Biography
Born: 18 February 1925, Gujrat City, Punjab Province of British India (Present Day Pakistan)
Died: 25 January 2019, Delhi
Writing Style & Themes
Sobti is credited with “transforming” Hindi literature, especially because of her use of language. She used an idiomatic, “individualised” language, and had a great sense of orality. Initially, she infused Punjabi and Urdu in her Hindi writing, though later she incorporated Rajasthani as well, as these cultures influenced her writing. Besides her use of idiomatic language, she would constantly change and experiment with her style of writing (Kuruvilla).
Career Highlights
First Short Story: “Lama”, 1944
First Novel: Darr Se Bicchudi.
Important Works: Mitro Marjani, Ai Ladki, Zindaginama.
Believed in the seperation of the writer from the State, and returened various awards.
Interviews
Trisha Gupta, https://caravanmagazine.in/reviews-essays/singular-and-plural-krishna-sobti
Ashutosh Bhardwaj, https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/books/such-a-long-journey-4709082/
Elizabeth Kuruvilla https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/2UCsyjulIq455TpCF2wroK/Hindi-is-an-epic-language-Krishna-Sobti.html
Critique and Reviews
Listen Girl!
Sobti’s story is eternal in its theme. The cinematic flashbacks that overwhelm the dying woman are used as additional characters in her tale and her use of gender and memory and human failing, and, above all, the feeling that at the end of one’s life so much more is left to be said and done.… read more.
Zindaginama
This multiplicity is both the novel’s greatest strength and its greatest weakness. But such a structuremakes reading an uphill struggle… Zindaginama paints a compelling and credible picture of a self-supporting people intimately connected to their history and the natural world which sustains them…read more.
Letter to the President
Reading Links for Some Work
- Ai Ladki excerpt, http://www.littlemag.com/2000/sobti.htm
- “Sikka Badal Gaya”, in Hindi https://hindisamay.com/kahani/Vibhajan-ki-kahaniyan/sikka-Badal-gaya.
- “Meri Maa Kahan”, in Hindihttps://www.bharatdarshan.co.nz/magazine/literature/163/meri-maa-kahan-hai.html
Bibliography
Bhardwaj, Ashutosh. “Krishna Sobti on Her Childhood, Days of Independence and the Crisis of Contemporary India.” The Indian Express, 27 June 2018, indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/books/such-a-long-journey-4709082/.
Faleiro, S. “Book Review: Krishna Sobti’s ‘Listen Girl!’.” India Today, 13 July 2012, http://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/books/story/20021125-book-review-krishna-sobti-listen-girl-794231-2002-11-25.
“Krishna Sobti — Hindi Writer: The South Asian Literary Recordings Project (Library of Congress New Delhi Office).” Library of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/acq/ovop/delhi/salrp/krishnasobti.html.
Kumar, Dharminder. “The Original Rebel.” Open The Magazine, 15 June 2016, openthemagazine.com/lounge/books/the-original-rebel/.
Kuruvilla, Elizabeth. “Hindi is an Epic Language: Krishna Sobti.” https://www.livemint.com, 13 May 2016, http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/2UCsyjulIq455TpCF2wroK/Hindi-is-an-epic-language-Krishna-Sobti.html.
Lal, Mohan. Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Sasay to Zorgot. Sahitya Akademi, 1992.
Ray, Kunal. “She Without the Fire.” The Hindu, 20 Apr. 2019, http://www.thehindu.com/books/she-without-the-fire/article26886682.ece.
Rekha. “Renegotiating Gendered Space.” Indian Literature, vol. 53, no. 3, May-June 2009, JStor. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23340331. Accessed 29 Nov. 2019.
Rockwell, Daisy. “Krishna Sobti: Portrait of a Writer As a Feisty Genius.” https://www.livemint.com, 2 Feb. 2019, http://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/krishna-sobti-portrait-of-a-writer-as-a-feisty-genius-1549092712610.html. Accessed 29 Nov. 2019.
Saxena. “Hindi Literature Loses One of Its Leading Lights, Krishna Sobti.” Hindustan Times, 25 Jan. 2019, http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/krishna-sobti-grand-dame-of-hindi-literature-dies-at-93/story-7ggtaQFwWKfNtDcYha0e8M.html.
Wallace, Jane. ““Zindaginama” by Krishna Sobti.” Asian Review of Books, 23 Apr. 2017, asianreviewofbooks.com/content/zindaginama-by-krishna-sobti/.
Krishna Sobti 