Zero Degree

Zero Degree is a postmodern, transgressive, lipogrammatic novel written in 1998 by Tamil author Charu Nivedita, later translated into Malayalam and English.

For the unrelated 2015 Bangladeshi film, see Zero Degree (film).

Awards and accolades

Literary contemporaries on Zero Degree
  • In his foreword to the Malayalam translation of Zero Degree, Paul Zacharia wrote, "It is like an open experimental laboratory. Amidst the smoke, noxious vapors, and beautiful imagery, I experienced a wondrous journey."[7]
  • Tarun Tejpal opines that Zero Degree is remarkable for its experimental voice and its varying and shifting tonalities.[8]
  • Anil Menon considers Zero Degree bold and ambitious. He posits that the ancient fascination with language and reality continues to burst through the crust in Charu Nivedita’s works.[9]
  • Noted translator Jason Grunebaum[10] considers Zero Degree wildly exciting and complains that Charu does not write in Hindi, so that he would translate Charu's works to English.[11]
  • Poet Vivek Narayanan[12] says about Zero Degree: "I think we should take Zero Degree not just as a playful, ironic “postmodern” novel but as a novel of oppositions and contradictions: a deeply autobiographical novel where the self has been scattered, an ironic pastiche novel that speaks to raw experience, a defiantly cosmopolitan novel than nonetheless pins a very particular kind of schizophrenic rage that perhaps—I could be wrong—any Tamilian will immediately recognise."[13][14]

Universities on Zero Degree

Translations
  • Zero Degree was translated into Malayalam in 1999 by Dr G.Balasubrahmanian and Dr P.M.Gireesh.
  • It was translated into English in 2008 by Pritham K. Chakravarthy and Rakesh Khanna.
  • Further translations into Telugu, Hindi and Spanish are on the anvil.

Reviews

Special feature

Keeping with the numerological theme of Zero Degree, the only numbers expressed in either words or symbols are numerologically equivalent to nine (with the exception of two chapters). This Oulipian ban includes the very common word one (only in Tamil edition).

See also

References
  1. Jan Michalski Prize for Literature 2013 http://www.fondation-janmichalski.com/en/prix-jan-michalski/edition-2013/
  2. Tarun Tejpal, one of the juries of Jan Michalski 2013, on Zero Degree http://www.fondation-janmichalski.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Synthese_Charu-Nivedita_engl.pdf
  3. The Hindu's review of 50 Writers, 50 Books - The Best of Indian Fiction http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-literaryreview/the-best-of-indian-fiction/article4890205.ece
  4. "Print Pick". The Hindu. 2 September 2013. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  5. http://www.mensxp.com/culture/arts/36811-15-lesser-known-yet-incredible-indian-authors-you-should-read-instead-of-chetan-bhagat-durjoy-dutta.html
  6. The Sunday Guardian on Zero Degree http://www.sunday-guardian.com/young-restless/metafiction
  7. Paul Zacharia on Zero Degree http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2010-11-18/news/27588632_1_novel-tamil-language-dravidian
  8. http://www.fondation-janmichalski.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Synthese_Charu-Nivedita_engl.pdf
  9. Anil Menon on Zero Degree http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2009/11/exclusive_interview_anil_menon/
  10. About Jason Grunebaum http://salc.uchicago.edu/faculty/grunebaum
  11. Jason Grunebaum on Charu http://quarterlyconversation.com/the-jason-grunebaum-interview
  12. About Vivek Narayanan http://www.brown.edu/academics/literary-arts/writers-online/authors/vivek-narayanan
  13. Vivek Narayanan's Facebook post on the eve of Almost Island Dialogues 2010 https://www.facebook.com/groups/279757768380/permalink/10150560647983381/
  14. https://web.archive.org/web/20100313012930/http://charuonline.com/blog/?p=180
  15. http://uglywords.wordpress.com/2012/03/02/on-charu-niveditas-zero-degree-trans-by-pritham-k-chakravarthy-rakesh-khanna/#comment-179
  16. An article by Chad W. Post in the 'Three Percent Tag', a part of the University of Rochester's translation program.http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/index.php?id=1412
  17. An interview of Rakesh Khanna of the Blaft Publications.http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/index.php?id=1911
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