The 'D-books' of Daryaganj sunday book market

Dhingra, Kanupriya (2021) The 'D-books' of Daryaganj sunday book market. Comparative Critical Studies, 18 (2-3). pp. 309-326. ISSN 17500109

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Abstract

Daryaganj Sunday Book Market, popularly known as Daryaganj Sunday Patri Kitab Bazaar, is a weekly informal market for used, rare, and pirated books that has been operating on the streets of Old Delhi for the past fifty years. In this essay, I focus on one of the circuits that has been flourishing in this market, that of pirated or ‘duplicate’ or D-books. In order to examine the forms in which piracy thrives in the present-day Patri Kitab Bazaar, and the reasons behind it, I compare two types of pirated books found here: a low-price self-help manual in Hindi and a ‘D’ copy of an English novel by popular Indian author Chetan Bhagat. As I examine the essential role that ‘randomness’ plays in the constitution of pirated texts, I suggest that there is organization to this apparent lack of pattern or unpredictability. Such permutation of order and chaos resonates with the location of the bazaar – a site that thrives on the serendipity of the streets.

Item Type: Article
Keywords: Piracy | Randomness | Book bazaar | Second-hand books | Communication circuit
Subjects: Social Sciences and humanities > Social Sciences > Education
JGU School/Centre: Jindal School of Languages & Literature
Depositing User: Mr. Syed Anas
Date Deposited: 17 Jan 2022 14:59
Last Modified: 17 Jan 2022 14:59
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.3366/ccs.2021.0408
Additional Information: This article is a part of my doctoral research at SOAS, University of London, sponsored by the Felix Scholarship Trust.
URI: https://pure.jgu.edu.in/id/eprint/720

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