- A-Z
- Interculture journa...
- Jahrgang 9
- Ausgabe 11
- The empire strikes ...
- Autor(in)
- Erschienen
- 2010
- DOI
- Seitenbereich
-
83 - 92
- Zusammenfsg.
-
Does such a thing as Indian Writing in English exist? In the article, which is divided into five sections, the Indianborn author of German language attempts to illustrate/illuminate the particular hurdles to determining this subject as a genre. The works discussed by male and female authors vary tremendously one from another both in theme and in style. Among them are novels and stories in traditional narrative style by Naipaul, Ghosh, Lahiri… primarily grouped by major themes of immigration. At the same time that authors such as Rushdie, Roy, Tharoor... have been endeavoring to expand the vocabulary and conventions of the English language and to further modern narrative technique. Not only is the complex Indian subcontinent and its positive and negative realities portrayed and redefined, but as a parallel occurrence, rave stories and pop novels are being written by Rushdie and Kureishi. The sole common characteristic of the some dozen works and authors reviewed in this essay lies in their all being written in the English language. One must note here that English is not the mother tongue of any of these writers. The English language is used as an instrument of literary and artistic expression. A further homogeneity of secondary importance lies in the fact that nearly all of these writers have some sort of diaspora experience1 . This essay also expounds on examples of how “Indian Writing in English” differentiates itself clearly from “The Indian Romanticism” of European literature. The postcolonial writers point an admonishing finger to the wounds of India and they ruthlessly mock the inhumane regimes of Mrs. Thatcher and of Mr. Bush. One segment is devoted to the bizarre portrayal of love, gender and sex relations that makes the reading of the books in question vexing.
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