Unit-I : Concepts

Chapter - 1
Postmodernism and Post-colonialism and their influence on Indian Writing in English, Contemporary Indian English Poetry and Drama (post-independence) and Dalit Voices

Question- Write about Post-Colonial Indian writings in English Literature?

Answer - 

Introduction: The board meaning of the term 'Post colonialism' can be best understood by tracing the etymology of the words "Post" and "Colony". The word 'Post' is derived from the Latin term 'Postis' which means 'after' or 'behind'. The word 'Colony' takes its origin from the Latin term 'Colonus', which refers to 'a cultivator' a planter or a settler in a new land". Literally the term 'Postcolonialism' refers to the "period after colonialism". Broadly the term, Postcolonalism refers to "the ways in which race, ethnicity, culture and human identity itself are represented in the moder era, after many colonized countries gained their independence.

Until the mid-twentieth century, the European powers exerted ther dominance over the vast regions of Asia, Africa and South America. The dominance was confined not only to the political lives of the people, but also extended to the cultural, economic and social living conditions of the colonized people. A massive struggle in the colonized nations resulted in the over throw of the colonial rule. These liberated nations are known as "Postcolonial". Suggesting "liberation from colonialism and imperialism". In this way, the term, "Post coloniality" can be defined as,

The historical, cultural, economical, political and actual living conditions of the newly independent nations.

Post-Colonial Literature - 'Until the lion learns how to write', every story will glorify the hunter. These words of Nozipo Maraire stresses the necessity colonial literature' refers to "the literature produced by the people, who were formally colonized and subjugated". In other words Postcolonial Literature', refers to the body of works by the colonized people to annihilate the influences exerted by the colonizers in their lives". Postcolonial Literature emerged in the mid-twentieth century, when many colonized nations were fighting for their liberation from the colonizers. Helen Gilbert's definition of 'Postcolonism' read as.

It is the term that indicates a degree of agency or a programme of resistance against cultural domination, signals the existence of a particular historical legacy, a stage in culture's transition into a modern nation state.

The term "Postcolonial" has become a convenient term to described as resistance against class, race and gender oppression.

Language Employed By the Postcolonial Writers - Post colonial writers differ in their view of the choice of language in Post colonial writings.

Some writers stress the use of native language in their works. These writers strongly believe that their age old customs, manners and traditions can be expressed best in their native language. Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, a post colonialist writer from Kenya is one such writer who had a successful start in the English language. Ngugi then ceased to write in English and started writing in Gikuyu, a language spoken primarily by the Kikuyu people of Kenya.

Another set of writers prefer the usage of the language of the colonisers, may it be English or French. These writers wanted to enhance the internation communication, by writing in English. They aim at redirecting the rool of language' against the colonisers. The Post-colonial English writers employ the colonisers' language, to oppose the colonisers and to rectify the damages created by them in the historical, social, cultural and economical sects.

Post Colonial Theory - "Postcolonialism' as a "critical literary theory emerged in the mid-ninteenth century. Postcolonial theory is a literary theory or critical approach which focuses on the literature produced by the countries, which were once colonized. In some instances, it also deals with the literature written by the colonizing countries, which takes "Colonies and their people" as the subject matter. The Australian critics. Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffins, summarise the essence of "Post colonial theory" in a nutshell as,

Post colonial theory involves discussion about experience of various kinds; migration, slavery, suppression, resistance, representation, difference, race, gender, place and responses to the influential master discourses of imperial Europe such as history, philosophy and linguistics and the fundamental experience of speaking and writing by which all these come into being, None of these is essentially' postcolonial, but together they form the complex fobric of the field..

Post colonial Indian English Literature - The Indian subcontinent remained under the British Imperial rule for more than two hundred years. During the Imperial rule, the natives were subjected to a number of harassments. Especially, the cultural and moral lives of the natives were deeply disconfigured. Accordingly, the Indian writers emerged with a view to unite Indians and to wipe out the colonial perspectives. As there were many regional languages in India, the Indian writers in English came to be known as "Indian English Literature". The early works of the Indian English authors were set against the backdrop of the "Postcolonial" themes of Nationalism', 'Racism', Ethnicism' and 'cultural identity,. The writers also dealt with a variety of subthemes such as 'rootlessness, 'alienation', 'gender discrimination', labour exploitation', 'hybridity', 'poverty', 'corrution', margnalism' and so on. Among the various genes of Postcolonial Indian English literature, the genre of 'novel', energed as the most successful and effective one. Amit choudhari, in his book, "Picador Book of Modern Indian Literature", expresses his view about novel as,

The Postcolonial novel, becomes a tope for an ideal hybridity by which the west celebrates not so much Indianess, whatever that infinitely complex things is, but its own historical quest, its reinterpretation of itself.

The early exponents of Postcolonial Indian English Literature are Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Sri Aurobindo, Rabindranath Tagore, Mulk Raj Anand, Raja Rao, R.K. Narayan and so on. The writers of the modern age are Salman Rushdie, Hanif Kureishi, Rohinton Mistry, Amitav Ghosh, Vikram Seth, Shashi Tharoor and so on. The Postcolonial Indian English Literature gave enormous scope for the women writers. The woman writers who received universal recognition are Nayantrara Sehgal, Anita Desai, Arundhati Roy, Kiran Desai, Jhumpa Lahri and so on.

Salman Rushdie's Second novel, "Midnight's Children", published in 1981, ushered a new trend in the postcolonial writings through the application of a technique named, 'Magical realism'. The Cuban novelist, Alejo Carpentier, defines the term 'magical realism' as,

........ an unexpected alteration of reality.........

An unaccustomed insight that is singularly favoured by the unexpected richness of reality or on amplification of the scale and categories of reality.

The technique of 'magical realism' is used by the Indian English writers as a Postcolonial effort to resist the European notions of realism. 'Magical realism' promotes hybridity of cultures by defamiliarising the readers and by broadening their perspective of the global world.

The novel is narrated by the protagonist, Saleem Sinai, who stands as a representative of the new class of Indian youths after independence. By endowing the protagonist with magical powers, the novelist speculates on a variety of themes like 'nationalism', 'realism', 'partition', politics' and so on. The novelist asserts the fact that, in the Postcolonial Indian scene, the growth and development of each and every individual is directly proportional to the wholesome development of the nation.

The women writers of the Postcolonial Indian English Literature, switched on to the microscopic themes of 'alienation', 'poverty', 'isolation and 'disillusionment' in the familial lives of the Indian folk. Anita Desai's first novel, "Cry the Peacock", published in 1963, echoes the sufferings and agony of the Indian women folk. Maya, the woman protagonist of the novel, experiences an unhappy marital life. Maya has been married to a middle aged lawyer named Gautama, who devotes much of his time to his career. The astrologer's prediction about Maya's carly demise, makes her nervous. She wants to enjoy life to the fullest, with the minimal time. However, all her sexual advances has a cold response from Gautama. In a sense of dejection, Maya is driven insane which deals to Gautama's tragic death. Maya's sense of 'alienation' and 'rootlessness' reflects the plight of the entire Indian womenfolk. In his book, "The Second Sex', Simone de Beauvoir, says as,

One is not born but rather becomes a women. Je No biological, psychological or economic fate  determines the figure that the human female present in society, it is civilization as a whole that produces this creature.

In this way, the Postcolonial Indian English authors composed their works with a view to voice the suffering of the under privileged, in order to uplift them, thereby contributing to the growth of the nation, both culturally and socially.

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