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I Have Become the Tide

I Have Become the Tide is a novel by Githa Hariharan published in 2019 by Simon & Schuster India. It is her sixth novel, and the third to focus on contemporary India. The book was first published in English, and a Malayalam translation was published in 2020 by Mathrubhumi Books.

I Have Become the Tide
Cover art for I Have Become the Tide
AuthorGitha Hariharan
LanguageEnglish
Published2019 (Simon & Schuster India)
Publication placeIndia
Media typePrint
Pages322 (1st edition)
ISBN9789386797384

Background

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Githa Hariharan is an Indian writer and editor who has written short stories, novels, and nonfiction essays, and edited collections of fiction and nonfiction essays.[1] I Have Become the Tide is the sixth novel written by Hariharan, and the third to focus on contemporary India.[2] The title of the novel is from the translated title of the poem "I Have Become the Tide" by JV Pawar,[2] and a translated excerpt appears in the epigraph of the book:

I’m the sea; I soar, I surge.
I move out to build your tombs.
The winds, storms, sky, earth.
Now all are mine.
In every inch of the rising struggle
I stand erect.[3][4]

In the acknowledgments section, Hariharan writes the novel was "born out of the conviction that no writer can engage with life in India today without taking a stand, in some modest way, on the terrible inequalities that continue to ravage the lives of so many of our fellow citizens."[3]

In a 2019 interview with Firstpost, Hariharan said her novel "was written with Rohith Vemula, and all the Rohiths of India, in the same room. In fact, the novel was written with all the Kalburgis of India in the room as well."[2][5] In a 2019 interview with SheThePeople, she described the book as "not just a novel. It's my citizen's statement at this point in our collective lives."[6]

Overview

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The novel is written with three narratives, described by Rogini Mohite in The Hong Kong Review as each "incorporat[ing] histories of Dalit resistance to the caste system which has historically subjugated and segregated them to the social and economic margins, labelling them 'Untouchables', over thousands of years."[4] One narrative focuses on a poetry professor with a theory about the origins of the poet-saint Kannadeva.[2][4] Another narrative follows three Dalit students as they pursue higher education.[3][4] There is also a narrative set in the past of South India about the son of a cattle skinner.[2][4]

Reception

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In a review for The Hindu Business Line, Sharanya Manivannan writes that the novel "is required reading for the contemporary Indian context, a highly recommended novel sowed with verse, which provides an unflinching reminder of the eventualities of hatred."[7] In a review for the Deccan Herald, Soni Wadhwa writes that Hariharan "destabilises the notion that poetry and devotion are a domain of the powerful" and "lets these tropes make space for a different discourse about the oppressed in saying that the oppressed need not always be associated with passivity."[8]

In The Hong Kong Book Review, Ragini Mohite writes, "atrocities against the Dalit community persist in alarming numbers in twenty-first century India" and "it is essential for these subaltern Dalit narratives to be at the forefront of critical discourse and literary production."[4] According to Saudamini Jain in a review for the Hindustan Times, the book is "a well-meaning novel – even if its three inter-linked narratives are essentially oversimplified knock-offs of the stories of Rohith Vemula, MM Kalburgi and a 12th century Bhakti movement."[9] In a review for The Hindu, Latha Anantharaman writes, "The experiences of the three students in I Have Become the Tide will ring true for anyone who has faced discrimination in an educational institution."[10]

In a review for Scroll.in, Harsh Mander writes that "The book fittingly ends with a contemporary Dalit rising, patterned after the Bhim Army."[11] In a review for The Indian Express, Ram Sarangan writes, "While Hariharan’s book is about a call to action, at a certain level, it is also encouraging. [...] While seemingly fragile, the voices of defiance and anger do not exist in isolation — they become part of a rising tide."[12]

Publication history

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References

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  1. ^ "Githa Hariharan". githahariharan.com. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e Sharma, Manik (March 6, 2019). "Githa Hariharan on her latest novel I Have Become The Tide, Rohith Vemula, politics of her writing". Firstpost. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  3. ^ a b c Reber, Nichole L. (Autumn 2019). "I Have Become the Tide by Githa Hariharan". World Literature Today. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Mohite, Ragini (May 21, 2019). "I Have Become the Tide". Hong Kong Review of Books. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  5. ^ Chakrabarti, Paromita (March 10, 2019). "'There is no such thing as an objective fiction writer'". The Indian Express. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  6. ^ Archana Pai Kulkarni (June 12, 2019). "Githa Hariharan On Writing About Caste, Dissent And Resistance". SheThePeople.TV. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  7. ^ Manivannan, Sharanya (April 12, 2019). "Singing about the dark times". The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  8. ^ Wadhwa, Soni (May 5, 2019). "Book review: I Have Become The Tide by Githa Hariharan". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  9. ^ Jain, Saudamini (April 13, 2019). "Review: I Have Become the Tide by Githa Hariharan". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  10. ^ Anantharaman, Latha (March 9, 2019). "'I Have Become the Tide' by Githa Hariharan: The years of the flood". The Hindu. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  11. ^ Mander, Harsh (April 13, 2019). "Githa Hariharan's new novel is a sensitive, discomfiting meditation on caste and resistance". Scroll.in. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  12. ^ Sarangan, Ram (May 25, 2019). "Walk on Earth a Stranger: Book review on I have become the tide". The Indian Express. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
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