Govind Purushottam Deshpande (1938-2013) or GPD as he was affectionately known nationally, and as Gopu in Marathi, was an eminent writer, incisive Marxist cultural critic, celebrated playwright and a scholar with penetrating insights into the process of transformation taking place in the society. As an internationalist, his insights open up new possibilities of transforming the world.
GPD's writing was steeped in the contemporary debates between diverse ideologies as well as in the literary traditions of Marathi. It would be hard to find a scholar of his stature who was comfortable in both the Indian and Western philosophical traditions. He believed that the overarching conceptions of elite representation of history of modern India has missed out on the nuances of the regional histories to our detriment merits serious attention today.
His 'discussion plays', a form he introduced and strengthened in Marathi theatre, deal with the 'defeat of eagles trying to change the world' in the contemporary cultural political contexts. His writing shows his historical understanding of the challenges thrown before the left politics in the twentieth century and how individuals struggle in the 'desert of desperation'.
Also significant is his critique of the major intellectuals and political theorists in Maharashtra such as Mahatma Phule, Vinoba Bhave, and V.D. Savarkar, and the world of their ideas.
Maya Pandit is a former professor of English at the EFL University, Hyderabad. She has translated 18 books including translations into English of Marathi Dalit women's autobiographies. Her translations into Marathi include Dario Fo's An Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Awakening and Ramu Ramnathan's Mahadevbhai. Recipient of several fellowships, she has directed "Voices from the Margins" a documentary film on Marathi Dalit Women Writers for the Sahitya Akademi. She is an ardent activist in the Marathi alternative theatre.
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