 Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak was born on 24th February, 1942 in Kolkata. She is a popular Indian literary theorist and critic. She was born to metropolitan middle class parents. This renowned literary personality fitted into the "first generation of intellectuals of India post independence". In the year 1959, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak completed her graduation at the University of Calcutta securing first class marks. In the early 1960's, she borrowed some money to go the United States for doing graduate work at Cornell. She chose Cornell because she knew the names of only three places of the US. She completed her masters in English literature from Cornell University. Later on, while pursuing her PhD, she taught at the University of Iowa. Presently she is at Columbia as the University professor, which is Columbia's highest rank. She was honoured with this award in the year 2007. Moreover, she is a member of the visiting faculty at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak travels widely and gives lectures at several places across the world.
Career of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak came into prominence with her subsequent translation of 'Derrida's Of Grammatology'. Her inclusion of the translator's introduction has been described as 'setting of new standards in prefaces'. It was followed by a series of historical studies and literary assessments of international feminism and imperialism. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak arrived at Columbia in the year 1991. Before that she had taught at various leading universities of the world. She has been the recipient of a number of academic honours that include the honorary doctorate from Oberlin College. She has also worked on the editorial board of the numerous academic journals. Thesis work of this prolific literary personality was on "Yeats" that was published as 'Myself Must I Remake: The Life and Poetry of W.B'. Her major works also include the translations of renowned Bengali author Mahasweta Devi and critical analysis of American cultural studies. Her work titled "A Critique of Postcolonial Reason" that was published in the year 1999 explores the European metaphysics. The speeches given by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak that were published since the year 2002 have boldly addressed the 'terrorism issue'. She has clearly stated in her speech that her main intention is to spread the message in order to bring an end to suicide bombing. 
Major works and writings of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak consist of literary and post structural criticism of Feminism, Post colonialism and Marxism. Her work also reflects an ethical-political concern. Through her work she tries to marginalize the subaltern pattern of the society. 'Strategic essentialism' that refers to social actions temporary solidarity has been widely used by this author. Feminists and common causes of feminism are the popular themes used by this leading Indian literary personality.
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is well known for her literary and academic contributions. She has penned down several books and publications and she is widely known for "Can the Subaltern Speak?" Her major works include various academic and literary books. Some of the names are listed below - * Myself, I Must Remake: The Life and Poetry of W.B. Yeats (1974) * Of Grammatology (translation, with critical introduction, of Derrida's text) (1976) * In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics (1987) * Selected Subaltern Studies (edited with Ranajit Guha) (1988) * The Post-Colonial Critic (1990) * Outside in the Teaching Machine (1993) * The Spivak Reader (1995) * A Critique of Postcolonial Reason: Towards a History of the Vanishing Present (1999) * Death of a Discipline (2003) * Other Asias (2005) * Imaginary Maps (translation of three stories by Mahasweta Devi) (1994) * Old Women (translation of two stories by Mahasweta Devi) (1999) * Song for Kali: A Cycle (translation of story by Ramproshad Sen) (2000) * Chotti Munda and His Arrow (translation of the novel by Mahasweta Devi) (2002) Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is one of those leading Indian literary personalities who are well-known for presenting important issue by using stylized language. Her work portrays style before the substance. She uses inaccessible language, which has changed the thinking of the masses to a huge extent. |
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