Paper short abstract:

The paper discusses approaches to a biography in Contemporary Hindi Literature. Shivani’s autobiography as a basic text of a life narrative is compared with “Bisat” edited by M. Garg. Memoirs, biography and literary allusions establish new dimensions for creative writing, enriching cultural history.

Paper long abstract:

The paper discusses different approaches to a biography in Contemporary Hindi Literature. Shivani's autobiography is chosen as a basic text of a life narrative to be compared with "Bisaat. Teen bahinen teen aakhyaan". This unique book consists of a novel and two stories, written by three sisters - famous Hindi writers Mridula Garg, Manjul Bhaagat and Achala Bansal. The three narratives are based on a real history of their family. A foreword by M.Garg helps to put together different trends of the plot and narration, to form a polyphonic view on the life of several generations.

Shivani, writing about herself and her family, depicts a vivid picture of Modern India. She concentrates on her mother as a key figure. Starting with the title of this aatmaakathaa - a line from Tulsidas's pada, Shivani discusses literature, praising and admiring her mother for devotion to Hindi literature. A real life and its literary reflection create a double perspective. It helps to understand Shivani' life story better, and at the same time enriches cultural history of India, giving a self- portrait of a prominent Hindi writer.

The two books will be compared with an interview by Mamta Kalia, based on her life and professional experience. This short oral narrative resembles some important features of a literary text. The paper will also discuss if these life narratives could be or not considered as belonging to "women's writing" literary movement, though some of these five writers do not agree with this definition.