For Her Eyes Only: Embodiment in Prabhā Khetān’s Autobiography

This article focuses on the way embodiment is articulated in Prabhā Khetān’s autobiography Anyā se ananyā, first published in 2007. It is introduced as an existentialist autobiography –focusing on the existential self – emphasizing the complexity of embodiment and its implications for identity and self-representation. Best known as the writer who introduced French feminist existentialism to Hindi-speaking readers through her translation of Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, Prabhā Khetān has written an autobiography that is at the same time a unique woman's intellectual and personal journey, the success story of a professional woman, as well as a profoundly moving reflection on human relationships. Prabhā Khetān never taught in the world of academia, but her influence as a poet, novelist, and feminist has been extensive. Anyā se ananyā has been acclaimed as a piece of ‘extreme sincerity’, insofar as it pulls the veil off the ‘other woman,’ a very rare voice in Hindi autobiographical literature.