The Rise of Dalit Literature as Counterculture A Study On Aesthetics Space And Milieu

Abstract

Experience is the primary source of inspiration for Dalit writings. The narrative world of a Dalit writer has evolved to represent and register their lived experiences and perspectives through self-narration. The practice of a long-established social construct in Indian society segregates the geographical terrain of living space among the Dalits and non-Dalits, which allows for the practice of untouchability. The autobiographical work of Dalit literature has become the Thirdspace for the writers to represent and make the readers realise Dalits feelings, emotions, discrimination, humiliation, and lifestyle. Living space is seen in the analogy between spatial practice and representation of space, which is the union of space, time, and practice. Here, time plays a critical role in the emergence of Dalit literature, especially in autobiographies from the 1970s. The land and its space have become a crucial place for the practice of untouchability, and the same land, life, culture, practice, humiliation, and suffering have become a counternarrative space through Dalit writers autobiographies. Thus, this research aims to analyze the select novels from the perspectives of spatial practice, representation of space, representational space, sociocultural lifestyle, and aesthetics.