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{{Short description|Indian writer (1942–2015)}}
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'''Vilas Sarang''' ([[Devanagari]]: विलास सारंग) (1942–2015) is one of the most significant [[modernist]] Indian writers, critics and translators to emerge in the post-independence period.
'''Vilas Sarang''' (11 June 1942 – 14 April 2015) was a [[modernist]] Indian writer, critic, translator and a professor of English who wrote in Marathi and English. He died in 2015 in Mahim's Hinduja hospital.


Vilas Sarang was born in 1942 in [[Karwar]], a coastal town in Karnataka. He died on April 14, 2015. His father, of the non-Brahmin [[Bhandari]] caste, hailed from [[Malwan]] and was a magistrate. His mother came from [[Ratnagiri]] and reared six sons of whom Vilas Sarang is the youngest.
==Life==


He studied in Marathi, the regional language, until high school, then attended [[Elphinstone College]], Bombay, and obtained a doctorate in English Literature from [[Bombay University]]. From 1971 to 1974, Sarang studied in Bloomington, Indiana, from where he obtained a second doctorate in Comparative Literature under the direction of Professor [[Breon Mitchell]].
Sarang was born in Karwar, Karnataka in the Bhandari caste. He earned his undergraduate degree from Elphinstone College, Mumbai and Ph.D. from Bombay University. He obtained a second Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Indiana University in 1974.<ref name="webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu">{{cite web | url=https://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/findingaids/view?doc.view=entire_text&docId=InU-Li-VAD7000 | title=Sarang MSS., 1967-2008 }}</ref> Sarang's stories have appeared in the UK, US, Canada and India in journals such as ''[[Encounter (magazine)|Encounter]]'', ''[[The London Magazine]]'', ''[[TriQuarterly]]'', ''The Malahat Review'', and also in the anthologies ''New Writing in India'' (Penguin), ''The Penguin Book of Horror Stories'' and New Directions No. 41.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.printweek.in/features/salaam-professor-vilas-sarang-17525 | title=Salaam Professor Vilas Sarang &#124; PrintWeekIndia }}</ref> His first book of short stories, Soledad' was published in 1975 in Marathi. In 1978, his English poetry collection, 'A Kind of Silence' was published.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://marathi.indiatimes.com/maharashtra/mumbai-news/vilas-sarang/articleshow/46926598.cms | title=विलास सारंग यांचे निधन }}</ref> His published books in English include a collection of stories, ''Fair Tree of the Void'' (translated from Marathi in 1990), and two novels, ''In the Land of Enki'' and ''The Dinosaurship'' (2005).<ref>[http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/en/content/vilas-sarang accessdate=14 November 2014]</ref> His short stories have been translated into French and German.<ref name="webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu"/>
 
He spent five years in [[Iraq]] (1974 to 1979), where he taught English at the [[University of Basrah]]. Sarang was head of the English Department at the [[Bombay University]] from 1988 to 1991, during which years he also edited The Bombay Literary Review. From 1991 to 2002, he taught at [[Kuwait University]].
 
Having returned to India in 1979, he married Reba Dasgupta, of Bengali origin, in 1982, with whom he has two children. In June 2002, Sarang returned to Mumbai where he edits a literary journal called The Post Post Review.
 
Sarang's stories have appeared in the UK, US, Canada and India in journals such as ''[[Encounter (magazine)|Encounter]]'', ''[[The London Magazine]]'', ''[[TriQuarterly]]'', ''The Malahat Review'', and also in the anthologies ''New Writing in India'' (Penguin), ''The Penguin Book of Horror Stories'' and New Directions No. 41{{Citation needed|date=October 2011}}. His published books in English include a collection of stories, ''Fair Tree of the Void'', and two novels, ''In the Land of Enki'' and ''The Dinosaur Ship''.<ref>[http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/en/content/vilas-sarang accessdate=14 November 2014]</ref>


==Overview of Sarang's work==
==Overview of Sarang's work==
One of the most significant modernist Marathi writers{{Citation needed|date=October 2011}}, Vilas Sarang has written remarkable short stories, poems, a novel and also pieces of criticism in his first language [[Marathi language|Marathi]] as well as in English. His Marathi short story collections are 'Soledad' (1975) and 'Atank' (1999) and translations of his stories in English are collected in 'A Fair Tree of the Void' (1990) and more recently 'The Women in the Cages' (2006). A selection of his short stories also appeared in French translation in 1988. His English novel 'The Dinosaur Ship' (2005) and his Marathi novel is 'Enkichya Rajyat'. His Marathi collection of poems is published under the title Kavita (1969–1984) and his collection of English poems is published as 'A Kind of Silence' (1978). He has also written significant criticism in Marathi 'Sisyphus ani Bolakka' and 'Aksharanchya Shrama Kela' (2000). He has also published The Stylistics of Literary Translation (1988) and edited the anthology [[Indian English Poetry]] since 1950 (1989). He has also edited reputed literary journals like the Bombay Review and The Post Post Review {{Citation needed|date=October 2011}}.
Sarang sees himself as "a bilingual writer". Indeed, as a post-colonial Indian, he has a complex relationship with language. Having published stories and articles in both Marathi and English, he acknowledges that he has a "divided psyche" – while his unconscious is "rooted in Marathi", leaving him with a sense of greater freedom and inventiveness in Marathi. He nevertheless feels that the "definitive text" of his creations lies invariably in their English versions, since English enables him to bring his works "before the world."<ref>{{cite journal | title = Confessions of Marathi Writer | journal = World Literature Today | date = Spring 1994 | first = Vilas | last = Sarang | volume = 68 | issue = 2 | pages = 309–312| jstor = 40150157 | doi = 10.2307/40150157 }}</ref>
Various literary influences can be perceived in the writings of Sarang. The "Marathi Navakatha" (New Story) writers of the 1950s and 1960s led Sarang to use the short-story form. The modernisation of Marathi poetry by B. S. Mardhekar in the 1940s and further poetical innovation by unconventional Marathi poets like [[Dilip Chitre]] and [[Arun Kolatkar]] in the post-Independence era enabled Sarang to explore new avenues in his own poetical creations. Western European writers like [[Kafka]], [[Albert Camus|Camus]], [[Sartre]] and [[Samuel Beckett|Beckett]] also offered Sarang "a liberating route to self-realization" as a writer, beyond the narrow, conformist paths that Marathi literature has taken since the 1980s, tending to a closed absorption in nativism and a fundamentalist Indian-versus-Western dichotomy. Sarang, on the contrary, is interested in experimenting with his own creativity by transcending the parameters of Indianness and Westernization.<ref>{{cite journal | title = Confessions of Marathi Writer | journal = World Literature Today | date = Spring 1994 | first = Vilas | last = Sarang | volume = 68 | issue = 2 | pages = 310–311| jstor = 40150157 }}</ref>


His Marathi book 'सर्जनशोध आणि लिहिता लेखक' (Pursuit of Creation and Author Engaged in Writing) received an award of Government of Maharashtra in year 2008.<ref name="lokmat1">{{cite web|url=http://onlinenews.lokmat.com/php/detailednews.php?id=MumbaiEdition-3-1-14-12-2008-e665b&ndate=2008-12-14&editionname=mumbai|title=Online News}}</ref>
His Marathi book 'सर्जनशोध आणि लिहिता लेखक' (Pursuit of Creation and Author Engaged in Writing) received an award of Government of Maharashtra in year 2008.<ref name="lokmat1">{{cite web|url=http://onlinenews.lokmat.com/php/detailednews.php?id=MumbaiEdition-3-1-14-12-2008-e665b&ndate=2008-12-14&editionname=mumbai|title=Online News|access-date=23 June 2009|archive-date=24 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224160536/http://onlinenews.lokmat.com/php/detailednews.php?id=MumbaiEdition-3-1-14-12-2008-e665b&ndate=2008-12-14&editionname=mumbai|url-status=dead}}</ref>


==Authorship==
==Authorship==
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==External links==
==External links==
*[http://www.caravanmagazine.in/reviews-essays/laughter-dark-Vilas-Sarang-bilingual-modernism The Bilingual Modernism of Vilas Sarang, Caravan]
*[http://www.caravanmagazine.in/reviews-essays/laughter-dark-Vilas-Sarang-bilingual-modernism The Bilingual Modernism of Vilas Sarang, Caravan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416163422/http://www.caravanmagazine.in/reviews-essays/laughter-dark-Vilas-Sarang-bilingual-modernism |date=16 April 2016 }}
*[http://scroll.in/article/721780/vilas-sarang-the-writer-you-should-have-read-to-understand-post-modern-indian-literature Vilas Sarang: the writer you should have read to understand post-modern Indian literature]
*[https://scroll.in/article/721780/vilas-sarang-the-writer-you-should-have-read-to-understand-post-modern-indian-literature Vilas Sarang: the writer you should have read to understand post-modern Indian literature]
*[http://www.dailyo.in/arts/vilas-sarang-poetry-english-adil-jussawala-marathi-indian-literature-novels/story/1/3225.html Adil Jussawala Obituary for Sarang]
*[https://www.dailyo.in/arts/vilas-sarang-poetry-english-adil-jussawala-marathi-indian-literature-novels/story/1/3225.html Adil Jussawala Obituary for Sarang]
*[http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/others/The-incomparable-silence-of-Vilas-Sarang/articleshow/46937997.cms Obituary for Vilas Sarang]
*[https://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/others/The-incomparable-silence-of-Vilas-Sarang/articleshow/46937997.cms Obituary for Vilas Sarang]
*[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?231656 Outlook Review of Women in Cages]
*[http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?231656 Outlook Review of Women in Cages]
*[http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-literaryreview/overpowering-images/article2274754.ece The Hindu review of Another Life]
*[https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-literaryreview/overpowering-images/article2274754.ece The Hindu review of Another Life]
*[http://www.tehelka.com/story_main14.asp?filename=hub091705The_Man.asp Dilip Chitre on Vilas Sarang in Tehelka]
*[https://archive.today/20130204010835/http://www.tehelka.com/story_main14.asp?filename=hub091705The_Man.asp Dilip Chitre on Vilas Sarang in Tehelka]
*[http://divyamarathi.bhaskar.com/news/MAG-article-about-vilas-sarang-by-vishram-gupte-in-rasik-4968225-NOR.html Marathi Article on Enkichya Rajyaat by Vishram Gupte]
*[https://divyamarathi.bhaskar.com/news/MAG-article-about-vilas-sarang-by-vishram-gupte-in-rasik-4968225-NOR.html Marathi Article on Enkichya Rajyaat by Vishram Gupte]
*[http://sachinketkar.blogspot.in/2014/09/the-age-of-obcs-in-indian-literatures.html Sachin Ketkar's blog on Sarang's article on the Age of OBC]
*[https://sachinketkar.blogspot.in/2014/09/the-age-of-obcs-in-indian-literatures.html Sachin Ketkar's blog on Sarang's article on the Age of OBC]
*[http://sachinketkar.blogspot.in/2012/10/synaptic-narratives-and-half-bodied.html Sachin Ketkar's blog on Sarang poetics of fiction]
*[https://sachinketkar.blogspot.in/2012/10/synaptic-narratives-and-half-bodied.html Sachin Ketkar's blog on Sarang poetics of fiction]
*[http://www.museindia.com/viewarticle.asp?myr=2008&issid=21&id=1209 Vilas Sarang's essay Perils of Nativism]
*[http://www.museindia.com/viewarticle.asp?myr=2008&issid=21&id=1209 Vilas Sarang's essay Perils of Nativism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304123129/http://www.museindia.com/viewarticle.asp?myr=2008&issid=21&id=1209 |date=4 March 2016 }}
* [https://books.google.com/books?lr=&q=inauthor%3A%22Vilas+Sarang%22&btnG=Search+Books Books Authored by Vilas Sarang]
* [https://books.google.com/books?lr=&q=inauthor%3A%22Vilas+Sarang%22&btnG=Search+Books Books Authored by Vilas Sarang]
* [https://books.google.com/books?lr=&q=Vilas+Sarang+-inauthor%3A%22Vilas+Sarang%22&btnG=Search+Books Books that reference Vilas Sarang]
* [https://books.google.com/books?lr=&q=Vilas+Sarang+-inauthor%3A%22Vilas+Sarang%22&btnG=Search+Books Books that reference Vilas Sarang]
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* [https://www.scribd.com/doc/24475002/Confessions-of-a-Marathi-Writer-Vilas-Sarang Confessions of A Marathi Writer by Vilas Sarang]
* [https://www.scribd.com/doc/24475002/Confessions-of-a-Marathi-Writer-Vilas-Sarang Confessions of A Marathi Writer by Vilas Sarang]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060813174409/http://www.hindu.com/lr/2006/08/06/stories/2006080600050200.htm The Hindu Book Review of The Women in the Cages]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060813174409/http://www.hindu.com/lr/2006/08/06/stories/2006080600050200.htm The Hindu Book Review of The Women in the Cages]
* [http://searchingforlaugh.blogspot.com/2007/07/twelve-years-ago-everything-was-twelve.html Commentary on his Marathi book Sarjanshodh aani Lihita Lekhak”]
* [https://searchingforlaugh.blogspot.com/2007/07/twelve-years-ago-everything-was-twelve.html Commentary on his Marathi book Sarjanshodh aani Lihita Lekhak”]


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:Marathi-language poets]]
[[Category:Marathi-language poets]]
[[Category:Indian literary critics]]
[[Category:Indian literary critics]]
[[Category:Marathi-language writers]]
[[Category:People from Uttara Kannada]]
[[Category:People from Uttara Kannada]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian writers]]
[[Category:Writers from Karnataka]]
[[Category:Writers from Karnataka]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian male writers]]

Latest revision as of 17:25, 22 January 2026



Vilas Sarang (11 June 1942 – 14 April 2015) was a modernist Indian writer, critic, translator and a professor of English who wrote in Marathi and English. He died in 2015 in Mahim's Hinduja hospital.

Life[edit | edit source]

Sarang was born in Karwar, Karnataka in the Bhandari caste. He earned his undergraduate degree from Elphinstone College, Mumbai and Ph.D. from Bombay University. He obtained a second Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Indiana University in 1974.[1] Sarang's stories have appeared in the UK, US, Canada and India in journals such as Encounter, The London Magazine, TriQuarterly, The Malahat Review, and also in the anthologies New Writing in India (Penguin), The Penguin Book of Horror Stories and New Directions No. 41.[2] His first book of short stories, Soledad' was published in 1975 in Marathi. In 1978, his English poetry collection, 'A Kind of Silence' was published.[3] His published books in English include a collection of stories, Fair Tree of the Void (translated from Marathi in 1990), and two novels, In the Land of Enki and The Dinosaurship (2005).[4] His short stories have been translated into French and German.[1]

Overview of Sarang's work[edit | edit source]

His Marathi book 'सर्जनशोध आणि लिहिता लेखक' (Pursuit of Creation and Author Engaged in Writing) received an award of Government of Maharashtra in year 2008.[5]

Authorship[edit | edit source]

[6]

In English[edit | edit source]

  • Tandoor Cinders (2008)
  • Women in Cages (2006) (also translated in Marathi)
  • The Dinosaur Ship (2005)
  • A Fair Tree of the Void (1990) (also translated in Marathi)
  • Editor of the anthology "Indian English Poetry Since 1950" (1989)
  • The Stylistics of Literary Translation (1988)
  • A Kind of Silence (1978) (a collection of poetry)
  • In the Land of Enki (also translated in Marathi and Hindi)
  • Seven Critical Essays

In Marathi[edit | edit source]

  • अक्षरांचा श्रम केला (2000) (literary criticism)
  • आतंक (1999)
  • मॅनहोलमधला माणूस
  • सिसिफस आणि बेलाक्वा (literary criticism)
  • सोलेदाद (1975)
  • रुद्र
  • सर्जनशोध आणि लिहिता लेखक (received an award from the Government of Maharashtra in 2008[5])
  • चिरंतनाचा गंध
  • कविता: १९६९-१९८४ (a collection of poetry)
  • Essay by Vilas Sarang (in Marathi)

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Sarang MSS., 1967-2008".
  2. ↑ "Salaam Professor Vilas Sarang | PrintWeekIndia".
  3. ↑ "विलास सारंग यांचे निधन".
  4. ↑ accessdate=14 November 2014
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Online News". Archived from the original on 24 February 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2009.
  6. ↑ "inauthor:"Vilas Sarang" – My library – Google Books". Retrieved 8 March 2012.

External links[edit | edit source]

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