Text, Context and Construction of Identity

by Rajesh Kumar (Editor), Om Prakash (Editor)

Language is central to our existence and it happens to be the most sophisticated product of the human mind. It is inconceivable to think of ourselves, our societies, our ideas, cultures or identities without language. It is the primary means of socialization, and whatever we know is a result of it. It is the primary medium of construction and dissemination of knowledge, and structures our thought processes in important ways that constitute our identity. In very complex ways, it interacts with the social, political and economic power structures that remain significant in defining the identities of individuals and societies. The essays in this volume create an awareness and understanding about the role of linguistic context in negotiating identity. The book explains identity and the complex relations between language and several aspects of our society. It explores identity through text and context, and will serve to trigger a novel discourse around the centrality of identity in contemporary society.

225 pages, Paperback

Published December 16, 2024

About the author

Rajesh Kumar is the pseudonym of KR Rajagopal, a Tamil author of crime fiction. He created a pseudonym based on the names of his sister and his sister-in-law: Rajeshwari and Ananthakumar. Prior to writing full-time, Kumar spent five years teaching, with a degree in education from Ramakrishna Vidyalaya. When he grew bored with this, he worked as a sales representative for an industrial rubber goods company.

Kumar's first published story was in 1968 or 1969, in the college magazine of Government Arts College, Coimbatore, where he earned a degree in botany. He has attributed this to a prank by another student, who used Kumar's name when volunteering to submit a story for the magazine; when his professor refused to allow Kumar to back out. The next day he reluctantly submitted "Vaazhndhu Kaatuvom", a love story.

Later that year, he submitted the crime story "Unnai Vidamaatten" to a short story contest in Maalai Murasu; this was the first story for which he was paid. In 1977, his work began appearing in Kumudam, starting with the short story "Idhu Nyayama".

His first novel, "Vaadagaiku Oru Uyir", was published in 1980. He subsequently told of how the editor of Kumudam had seen a porter on a platform at Egmore Railway Station engrossed in one of Kumar's stories. The porter had also forgone customers just to finish the story. It was then that the editor decided to make Kumar write a novel. In 1986, his publisher asked him if he could produce a novel a month; as a result, he became a full-time writer.

As of 2019, Kumar has written over 1500 novels; [dubious – discuss] his son, for whom digitizing the novels into e-books is a full-time profession, has been able to locate around 1,000 of them. He has also written over 2000 short stories, and scripts for over 250 television series, as well as the 2015 film Sandamarutham. He received the Tamil Nadu State government's prestigious 'Kalaimamani' award in 2009.