CHENNAI: Josephine Jeyashanthi thanks her erstwhile workplace for what has come out successfully today. The former professor of a leading arts and science college in the city, who has been waging a battle against the sexual harassment she had allegedly undergone there, released her latest novel Sangavai, here on Sunday.
Also Read: |
Jeyashanthi has been fighting for justice against sexual harassment for more than two years at the college in which she was teaching. Today, she has lost her job. But she said the struggle had played an important part in making her book possible.
“I thank the college because if it wasn’t for all the struggle that I had gone through, I wouldn’t have probably turned to writing for a reprieve. The characters in the novel are fictional but the experiences that I narrate are all from real life. Every kind of abuse that my characters face are taken from the experience of those I know or those that I have faced,” said Jeyashanthi.
Among the many characters in the novel are three women - friends in a college, who are pursuing postgraduation. From here, the story moves into a range of characters through associations and through the narrative technique of a story within a story. Thus, the novel traces itself from Chennai to remote rural villages, from college corridors to dreams.
Writer Imayam lauded the authenticity of the many language streams in the book.
This is the third novel by Jeyashanthi. The author has also published short stories and children’s books.