The Love Queen of Malabar: Memoir of a Friendship with Kamala Das

by Merrily Weisbord

Overview

Kamala Das (1934-2009) is one of India's most beloved and controversial literary figures. She was hailed and reviled as the first Indian woman to write an autobiographical cult classic about love and desire. Admirers dubbed her, "The First Feminist Emotional Revolutionary of Our Time." The tabloid press called her "The Love Queen of Malabar." Merrily Weisbord found Das's work so compelling that she flew to South India to meet her. The Love Queen of Malabar is the story of their decade-long friendship, an experiment in mutual revelation. Recounting the development of their relationship, Weisbord relates the dramatic events of Das's life, including her transition from celibacy to sexual awakening at age sixty-seven when, provoking the greatest scandal of her notorious life, she converted to Islam for love and renewal. Both observer and direct participant, Weisbord elegantly presents new biographical insights and cultural details about Kerala and India without exoticisation or stereotyping. The Love Queen of Malabar is an evocative and beautifully crafted work, as seamless as the finest novel, and will captivate readers across the globe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780773581418
Publisher:	McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date:	09/30/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Merrily Weisbord is an award-winning author, filmmaker, and broadcaster.

Table of Contents

1 Cochin, Munnar, Kovalam, South India, 1995

The Stranger and I 3

An Introduction 10

Love in Another Country 17

Esoteric Exotica 26

Lines Addressed to a Devadesi 42

2 Montreal, Laurentian Mountains, New York, 1995

Maple Leaves Red as Drying Blood 51

I Shall Carry You with Me 61

Child Bride 75

Riding a Tiger 88

3 Delhi, Cochin, Kovalam, 1997

Orbits of Friendship 107

Life Is but a Dream 120

The Husband Who Neither Loved nor Used Her but Was a Ruthless Watcher 126

4 Cochin, Calicut, Malabar, 2000

Bliss in the Scent of His Perspiration 141

Beyond the Outskirts of the City 155

The Fear of the Year 168

A Pale Green Pond 177

5 The Laurentians, Montreal, 2000

Gift of a Man 189

The Depth of Sequestered Pools 202

6 Cochin, 2003

A Touch of Moonlight 209

You Embrace Me 218

7 Cochin, 2004

Exhalations 229

A Cloudburst of Intense Fantasy 237

8 Cochin, Punnayurkulam, 2005

That Close to Me 247

The Place of Quiet Happiness 257

Epilogue 267

Acknowledgments 269

Bibliography 273

Editorial Reviews

"The Love Queen of Malabar is something of a thriller about censorship and transgression; an homage to a woman who is so powerful she wraps herself around your heart." roverarts.com


"As if to test Mark Twain's pronouncement "truth is stranger than fiction,' two women - the award-winning journalist Merrily Weisbord from Canada, and the internationally acclaimed Indian writer Kamala Das - engage in an experiment of revealing to each other their experiences of men, motherhood, and writing. The intimate truths revealed here will stun the literary world and intrigue readers everywhere. This literary biography is a tour de force that reads like a well-crafted novel." Katherine K. Young, James McGill Professor, McGill University


"The Love Queen of Malabar is a portrait of Kamala Das, a remarkable poet, memoirist and public figure who dared to challenge many of India's taboos around sexuality. It is also the chronicle of an evolving friendship - wonderfully evocative in its use of language and dialogue - and it is a sensitive discussion of issues relevant to the lives of women and writers. Highly engaging and honest, it is a model of writing across cultures and continents." Sherry Simon, author of Translating Montreal: Episodes in the Life of a Divided City


"If she was less original or less determined, Weisbord could always have written a novel. But few novelists exploring similar exotic cultures these days produce work of such high literary quality as The Love Queen of Malabar." John Barber, Globe and Mail


"The Love Queen of Malabar is an evocative and beautifully crafted work, as seamless as the finest novel, and will captivate readers across the globe." South Asian Post


"The Love Queen of Malabar is fascinating conversation between two strong-minded women, a narrative set in two countries and many cultures. It proves that none of us fit under one label or one identity, but are complex and contradictory and simply stuck with the messiness of our lives." The Globe and Mail

From the Publisher