Babu Fictions: Alienation in Contemporary Indian English Novels

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This book successfully addresses Indian English fiction without trying to fit it into a ‘postcolonial’ mould. Working with a redefined, Marxian concept – that of ‘alienation’, Khair presents a reading of contemporary Indian English fiction in English that sets out to study whether it is possible to write in English about people who often speak little or no English. Employing the concept of ‘discourse’ and formulating class divisions in emblematic ‘Babu-Coolie’ terms, the book presents thorough – and at times surprising – readings of authors like Raja Rao, Anita Desai, R.K. Narayan, Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh, and others. Chapters on specific writers are combined with essays on general themes like the industrial landscape, caste and gender. Khair’s concern with the issues of power and hegemony add philosophical depth to his reading of literature as literature. This book will be of interest to students and researchers of Indian English fiction, sociologists, literature critics as well as general readers.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Tabish Khair

Tabish Khair (b. 1966) was educated mostly in Gaya, India, and is currently Associate Professor of English and Postcolonial Literature at Aarhus University, Denmark. He is the author of several publications, including the poetry collection where Parallel Lines Meet (2000), containing poems that won the All India poetry Prize, and a novel, The Bus Stopped (2004), which was shortlisted for the prestigious Encore Awarad. He has edited Amitav Ghosh: A Critical Companion (2004) and co-edited and introduced Other Routes: 1500 Years of African and Asian Travel Writing (2005).

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Bibliographic information

Title
Babu Fictions: Alienation in Contemporary Indian English Novels
Author
Edition
1st ed.
Publisher
ISBN
0195679032
Length
xvi+407p., Notes; Appendix; Bibliography; Index; 22cm.
Subjects