The Department of Indology, French Institute of Pondicherry and the Tamil Nadu - Puducherry Progressive Writers and Artists Association are jointly organizing a three-day workshop on the relationships between history and literature in the Tamil context. Tamil literary world has witnessed a series of new initiatives in the recent past, mostly in the form of novels, to reconstruct particular histories of a people within the region. This has brought about interesting questions on how creative writers use historical sources and information to construct a world of fiction, which often is consumed as history. This assumes added significance given how Tamil literary traditions have always produced a variety of pasts, continuously blurring the distinction between historical practice and literary production.

The workshop seeks to bring the practitioners of both worlds together and initiate a dialogue. The sessions will be oriented to provide space for understanding and interpreting Indian historiographical practices in particular relation to the use of literature, by dealing with specific examples. This also entails discussion on how literature and popular culture on the other hand have engaged with history as a source of information and credibility. This workshop seeks to bring together students, creative writers and historians to rethink, with specific reference to the Tamil context, the relationships between history and literature.

Organisers : French Institute of Pondicherry

Tamil Nadu - Puducherry Progressive Writers and Artists Association

Venue : Jawaharlal Nehru Conference Hall, French Institute of Pondicherry, 11, Saint Louis Street, Pondicherry - 605 001.