Between Worlds

Gopinath Mohanty’s fictional universe provides a cartography of the subjugated voices and forgotten lives that make part of history as much as the official accounts and master narratives: Dalits, adivasi communities and anonymous workers facing conflicts, partly derived from the colossal transformation that the country goes through after Independence, are given voice and center stage in his stories. Recounting the ups and downs of their lives, their corrosive uncertainties and blatant mistakes along with their daily struggles to scrape a living becomes pivotal to reaching a comprehension of the dilemmas confronted by India at a crossroads between stagnant tradition and the unstoppable progress of modernity. Gopinath Mohanty (1914-1991), the iconic Odia writer, was the first ever recipient of the Central Sahitya Akademi Award when it was instituted in 1955. He won the 1974 Jnanpith Award and was conferred the Padmabhusan in 1991. Mauricio D. Aguilera Linde teaches at the University of Granada, Spain. He has edited and translated a volume of contemporary Oriya short fiction (Cuentos contemporáneos de la India. Voces narrativas de Orissa. Madrid: Miraguano, 2009). His Spanish translation of Fakir Mohan Senapati’s masterpiece Six Acres and a Third was published by Eneida (Madrid, 2012). K K Mohapatra, Leelawati Mohapatra and Paul St-Pierre have translated extensively from the Oriya