Benyonne Schwortz, bschwortz@gmail.com
Bayside High School, http://www.baysidehighschool.org

Modern Writers of Nepal

namaste. नमस्त

Appendix A5b: Analysis of Contemporary Nepali Literature
           

According to Manjushree Thapa in her essay “Reading One’s Own People, Reaching the World” in Secret

Places: New Writing from Nepal, (Stewart 67-73), the purpose of Nepali literature is to “reach out” to a society

of dozens of languages, castes, and ethnic groups with varying levels of education and literacy (Stewart x).  The

truths told in the new writings of Nepal deal with the plight of the rural poor, caste discrimination, and the

oppression of minorities.  Taboo subjects from the past, like widespread trafficking in young girls who are forced

into prostitution, bartering of these young girls into sexual slavery as child brides, or pressed into bonded labor,

are some of themes of the plight of women in Nepal.

            Modern Nepali literature did not develop in a vacuum: rather as early as the 1930’s, Nepali literature

dealt with sociological themes of caste, agrarian relations, social change, and the status of women.  In particular,

the Nepali short story was adopted from Western literatures, probably via Hindi and Bengali (Hutt Himalayan

Voices174), and is the product of sweeping cultural and political changes in Nepal at the turn of the century.

  The social realism found in early works called “Nepali social stories” sympathetically portray poverty,

opposition to superstition and traditions, and the social status of women (Hutt Himalayan Voices 175). 

            The themes of Nepali short stories range from tales of village life, life in Kathmandu and Darjeeling, the

lives of women, caste, class, and ethnic relations, the Gurkha soldier, the Rana regime, and views of tourism

(Stewart Secret Places 177-188).  At least 2 million Nepalis live in India, and the literature from these Nepalis

encompass all the themes above.  The Nepali diaspora has not affected these writers whose main concern is to

the bridge the gap between all social classes and castes in Nepal, with the modern world of international

business and political intrigue.

            In Manjushsree Thapa’s lecture at the NEH 2008 Institute on the Himalayan Region: Literature,

Religion, and the Arts, at the College of the Holy Cross on July 29, 2008, she discussed her own novel The Tutor

of History, and other Nepali writers and poets in the backdrop of the Nepali political scene from the middle of

the 20th century to today.  Without the foreknowledge of this political upheaval, one cannot understand or

appreciate the literature coming out of Nepal from writers of both the left and middle of the political scene. 

Since only 45.2% of Nepalis are literate, Nepal is the 15th most illiterate country in the world.  Females are only

28% literate, while males are 65%; thus the literature read in Nepal would only reach those already literate

(http://www.nepalvista.com/realnepal/literacy.html). .  The countryside does have a tradition based on oral

tradition of retelling folk tales, folk songs, and myths and religious stories.

            According to Thapa, “Nepal’s writing has two major missions: reaching its own people and reaching the

world” (Stewart Secret Places 72).  After centuries of isolation both physically and politically, Nepal has become

“less isolated, in part because of the spread of information technology, …and its literature is developing

stronger, up-to-date links to contemporary writing elsewhere” (Stewart Secret Places 72).