Raja Rao published his first full-length work of fiction, Kanthapura, in 1938 at the young age of 20 years old. Rao’s forward to the book reveals what would become his literary path throughout a lifetime of work: the complicated endeavor of translating the Indian experience in an “alien” language, English. This also takes into account the complex nature of the fact that English was the language of his country’s colonizer. Rao deliberately wrote Kanthpura to mimic the cadence of Kannada, his native tongue of Southern India.
Many critics consider Kanthapura to be one of the great masterpieces of mid-twentieth century literature. It follows Gandhi’s struggle for independence from his...
