Indian English literature its major distinctive characteristics
What is Indian English literature?
The term 'Indian English literature' broadly refers to the literature created by people of Indian origin in the English language. It has a history of nearly two and a half centuries and spans a large number of works on various subjects written by men and women both in India as well as around the globe. Formulating a coherent and precise definition of Indian English literature is problematic. The brief and commonsensical description provided at the beginning of the essay describing Indian English literature as writing in English produced by Indians is insufficient because the concept of Indian people as a whole nation is a relatively new mi! of e"ually roughly defined geographical# ethnical# cultural and historical notions arising primarily from $estern %rientalist imagination. & Indian English literature a historical sketch In order to characteri'e Indian English literature approporiately and describe its uni"ue features one needs an understanding of its historical development and the conte!t in which it was formed. Its history may be roughly divided into four periods( the earliest works# the aesthetic period )c. &*+,-&.+,/# the realist period )c. &.+,-&.0,/ and the diasporic literature )post &.0,/. 1lthough writing in the English language written in and about India# produced by Englishmen# has e!isted already since the late &2 th century the first te!t of Indian English literature i.e. the first te!t in English authored by a person of Indian origin is the travelogue of 3heikh 4ean 5uhammad written in the late &* th century. %ther early te!ts in English authored at the beginning of the &. th century by Indians such as the 6engali religious reformer 7ammohun 7oy or the 3outh Indian scholar 8avelli 9enkata 7amaswamy# notwithstanding their literary "ualities# mostly served a pragmatic function. 3ince the +:s and ;:s of the nineteenth century a new phase of Indian English literature & <riyamvada )+::./ known as the 'aesthetic phase' started# led by a few writers the most notable of whom were 5ichael 5adhusudan 4utt and =enry >ouis 9ivian 4ero'io. The primary medium which they used was verse. Their productions had a primarily aesthetic function and were intended to be art for art's sake. The writers largely drew on traditional Indian themes which were freely interte!tuali'ed with the earlier literary productions of the native Indian languages. In the second "uarter of the +: th century Indian English literature took a new turn and a wave of realism insued. This period lasted appro!imately from &.+, to &.0,. It's writers focused on the problems of contemporary Indian reality and everyday life. This literature was written largely in prose# its primary genres being the novel# the short story# the novella# the essay and the personal sketch. The most notable writers of this period were 7. ?. @arayan# 7aja 7ao# 5ulk 7aj 1nand and A. 9. 4esani. This literature was hardly uniform and within it we may discern four primary ideological perspectives# all in relation and as a reaction to the e!perience of 6ritish colonialism and the contact with the $est( authenticity# traditionalism# nationalism and cosmopolitanism. In the last decades of the twentieth century the centres of the Indian English literary culture shifted entirely from the Indian subcontinent to the Indian diaspora abroad and another phase of Indian English literature known as the 'diasporic phase' started. 1s the name suggests it was dominated by writers of Indian origin living oversees# the most notable e!amples being 3alman 7ushdie and the @obel pri'e winning 9. 3. @aipaul. Its themes focused on the e!periences of Indians abroad and their contact with the outside world. + Major distinctive features of Indian English literature Indian English literature posesses a number of distinctive features which differentiate it both from literatures in 3outh 1sian languages as well as obviously from the rest of the 1nglophone literature. 5any of these differences result from the particular circumstances under which it was fomed and developed while in contact with the cultures of both English as well as the vernacular Indian languages. %ne of the uni"ue characteristics of Indian English literature is the fact that it's largely a product of India's contact with the outside world and may be seen as a response to the foreign + 4harwadker )+::;/ discourses on India. The earliest works were directly or indirectly responses to the 6ritish discourse B for e!ample the travelogues of 4ean 5uhammad mirrored the travelegoues left by Englishmen in India while the works of 7ammohun 7oy were responses to the colonial and missionary representations of =induism. The &. th century aesthetic works were written in order to show that the Indians could compete with the English at producing at least e"ually brilliant literary works. The majority of the realist Indian English literature produced in the +: th century represented particular ideological view-points each of which developed in a strict relation to the discourses on India of the 6ritishers. %bviously# the character of the diasporic literature was moulded by the Indian immigrant e!perience and their contact with foreigners. 1nother important and perhaps the defining characteristic which differentiates Indian English literature from the modern literatures of the 3outh 1sian languages is its cosmopolitan character. English achieved the position of a cosmopolitan language of India by the middle of the &. th century when it became the language of commerce# education and administration throughout the subcontinent. The role played by the English language in India today is similar to that of 3anskrit and <ersian in the earlier periods of 3outh 1sian history. Today the only true rival of English for the role of a cosmopolitan Indian language is =indi-Crdu. Therefore# Indian-English literature is a cosmopolitan literature unifying India unlike the regional vernacular literatures. 1s Indian English literature attempts to convey something uni"uely Indian using a fundamentally alien means B the English language B it is a literature of translations where various uni"uely Indian themes were traslated into a different language B English )not fundemantally suited to them/. 1s a result# as e!tensive research has shown# the styles of English employed by various Indian writers carry with them the features of their native languages such as synta!# rhythm# style and even vocabulary. Therefore# another defining characteristic of Indian English literature is its uni"ue style of English. 5oreover# due to the fact that in the 6ritish empire English was the language of administration associated with power and privilege and it provided economic opportunities for employment the backgrounds of the writers of Indian English literature were affected. 5ost of them came from middle and upper classes. 1lso# unsurprisingly# the more 1nglici'ed the 'one the more Indian English writers it produced. The majority came from the areas of the three presidencies of the 6ritish empire and from major urban regions. Indian English literature is therefore geographically and socially more e!clusive than the vernacular Indian literatures. ; Indian English literature and the vernacular South Asian literatures Today# Indian English literature is becoming increasingly prominent and popular in the whole world# including among $estern audiences. It has received accolades internationally# as is evident by the recognition given to 3alman 7ushdie or the @obel pri'e awarded to 9. 3. @aipaul. %ne of the results of this increased popularity of Indian English literature is the fact that it has eclipsed the vernacular literatures of India in the international scenes. This is suggested by a large amount of data collected by @alini Iyer and 6onni Dare. E <ublication statistics prove that in the largest book markets such as the 1merican book market foreign translated books )of which books in vernacular 3outh 1sian languages obviously only make up for a fraction/ constitute less than one percent of the whole book market. 3tatistics obtained from $orld8at by the same authors regarding the presence of the works of some of the more popular Indian writers in libraries worldwide )which appears to be tiny/ prove e!actly the same thing. 1part from that# Indian English literature has a disproportianately higher media presence in the $est compared to the vernacular 3outh 1sian literatures. The same is visible from the uneven dispersion of $estern book awards and promotion of publishers B English language works seem unfairly supported. The available publication data suggests that even among narrow academic e!pert cirlces the research and production of scholarly articles on 3outh 1sian writers is surprisingly lacking. 1ll this suggests one conclusion B the vernacular literatures in 3outh 1sian languages virtually do not have an audience outside India. %ne of the factors# albeit probably not the sole or even major one# which accounts for this situation is the disparaging treatment which the vernacular Indian literatures happen to be given in the public discourse in the $est. This approach to them is particularly e!emplified by the statements made by none other than the most brilliant writers of Indian English literature such as 7ushdie or @aipaul# which treat Indian English literature as the most valuable contribution of India to the world of belles letres and dismiss the modern Indian vernacular literatures and the themes they touch as parochial# naive as well as lacking in depth and not ; 4harwadker )+::;/ E Iyer F Darre )+::./ dealing with world-wide concerns. In India# although obviously# literature in the modern Indian languages is still being produced and read# the vernacular languages are becoming increasingly displaced by English. 4ata collected on the educational curricula of higher educational institutions in India by Iyer and Darre suggest that insufficient emphasis is put on the study of the vernacular languages and the literatures# while English and especially 6ritish literature receives disproportionatelly great attention. 1part from that# one must remember that India constitutes the world's third largest market for English-language books. Effort has been e!erted to support the development of the vernacular Indian literatures# by organisations which are active to promote 3outh 1sian literature# such as the 3ahitya 1kademi )1cademy of >etters/# which publishes translations of modern works in 3outh 1sian languages and regularly gives awards to vernacular writers. 6ut despite such activities the English language is on a rise in India and this trend will only continue due to the important role of English in the international business sector. , Conclusive remarks advantages of Indian writing in English %ne may want to conclude a discussion of Indian English literature with a more general appreciation of the advantages of writing in English. 1part from obvious commercial and linguistic advantages such as making communication easier and transmitting typically Indian themes to the wide world one may also speak of other deeper advantages. In modern India the English language without much doubt succesfully performs its role of a lingua franca of India# unifying or at least attempting to unify the whole nation. It cannot be stressed more that it is the language of the Indian cosmopolis in a similar way as 3anskrit and <ersian were in the past and Indian English literature is a key factor contributing to cultural unity for India just as the literary cultures of 3anskrit and <ersian did in the past. 6ut apart from that# it cannot be overstressed that while the Indian English literature took over the originally $estern concept of India as a single nation it developed this originally alien idea and thus contributed to the building and solidifying of Indian nationhood. 2 , Iyer F Darre )+::./ 2 5ee )+::;/ References &. 4harwadker# 9inay The Historical Formation of Indian-English Literature Gin(H <ollock# 3heldon )+::;/ )ed./ Literary Cultures in History. Reconstructions from South-Asia# Cniversity of 8alifornia <ress. +. Iyer# @aliniI Dare# 6onni )+::./ )ed./ ther Tongues. Rethin!ing the Language "ebates in India# 7odopi. ;. 5ee# Jon After #idnight$ The %o&el in the '()*s and '((*s Gin(H 5ehrotra# 1ravind ?rishna )+::;/ An Illustrated History of Indian +riting in English Ghttp(KKwww.open.ac.ukK1rtsKferguson-centreKindian-litKdocumentsKpub-doc-jon-mee- sept:0.htm B last access( &&.:..+:&EH. E. <riyamvada# Aopal )+::./ The Indian %o&el in English# %!ford Cniversity <ress.