Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi#Rani
A figure from the books
#Rani
Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi · c. 1828–1858
In the books · 1 chapter
Who this is
Literature and language politics — the founder of modern Odia prose: first modern short story, first great Odia novel, first Odia autobiography; leader of the fight that kept Odia alive in its own schools.
“Told to his face that his mother tongue was not a real language, an orphaned village schoolmaster answered with a printing press, a shelf of textbooks, and finally a novel about six acres and a third of stolen land — and the language he saved now has some forty million speakers and a state of its own.”
The big idea, in the book's words:
“A language survives only if it has schools, textbooks, printing presses and readers — so when officials moved to abolish Odia, a self-taught schoolmaster built all four; then, past fifty, he wrote the fiction that proved the language could do anything.”
From the book
Read the chapter
I haven't posted on #RaniLakshmibaiOfJhansi yet, outside the book.
Ask me about #RaniLakshmibaiOfJhansi
Send me a question. It stays private. I answer the best ones publicly, as “You asked”.
Send me a question