Seasons of the Divine
Author: Arun Gupto
Category: Nepal   
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About  .

The Book

The book is a textual and visual representation of Kathmandu Valley, weaving discourses on festivals, narratives and performances during August, September and October, which are intense months of festivals. The book deals with urbanism and its relation to myth and religion, reconciliation of the opposites, agrarian and post-human consciousness, and the philosophical mind of the city and its people. The relationship between the city and religion allows Kathmandu Valley to hold an energetic potential to represent art
in an urban setting. This potential makes itself visible in the interaction of people of the valley with deities through performances, art, and reverence towards plants, animals and multiple natural objects. The people also celebrate the self as a part of the community. These interactions give way to a system of thought that drives the religio-mythical discourse in Kathmandu Valley and perpetuates the interpretation of the past in the present.


Dr Arun Gupto is a professor of English.
His areas of research are literary theory,
postcolonial studies, and South Asian Studies.
The latest books by him are Goddesses of
Kathmandu Valley: Grace, Rage, Knowledge
(Routledge, 2016) and Theory and Criticism:
Recent Writings from South Asia (Routledge,
2022). He has also written and directed
documentaries titled Art of the Lake (2014),
Art and the City (2022), and Anger and
the Mahatma (2023).



Ms Renuka Khatiwada is a doctoral
student at The University of Texas at
El Paso, USA. She is a photographer and
documentary maker. Her photographs have
been exhibited in Nepal and abroad. She
works with Prof. Gupto as a D irector of
Photography and researcher on visual cultural
studies. Her current ptoject is a soon-to-be
released book Diary of a Teenage Wife.


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