Skip to content

Chocolate and Other Writings on Male Homoeroticism
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Chocolate and Other Writings on Male Homoeroticism Paperback - 2009

by Pandey Bechan Sharma "Ugra"; Translator-Ruth Vanita

  • Used
  • Paperback
Drop Ship Order

Description

Duke University Press Books, 2009-02-06. Paperback. Used: Good.
Used: Good
NZ$18.66
FREE Shipping to USA Standard delivery: 5 to 10 days
More Shipping Options
Ships from Ergodebooks (Texas, United States)

Details

  • Title Chocolate and Other Writings on Male Homoeroticism
  • Author Pandey Bechan Sharma "Ugra"; Translator-Ruth Vanita
  • Binding Paperback
  • Condition Used: Good
  • Pages 152
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Duke University Press Books
  • Date 2009-02-06
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Bibliography, Illustrated, Index
  • Bookseller's Inventory # SONG0822343827
  • ISBN 9780822343820 / 0822343827
  • Weight 0.5 lbs (0.23 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.5 x 6 x 0.6 in (21.59 x 15.24 x 1.52 cm)
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: Indian
    • Sex & Gender: Gay
    • Topical: Lgbt
  • Library of Congress subjects Male homosexuality, Male homosexuality in literature
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2008048030
  • Dewey Decimal Code 891.433

About Ergodebooks Texas, United States

Biblio member since 2005
Seller rating: This seller has earned a 3 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.

Our goal is to provide best customer service and good condition books for the lowest possible price. We are always honest about condition of book. We list book only by ISBN # and hence exact book is guaranteed.

Terms of Sale:

We have 30 day return policy.

Browse books from Ergodebooks

From the publisher

This volume makes available for the first time in English the work of a significant Indian nationalist author, Pandey Bechan Sharma, better known in India as "Ugra," meaning "extreme." His book Chocolate, a 1927 collection of eight stories, was the first work of Hindi fiction to focus on male same-sex relations, and its publication sparked India's first public debates about homosexuality. Many prominent figures, including Gandhi, weighed in on the debates, which lasted into the 1950s. This edition, translated and with an introduction by Ruth Vanita, includes the full text of Chocolate along with an excerpt from Ugra's novel Letters of Some Beautiful Ones (also published in 1927). In her introduction, Vanita situates Ugra and his writings in relation to Indian nationalist struggles and Hindi literary movements and feuds, and she analyzes the controversies that surrounded Chocolate. Those outraged by its titillating portrayal of homosexuality labeled the collection obscene. On the other side, although no one explicitly defended homosexuality in public, some justified Ugra's work by arguing that it was the artist's job to educate through provocation.

The stories depict male homoeroticism in quotidian situations: a man brings a lover to his disapproving friend's house; a good-looking young man becomes the object of desire at his school. The love never ends well, but the depictions are not always unsympathetic. Although Ugra claimed that the stories were aimed at suppressing homosexuality by exposing it, Vanita highlights the ambivalence of his characterizations. Cosmopolitan, educated, and hedonistic, the Hindu and Muslim men he portrayed quote Hindi and Urdu poetry to express their love, and they justify same-sex desire by drawing on literature, philosophy, and world history. Vanita's introduction includes anecdotal evidence that Chocolate was enthusiastically received by India's homosexual communities.

From the rear cover

"This book is an extraordinarily valuable resource on sexuality. Ruth Vanita's translations of 'Ugra' are fluid and comfortable (no small feat when one is translating from colloquial Hindi); her introduction is well researched, thoroughly documented, and written in lovely style; and her arguments are subtle and replete with enough material to introduce South Asia to a novice and to keep the attention of a reader well versed in the region."--Geeta Patel, author of "Lyrical Movements, Historical Hauntings: On Gender, Colonialism, and Desire in Miraji's Urdu Poetry"

About the author

Pandey Bechan Sharma (1900-1967) was a nationalist writer who edited and wrote for many Indian newspapers, was the author of several novels and short story collections, and was dubbed a founder of the genre of ghaslet (inflammatory literature). He lived in Benares, Calcutta, Bombay (where he wrote film scripts), and Delhi. Ruth Vanita is Professor of Liberal Studies at the University of Montana. Her books include Gandhi's Tiger and Sita's Smile: Essays on Gender, Sexuality, and Culture; Love's Rite: Same-Sex Marriage in India and the West; and (with Saleem Kidwai) Same-Sex Love in India: Readings from Literature and History.