Secret Writings of Hoshang Merchant

Hoshang Merchant and Akshaya K. Rath

The author is a well-known poet and writer
The author is one of the few writers dealing with LGBTQ rights in India
The collection consists of his unpublished writings.

Secret Writings of Hoshang Merchant

Hoshang Merchant and Akshaya K. Rath

Description

' [T]his is no fiction. I have scars on my body and my soul to prove this.'

Never a shrinking violet, Hoshang Merchant came out of the closet early in his youth. A bard, a teacher, and a lover who has lived many lives, he is the quintessential gay who once cross-dressed, and yet defies categorization. In Secret Writings, he recounts his extraordinary life and splendid experiences ranging across countries and cultures. His is a story of the prejudice and neglect that are part of everyday gay life, and how he channelled his despair into creating poetry. He quotes Rumi, Ghalib, and Mir, and writes with searing honesty about his long and short love affairs, his improbable sex life as both an initiator and a yielding partner, and his inner turmoil. Sex becomes love and love becomes poetry in his writing.

Merchant yells at the moral guardians of law and culture, asks uncomfortable questions, and shocks his readers. This rare book opens a window to the myriad worlds of an avant-garde.

Secret Writings of Hoshang Merchant

Hoshang Merchant and Akshaya K. Rath

Acknowledgments
Introduction
I
Literature: A Different Muse
The Oedipus Story as Detective Fiction
Migritude of Migrating Swans: Yeats and Tagore
To the Rose upon the Rood of Time
The St. John of the Cross: Poems of Roy Campbell
And Jesus Wept Poetry in a Time of Terror! Agha Shahid Ali
Darwish/Alis Eleven Stars over Andalusia: First Impression
Reviewing Translations: Some Thoughts
II
Autobiography: The Gay Gaze
India and I Share a Birthday
I Visit Laxmas House
My Parsi English
III
Sexuality: Othering the Nation
1001 Nights: Queer Places, People, and Politics
Indian Homoeroticism
I Ancient India
II Medieval India
Sex in the Indian English Novel
Gay Indian Poetry
Pornography
IV
Matriarchy: Mothering the Nation
The Solaces of Matriarchy
Sappho: Feminized Men and the Question of Flux
Indian Masculinities: Beyond Gender and Matriarchy
V
Postscript
A Gay Lexicon
My Secret Writing Life (Personal Essay by Hoshang Merchant)
Chronology of Complete Works of Hoshang Merchant
Bibliography
About the Author and the Editor

Secret Writings of Hoshang Merchant

Hoshang Merchant and Akshaya K. Rath

Author Information

Hoshang Merchant, Teacher and writer, University of Hyderabad, India, and Akshaya K. Rath, Teacher, department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Technology Rourkela, India

Hoshang Merchant has many notable works to his credit. A well-known poet and teacher, he recently retired from the University of Hyderabad, India, after twenty-six years of teaching.

Akshaya K. Rath currently teaches English at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of Technology Rourkela, India.