Abstract

This article examines gendered lives in vernacular fiction by focusing on the topic of child adoption as fictionalised in Hindi literature in late colonial India (1920s). It argues that non-conformance and non-normativity dominated the short stories selected for this article. The feature of non-conformance towards normative assumptions in middle-class Hindu society also concerned Hindi literary realism of the time more generally, especially when presenting a diversity of intergenerational relationships between women, men, children and youth within the family setting, as well as beyond. The narratives discussed here show how social norms set by caste, class, gender, religion and biology were surpassed when it came to imagined family constellations in the late colonial period.

摘要

本文通过研究印度后期殖民地印度语文学（1920年代）中虚构的儿童收养这一主题，来研究白话小说中的性别生活。它认为不合格和不规范主导了本文选择的短篇小说。中产阶级印度教社会不遵守规范假设的特征也更普遍地涉及当时的印度教文学现实主义，尤其是在家庭环境中妇女，男子，儿童和青年之间存在代际关系的多样性时，以及超越。这里讨论的叙事表明，在殖民时期后期的想象中，如何超越种姓，阶级，性别，宗教和生物学设定的社会规范。