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Indian English literature

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Indian English literature(IEL), also referred to asIndian Writing in English(IWE), is the body of work by writers inIndiawho write in theEnglish languagebut whose native or co-native language could be one of the numerouslanguages of India.Its early history began with the works ofHenry Louis Vivian DerozioandMichael Madhusudan Duttfollowed byRabindranath TagoreandSri Aurobindo.[citation needed]R. K. Narayan,Mulk Raj AnandandRaja Raocontributed to the growth and popularity of Indian English fiction in the 1930s.[1]It is also associated, in some cases, with the works of members of theIndian diasporawho subsequently compose works in English.

It is frequently referred to asIndo-Anglianliterature. (Indo-Anglianis a specific term in the sole context of writing that should not be confused withAnglo-Indian). Although some Indo-Anglian works may be classified under the genre ofpostcolonial literature,the repertoire of Indian English literature encompasses a wide variety of themes and ideologies, from the late eighteenth-century to the present day, and thereby eludes easy categorization.

History[edit]

IEL has a relatively recent history, being nearly two centuries old. The first book written by an Indian in English wasThe Travels of Dean Mahomet,a travel narrative bySake Dean Mahomed,published in England in 1794. IEL, in its early stages had influence from The Westernnovel.Early Indian writers used English unadulterated by Indian words to convey an experience which was essentially Indian.Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay(1838–1894) wroteRajmohan's Wifeand published it in 1864, making it the first Indian novel written in English. Lal Behari Dey'sGovinda Samanta or the History of a Bengali Raiyatwas published in 1874 and the same author'sFolk Tales of Bengal: Life's Secretwas published in 1912.Bianca, or The Young Spanish Maiden(1878) byToru Duttwas the first novel written by an Indian woman. Both Toru Dutt andKrupabai Satthianadhan,two promising Indian English writers of the nineteenth century died untimely in their early twenties and thirties respectively. Satthianadhan's autobiographical novelSaguna: A Story of Native Christian Lifewas published serially inThe Madras Christian College Magazinefrom 1887 to 1888. The only other novel by Satthianandhan isKamala: The Story of a Hindu Life(1894).

The non-fictional body of prose-works, consisting of letters, diaries, political manifesto, articles, speeches, philosophical works etc. in Indian English literature of the nineteenth and the early twentieth century, is rich and varied. The speeches of Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore, Chittaranjan Das, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi and Subhas Chandra Bose, to name only a few, shaped the destiny of modern India and also the destiny of English language in India (Auddy, 9-10). Gandhi'sIndian Home Rule or Hind Swaraj(1910) was written in an indigenised variety of the English language and challenged successfully 'the hegemony of Standard English' (Auddy, 169) even before R. K. Narayan, M. R. Anand and Raja Rao.

Raja Rao(1908–2006), Indian philosopher and writer, authoredKanthapuraandThe Serpent and the Rope,which are Indian in terms of their storytelling qualities.Kisari Mohan Gangulitranslated theMahabharatainto English, the only time the epic has ever been translated in its entirety into a European language.Rabindranath Tagore(1861–1941) wrote in Bengali and English and was responsible for the translations of his own work into English.Dhan Gopal Mukerji(1890–1936) was the first Indian author to win a literary award in the United States.Nirad C. Chaudhuri(1897–1999), a writer of non-fiction, is best known for hisThe Autobiography of an Unknown Indian(1951), in which he relates his life experiences and influences.P. Lal(1929–2010), a poet, translator, publisher and essayist, founded a press in the 1950s forIndian Englishwriting,Writers Workshop.Ram Nath Kak (1917–1993), a Kashmiriveterinarian,wrote his autobiographyAutumn Leaves,which is one of the most vivid portraits of life in 20th century Kashmir and has become a sort of a classic.[who?]

R. K. Narayan(1906–2001) contributed over many decades and continued to write till his death. He was discovered byGraham Greenein the sense that the latter helped him find a publisher in England. Greene and Narayan remained close friends till the end. Similar to the wayThomas HardyusedWessex,Narayan created the fictitious town ofMalgudiwhere he set his novels. Some criticise Narayan for the parochial, detached and closed world that he created in the face of the changing conditions in India at the times in which the stories are set. Others, such as Greene, however, feel that through Malgudi they could vividly understand the Indian experience. Narayan's evocation of small-town life and its experiences through the eyes of the endearing child protagonist Swaminathan inSwami and Friendsis a good sample of his writing style. Simultaneous with Narayan's pastoral idylls, a very different writer,Mulk Raj Anand(1905–2004), was similarly gaining recognition for his writing set in rural India, but his stories were harsher, and engaged, sometimes brutally, with divisions of caste, class and religion. According to writerLakshmi Holmström,"The writers of the 1930s were fortunate because after many years of use, English had become an Indian language used widely and at different levels of society, and therefore they could experiment more boldly and from a more secure position."[1]Kamala Markandeyais an early writer in IEL who has often grouped with the trinity of R.K. Narayan, Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao.[2]The contributions ofManoj DasandManohar Malgoankarto growth of IEL largely remains unacknowledged.[3]

Later history[edit]

Arundhati Roy

Among the later writers, the most notable isSalman Rushdie,born in India and now living in the UK. Rushdie, with his famous workMidnight's Children(Booker Prize1981, Booker of Bookers 1992, and Best of the Bookers 2008), ushered in a new trend of writing. He used a hybrid language – English generously peppered with Indian terms – to convey a theme that could be seen as representing the vast canvas of India. He is usually categorised under themagic realismmode of writing most famously associated withGabriel García Márquez.Nayantara Sehgalwas one of the first female Indian writers in English to receive wide recognition. Her fiction deals with India's elite responding to the crisis engendered by political change. She was awarded the 1986Sahitya Akademi Awardfor English, for her novel,Rich Like Us(1985), by theSahitya Akademi,India's National Academy of Letters.Anita Desai,who was shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times, received a Sahitya Akademi Award in 1978 for her novelFire on the Mountainand a BritishGuardian PrizeforThe Village by the Sea.Her daughterKiran Desaiwon the 2006Man Booker Prizefor her second novel,The Inheritance of Loss.Ruskin Bondreceived Sahitya Akademi Award for his collection of short storiesOur Trees Still Grow in Dehrain 1992. He is also the author of a historical novelA Flight of Pigeons,which is based on an episode during theIndian Rebellion of 1857.

Salman Rushdie

Vikram Seth,author ofThe Golden Gate(1986) andA Suitable Boy(1994) is a writer who uses a purer English and more realistic themes. Being a self-confessed fan ofJane Austen,his attention is on the story, its details and its twists and turns. Vikram Seth is notable both as an accomplished novelist and a prolific poet.

Another writer who has contributed immensely to the Indian English Literature isAmitav Ghoshwho is the author ofThe Circle of Reason(his 1986debut novel),The Shadow Lines(1988),The Calcutta Chromosome(1995),The Glass Palace(2000),The Hungry Tide(2004), andSea of Poppies(2008), the first volume ofThe Ibistrilogy, set in the 1830s, just before theOpium War,which encapsulates the colonial history of the East. Ghosh's latest work of fiction isRiver of Smoke(2011), the second volume ofThe Ibistrilogy.

Rohinton Mistryis an India born Canadian author who is aNeustadt International Prize for Literaturelaureate (2012). His first bookTales from Firozsha Baag(1987) published byPenguin BooksCanada is a collection of 11 short stories. His novelsSuch a Long Journey(1991) andA Fine Balance(1995) earned him great acclaim. In a similar vein,M. G. Vassanjiwas born inKenyaof Indian descent and emigrated to Canada; he twice won theGiller Prize,forThe Book of Secrets(1994) andThe In-Between World of Vikram Lall(2003), as well as theGovernor General's Award for English-language non-fictionforA Place Within: Rediscovering India(2008), a travelogue.

Shashi Tharoor,in hisThe Great Indian Novel(1989), follows a story-telling (though in a satirical) mode as in theMahabharatadrawing his ideas by going back and forth in time. His work as UN official living outside India has given him a vantage point that helps construct an objective Indianness.Vikram Chandrais another author who shuffles between India and the United States and has received critical acclaim for his first novelRed Earth and Pouring Rain(1995) and collection of short storiesLove and Longing in Bombay(1997). His namesakeVikram A. Chandrais a renowned journalist and the author ofThe Srinagar Conspiracy(2000).Suketu Mehtais another writer currently based in the United States who authoredMaximum City(2004), an autobiographical account of his experiences in the city of Mumbai. In 2008,Aravind Adigareceived the Man Booker Prize for his debut novelThe White Tiger.

Recent writers in India such asArundhati RoyandDavid Davidarshow a direction towards contextuality and rootedness in their works. Arundhati Roy, a trained architect and the 1997 Booker prize winner for herThe God of Small Things,calls herself a "home grown" writer. Her award-winning book is set in the immensely physical landscape ofKerala.Davidar sets hisThe House of Blue Mangoesin SouthernTamil Nadu.In both the books, geography and politics are integral to the narrative. In his novelLament of Mohini(2000),Shreekumar Varmatouches upon the unique matriarchal system and thesammandhamsystem of marriage as he writes about the Namboodiris and the aristocrats of Kerala. Similarly, Arnab Jan Deka, a trained engineer and jurist, writes about both physical and ethereal existentialism on the banks of the mighty river Brahmaputra. His co-authored book of poetry with British poet-novelist Tess Joyce, appropriately titledA Stanza of Sunlight on the Banks of Brahmaputra(1983), published from both India and Britain (2009), evokes the spirit of flowing nature of life. His most recent bookBrahmaputra and Beyond: Linking Assam to the World(2015) made a conscious effort to connect to a world divided by racial, geographic, linguistic, cultural and political prejudices. His highly acclaimed short story collectionThe Mexican Sweetheart & other stories(2002) was another landmark book of this genre.Jahnavi Barua,aBangalore-based author fromAssamhas set her critically acclaimed collection of short storiesNext Dooron the social scenario in Assam with insurgency as the background.

The stories and novels ofRatan Lal Basureflect the conditions of tribal people andhill peopleof West Bengal and the adjacent states of Sikkim, Bhutan and Nepal. Many of his short stories reflect the political turmoil of West Bengal since the Naxalite movement of the 1970s. Many of his stories likeBlue Are the Far Off Mountains,The First RainandThe Magic Marbleglorify purity of love. His novelOraon and the Divine Treeis the story of a tribal and his love for an age old tree. In Hemingway style language the author takes the reader into the dreamland of nature and people who are inexorably associated with nature.

As an essayist,Kumar Vikramhas recently made a mark through his bookMen's Lib and Other Literary, Cultural and Personal Essays(2023)[4]

Debates[edit]

One of the key issues raised in this context is the superiority/inferiority of IWE (Indian Writing in English) as opposed to the literary production in the various languages of India. Key polar concepts bandied in this context are superficial/authentic, imitative/creative, shallow/deep, critical/uncritical, elitist/parochial and so on.

The views of Salman Rushdie andAmit Chaudhuriexpressed through their booksThe Vintage Book of Indian WritingandThe Picador Book of Modern Indian Literaturerespectively essentialise this battle.

Rushdie's statement in his book – "the ironic proposition that India's best writing since independence may have been done in the language of the departed imperialists is simply too much for some folks to bear" – created a lot of resentment among many writers, including writers in English. In his book, Amit Chaudhuri questions – "Can it be true that Indian writing, that endlessly rich, complex and problematic entity, is to be represented by a handful of writers who write in English, who live in England or America and whom one might have met at a party?"

Chaudhuri feels that after Rushdie, IWE started employing magical realism, bagginess, non-linear narrative and hybrid language to sustain themes seen as microcosms of India and supposedly reflecting Indian conditions. He contrasts this with the works of earlier writers such as Narayan where the use of English is pure, but the deciphering of meaning needs cultural familiarity. He also feels that Indianness is a theme constructed only in IWE and does not articulate itself in the vernacular literatures. He further adds "the post-colonial novel, becomes a trope for an ideal hybridity by which the West celebrates not so much Indianness, whatever that infinitely complex thing is, but its own historical quest, its reinterpretation of itself".

Some of these arguments form an integral part of what is calledpostcolonial theory.The very categorisation of IWE – as IWE or under post-colonial literature – is seen by some as limiting.Amitav Ghoshmade his views on this very clear by refusing to accept the EurasianCommonwealth Writers Prizefor his bookThe Glass Palacein 2001 and withdrawing it from the subsequent stage.

The renowned writer V. S. Naipaul, a third generation Indian fromTrinidad and Tobagoand aNobel prizelaureate, is a person who belongs to the world and usually not classified under IWE. Naipaul evokes ideas of homeland, rootlessness and his own personal feelings towards India in many of his books.

Jhumpa Lahiri,aPulitzer prizewinner from theU.S.,is a writer uncomfortable under the label of IWE.

Poetry[edit]

Early notable poets in English includeDerozio,Michael Madhusudan Dutt,Toru Dutt,Romesh Chunder Dutt,Sri Aurobindo,Sarojini Naidu,and her brotherHarindranath Chattopadhyay.Notable 20th Century authors of English poetry in India includeDilip Chitre,Kamala Das,Eunice De Souza,Nissim Ezekiel,Kersy Katrak,Shiv K. Kumar,Arun Kolatkar,P. Lal,Jayanta Mahapatra,Dom Moraes,Gieve Patel,A. K. Ramanujan,Madan Gopal Gandhi,andP C K Premamong several others.

The younger generation of poets writing in English includeAbhay K,Arundhathi Subramaniam,Anju Makhija,Arnab Jan Deka,Bibhu Padhi,Ranjit Hoskote,Sudeep Sen,Smita Agarwal,Makarand Paranjape,Jeet Thayil,Jaydeep Sarangi,Mani Rao,Jerry Pinto,K. V. Dominic,Meena Kandasamy,Nalini Priyadarshni,Gopi Kottoor,Tapan Kumar Pradhan,Rukmini Bhaya Nair,Robin Ngangom,Vihang A. Naik,Anuradha Bhattacharyya,K Srilataand Nandini Sahu.

Modern expatriate Indian poets writing in English includeAgha Shahid Ali,Sujata Bhatt,Richard Crasta,Yuyutsu Sharma,Tabish KhairandVikram Seth.

Alternative writing[edit]

India's experimental andavant gardecountercultureis symbolized in the Prakalpana Movement. During the last four decades this bilingualliterary movementhas includedRichard Kostelanetz,John M. Bennett,Don Webb,Sheila Murphyand many others worldwide and their Indian counterparts. Vattacharja Chandan is a central figure who contrived the movement.[5]Prakalpana fiction is a fusion of prose, poetry, play, essay, and pictures. An example of a Prakalpana work is Chandan's bilingualCosmosphere 1(2011).

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^abMeena G.. Khorana; Greenwood (January 2009).The Life and Works of Ruskin Bond.IAP. p. 1–2.ISBN978-1-60752-075-7.
  2. ^Kumar, Jai (2004-06-24)."Kamala Markandaya".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved2017-03-31.
  3. ^"Manohar Malgonkar contributiion to Indian Writing in English remains largely unacknowledged | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis".dna.2010-06-17.Retrieved2017-03-31.
  4. ^https:// thehindu /books/defining-mens-lib/article66648519.ece
  5. ^Songs of Kobisenaby Steve Leblanc inVersion 90,PMS Cafe Press, Alston, MS, USA.

Further reading[edit]

  • Auddy, Ranjan Kumar. "In Search of Indian English: History,Politics and Indigenisation. London & New York: Routledge, 2020ISBN978-0-367-51008-4& 978-0-367-35271 & 978-0-429-33160-2

Haq, Kaiser (ed.).Contemporary Indian Poetry.Columbus: Ohio State University Press,1990.

  • Haq, Rubana (ed.).The Golden Treasury of Writers Workshop Poetry.Kolkata: Writers Workshop, 2008.
  • Hoskote, Ranjit (ed.).Reasons for Belonging: Fourteen Contemporary Indian Poets.Viking/Penguin Books India, New Delhi, 2002.
  • Singh, Bijender. "Indian Writing in English: Critical Insights." New Delhi, Authorspress, 2014.
  • Indian Writing in EnglishArchived2018-03-22 at theWayback Machine| Men and Dreams in the Dhauladhar by Novels by Indian Authors -Kochery C ShibuArchived2017-04-07 at theWayback Machine
  • Joseph, Margaret Paul. "Jasmine on a String: a Survey of Women Writing English Fiction in India." Oxford University Press, 2014.
  • King, Bruce Alvin.Modern Indian Poetry in English: Revised Edition.New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1987, rev. 2001. ( "the standard work on the subject and unlikely to be surpassed" — Mehrotra, 2003).
  • King, Bruce Alvin.Three Indian Poets: Nissim Ezekiel, A K Ramanujan, Dom Moraes.Madras: Oxford University Press, 1991.
  • Mehrotra, Arvind Krishna (ed.).The Oxford India Anthology of Twelve Modern Indian Poets.Calcutta: Oxford University Press, 1992.
  • Mehrotra, Arvind Krishna (ed.).A History of Indian Literature in English.New York: Columbia University Press, 2003. Distributed in India by Doaba Books Shanti Mohan House 16, Ansari Road, New Delhi.
  • Parthasarathy, R. (ed.).Ten Twentieth-Century Indian Poets (New Poetry in India).New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1976.
  • Prem, PCK.English Poetry in India: A Comprehensive Survey of Trends and Thought PatternsNew Delhi: Authorspress, 2011.ASIN8172736029
  • Reddy, T. Vasudeva.A Critical Survey of Indo-English PoetryNew Delhi: Authorspress, 2016.ASIN9352072499
  • Roy, Pinaki. "Encountering the West:A Very Brief Overview of the Indian Diasporic Novelists ".Journal of Higher Education and Research Society(ISSN 2321-9432) 1(1), October 2013:http://herso.org/vol-1-issue-1-oct-2013/
  • Roy, Pinaki. “Dramatic Chronicle:A Very Brief Review of the Growth of Indian English Plays”.Indian Drama in English: Some Perspectives.Ed. Kaushik, A.S. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers and Distributors Pvt. Ltd., 2013 (ISBN978-81-269-1772-3). pp. 272–87.
  • Sadana, Rashmi. "Writing in English," inThe Cambridge Companion to Modern Indian Culture.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
  • Sadana, Rashmi.English Heart, Hindi Heartland: the Political Life of Literature in India.Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012.
  • Shivdasani, Menka (ed.).Anthology of Contemporary Indian Poetry:USA, BigBridge.Org,Michael Rothenberg,2004.
  • Souza, Eunice de. "Nine Indian Women Poets", Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1997.
  • Souza, Eunice de.Talking Poems: Conversations With Poets.New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999.
  • Souza, Eunice de.Early Indian Poetry in English: An Anthology: 1829-1947.New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005.
  • Srikanth, Rajini.The World Next Door: South Asian American Literature and the Idea of America'.Asian American History and Culture. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 2004.
  • Mahapatra, Jayanta & Sharma, Yuyutsu (ed.).Ten: The New Indian Poets.New Delhi: Nirala Publications, 1993.http://niralapublications /new-release-ten-the-new-indian-poets/
  • Jha, Vivekananad. (ed)The Dance of the Peacock.Canada: Hidden Brook Press, 2014.