Uneasy Translations is a work of extraordinary imaginative power, literary sophistication and moral insight. It is a mediation of the pressing questions of our time. What does it mean to represent suffering? How does language both enable us to access other lives and selves, and yet also limit our understanding? What pedagogical practices are appropriate to a society where the bonds of sympathy are broken, or where the easy comforts of taking a position prevent the attainment of genuine moral knowledge. Through nuanced readings of literary texts, pedagogical practices and reflections on the art of translation, Kothari brilliantly opens up new theoretical and moral conversations.

Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Laurence S. Rockefeller Professor, Princeton University

The relationship between language and experience is complex in India because of caste and class dynamics. To negotiate through this space is an act of courage and Rita Kothari does this from the vantage point of an insider. This exceptionally insightful book posits Kothari as an important thinker of language and literature.

Vivek Shanbhag, Author, Gachar Gochar

Using stories and songs that chafe and struggle to express caste- and gender-specific ways of being in the world, the essays in this book enact its basic premises-that knowledge is born out of experience, that
languages and their hierarchies profoundly shape us but also provide some space for reinvention, and that uneasy translation is something we do and live every day. A wonderfully rich example of theorising, the book will delight, stimulate, and reward every reader interested in how words and languages work on us, their power and their magic.

Francesca Orsini, Professor Emerita, SOAS, University of London

This provocative book is going to make many stand on their toes. The artifice of language and expression is taken to task. English will have to pass the difficult tests put by the author. The page-turner tract will find an audience in many. Written with vivid details and punchy scholarly takes, Uneasy Translations is an extraordinary achievement. Rita Kothari is an outstanding metonym witnessing the metamorphosis of her calling-as a child of Sindhi migrants to a professional language hustler-rejoicing the critique of English and translations. Uneasy Translations is vital for the culture of languages and the discipline in general. It assures diverse India, rich with its long registers of languages, sub-languages, accents and dialects, to not rely on the hegemonic parlance of the English language to seek validations. It is a holler for writers and readers alike.

Suraj Yengde, Author, Caste Matters

[A]n innovative exploration of the complex relationships between knowledge, experience, language and translation ... While Kothari's work is mainly located in a specifically Indian context, it offers profound insights into the issue of translation more universally.

Yunjing Ouyang, University of Glasgow, UK, Forum for Modern Language Studies