Symbolism in Literature was introduced by the French Poet Charles Baudelaire in his Les Fleus du mal (The Flower of Evil), a poetry collection published in 1857. Symbolism is the practice or art of using an object or a word to represent an abstract idea. Woman’s body is a general subject in symbolist art and literature. Mahasweta Devi’s unique employment of symbols in the representation of women’s predicament especially of the subaltern stands out in the sea of popular Feminist fiction of this day. Although it was originally written in Bengali, Breast Stories was translated into English by feminist critic Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak in 1997. The three stories are titled: “Draupadi”, “Behind the Bodice”, and “Breast Giver”. They have one connecting thread – the breast, a symbol of retaliation and power. In each of the story Mahasweta Devi conceptualizes the woman’s body, more particularly the breasts as a symbol subverting the social codes constructed for woman.

symbolism, subaltern, Feminist fiction, retaliation, subverting.