievement. Therefore, this paper tries to write an intellectual and social history of a Kannada publishing house, Manohara Grantha Mala (MGM) in 20th-century Karnataka. It is argued here that MGM shaped the making of modern Kannada literary culture not only by producing writers but also by shaping readers’ tastes. The founder of MGM, G.B. Joshi would coax potential writers to give him manuscripts for printing and also would take books in public transport to sell them. The idea was not profit, but commitment to producing Kannada books. Thus, MGM, besides bringing out translations, literary journals and organising literary fests, takes pride in producing greater writers and critics including Girish Karnad and Kirtinath Kurtkoti. While biographies of publishing houses like Faber and Faber or Penguin make a strong presence, the voice of vernacular publishing houses should not be pushed to the margins. The present paper develops this sentiment into an intellectual enquiry.
