Bound by Culture and the feminist book club
Last evening, that is on Sunday, June 9 th , the Lakmahal Feminist Book Club met at the Lakmahal Community Library to discuss V V Ganeshananthan’s Brotherless Night. There has been much said and written about the book and ‘Sugi’ as the author is to people she knows well has given many interviews in Sri Lanka and overseas and has had many things written about the book. You can find links to some of these reviews and interviews at the end of this post. The discussion at the book club was led by Neloufer de Mel, who has just retired from her position as Chair Professor of English at the Colombo University, was a former Chairperson of the Gratiaen Trust and who is known for her a feminist scholarship. She takes a multidisciplinary approach, drawing on literary, cultural, gender and performance studies to examine Sri Lankan socio-political, cultural and literary life. The participants were quite diverse – age, gender and ethnicity wise. The shared perspectives were equally diverse.