Progressive Poetry in Gujarati
摘要
The chapter examines the Progressive Writers’ Movement in Gujarati literature, with a specific focus on Gujarati poetry. Following the gathering of world writers in London, which led to the establishment of the World Progressive Writers’ Association and the organization of its first conference in Paris in 1935 and then in Lucknow in 1936, the Gujarat Progressive Writers’ Association was set up after a gathering of the progressive writers in Ahmedabad in 1936. The Progressive Writers’ Association in Gujarati published important progressive writings in the literary magazine Sāhitya ane Pragati. Young poets like Sundaram, Umashankar Joshi, and Bhogilal Gandhi produced progressive writings in Gujarati on the subjects of workers, peasants, and revolutions. With major progressive writers drifting in different directions, the movement declined and did not find a firm base in Gujarati literature for various reasons. Thus, the chapter examines the progressive poetry in Gujarati by studying selected poems in Shitya ane Pragati, in poetry collections like Koyā Bhagat-ni Kadavi Vāni Ane Garibo-naN Geeto (1933), Kavyamangalā (1933); Vasudhā (1939) by Sundaram; Gagotri (1934) and Niith (1939) by Umashankar Joshi; Sādhanā (1943) by Bhogilal Gandhi; Rāvaṇhaththo (1942), Dharatī-ne (1946), and the posthumous Chirvirah (1973) by Swapnastha, and evaluates the contributions of these poets to PWM in South Asia.