R. Raj Rao
Encyclopedia
R. Raj Rao is a writer and teacher of literature and "one of India’s leading gay-rights activists." His 2003 novel The Boyfriend is one of the first gay novels to come from India. Rao was one of the first recipients of the newly-established Quebec-India awards.
, U.K. He attended the International Writing Program, Iowa, in 1996. His works include Slide Show (poems). He has edited Ten Indian Writers in Interview and co-edited Image of India in the Indian Novel in English (1960–1980). He works as a professor of English at the University of Pune. Rao is openly
gay
. On the recurring themes of homosexuality in his works, Rao says: "I am myself a poet, novelist, playwright and writer of non-fiction. Similarly, my teaching and research interests in queer theory and queer literature are a direct and natural outcome of my being gay and imaginatively tackling the subject in my fiction, poetry and plays."
's film Bomgay (1996), said to be India's first gay film. Boyfriend was his first novel. It was released with fanfare by Penguin India all over the country in 2003. Filled with irreverent, dry humor and devoid of sentimentality, Boyfriend is a tragi-comic love story set in the jumbled up heart of Mumbai. It also deals with unsparing irony the realities of caste, class, religion, masculinity and the gay subculture in India. It created quite a stir when it first appeared and was discussed in many prominent magazines as a guide to the then underground gay subculture in Bombay. It went on to be used as a model for the queer scene in India in researches in the field of queer studies.
Rao published the non-fiction work Whistling in the Dark in 2009 and the novel Hostel Room 131 in 2010. His next book, provisionally titled Lady Lolita's Lover is also a novel.
Following the success of The Boyfriend, Rao founded the Queer Studies Circle at Pune University. Rao was one the first to offer a course on LGBT
literature at the university level in India. Rao first offered it in 2007, after years of resistance on the part of hisacademic superiors. He said: "It's strange how the academic fraternity that has always been quick to accept all kinds of literature — Marxist, feminist, Dalit — had a huge reservation when it came to queer literature. For years, the Board of Studies refused to let us start the course saying that 'Indian students do not need it'. Finally we clubbed it with Dalit literature and started it under the genre of Alternative Literature."
Personal life
R. Raj Rao was born in Bombay, India. He earned a Ph.D. in English from the University of Bombay in 1986 and received the Nehru Centenary British Fellowship for his post-doctoral research at the Centre for Caribbean Studies, University of WarwickUniversity of Warwick
The University of Warwick is a public research university located in Coventry, United Kingdom...
, U.K. He attended the International Writing Program, Iowa, in 1996. His works include Slide Show (poems). He has edited Ten Indian Writers in Interview and co-edited Image of India in the Indian Novel in English (1960–1980). He works as a professor of English at the University of Pune. Rao is openly
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
. On the recurring themes of homosexuality in his works, Rao says: "I am myself a poet, novelist, playwright and writer of non-fiction. Similarly, my teaching and research interests in queer theory and queer literature are a direct and natural outcome of my being gay and imaginatively tackling the subject in my fiction, poetry and plays."
Rao in the queer scene
Poems from Rao's BOMGaY collection served as the basis for Riyad Vinci WadiaRiyad Vinci Wadia
Riyad Vinci Wadia was an Indian independent filmmaker from Bombay, known for his film, BomGay , regarded as one of the very first gay themed movies from India...
's film Bomgay (1996), said to be India's first gay film. Boyfriend was his first novel. It was released with fanfare by Penguin India all over the country in 2003. Filled with irreverent, dry humor and devoid of sentimentality, Boyfriend is a tragi-comic love story set in the jumbled up heart of Mumbai. It also deals with unsparing irony the realities of caste, class, religion, masculinity and the gay subculture in India. It created quite a stir when it first appeared and was discussed in many prominent magazines as a guide to the then underground gay subculture in Bombay. It went on to be used as a model for the queer scene in India in researches in the field of queer studies.
Rao published the non-fiction work Whistling in the Dark in 2009 and the novel Hostel Room 131 in 2010. His next book, provisionally titled Lady Lolita's Lover is also a novel.
Following the success of The Boyfriend, Rao founded the Queer Studies Circle at Pune University. Rao was one the first to offer a course on LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
literature at the university level in India. Rao first offered it in 2007, after years of resistance on the part of hisacademic superiors. He said: "It's strange how the academic fraternity that has always been quick to accept all kinds of literature — Marxist, feminist, Dalit — had a huge reservation when it came to queer literature. For years, the Board of Studies refused to let us start the course saying that 'Indian students do not need it'. Finally we clubbed it with Dalit literature and started it under the genre of Alternative Literature."
Works
- Sildeshow (Peepal Tree Press, 1992), poems
- Image of India in the Indian Novel in English (1960–1985) (South Asia Books, 1993), co-editor with Sudhakar Pandey
- Nissim Ezekiel: The Authorized Biography (Viking, 2000)
- One Day I Locked My Flat in Soul City (Harper Collins India, 2001), short stories
- The Wisest Fool on Earth and Other Plays
- Boyfriend (Penguin, 2003), novel
- Whistling in the Dark: Twenty-One Queer Interviews (Sage, 2009), co-editor with Dibyajyoti Sarma
- Hostel Room 131 (2010), novel
- Ten Indian Authors in Interview, editor