Graphic Delhi: Narrating the Indian Emergency, 1975–1977 in Vishwajyoti Ghosh's Delhi Calm. Issue 1 (3rd April 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Singh, Preeti
• Is Part Of: South Asian review. Volume 39:Issue 1/2(2018)
• Page Start: 86
• Page End: 103
• Publication Date: 2018-04-03
• Subjects: Delhi -- Indian Emergency -- urban comics -- Vishwajyoti Ghosh -- Indian graphic novel; Indic literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; India -- Civilization -- Periodicals; South Asia -- Civilization -- Periodicals; South Asia -- Languages -- Periodicals; South Asian literature -- Periodicals; South Asian literature; Language and languages; Civilization; Indic literature; Literature; South Asia; India; Criticism, interpretation, etc; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 891.1
• DOI: 10.1080/02759527.2018.1509536
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0275-9527

Abstract

Abstract: This paper examines the representation of the national Emergency (1975–1977) imposed by Indira Gandhi through the lens of Vishwajyoti Ghosh's graphic novel Delhi Calm (2010). Declared on June 25, the "Emergency" refers to the 21-month period when constitutional rights were suspended in India, and coercive measures brought into play. Drawing insights from postcolonial studies, scholarship on comics and urban literature, I look at how the spatial form of comics complicates the urban politics of the Emergency. I delve into the construction of the political subjectivities of Delhi's citizens through their relationship with the everyday space of the city to expand on the ways in which the graphic novel makes possible the representation of urban democracy. To this end, my paper explores the situatedness of Indian graphic narratives within discourses of the popular, and the space that the genre creates for the representation of Indian democracy as a discourse of the "popular." Through a close reading of Ghosh's multimodal narrative and its engagement with various forms of mass media such as the radio, print, advertisements, propaganda posters, and dramatic performance, I look at how the text complicates the narration of time and history of the period. By contextualizing Delhi Calm within the history of the graphic protests of the Emergency years, this paper demonstrates how the graphic novel reinvents itself to narrate the history, not only of the period, but also of the cultural forms that played a significant role in mediating the Emergency and the subjectivities of its leaders and citizens.