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Indian English Literature (IEL) refers to the body of work by writers in India who write in the English language and whose mother tongue is usually one of the numerous languages of India. It is also associated with the works of members of the Indian diaspora, especially people like Salman Rushdie and Koushik Kumar who were born in India. As a category, this production comes under the broader realm of postcolonial literature- the production from previously colonised countries such as India. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Indian writing in English. ... This article is the second in a series of The History of Literature. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... See also: 15th century in literature, other events of the 16th century, 17th century in literature, list of years in literature. ... See also: 16th century in literature, other events of the 17th century, 1700 in literature, list of years in literature. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... Modernist literature is the literary form of modernism, it should not be confused with modern literature, which is the history of the modern novel and modern poetry. ... Structuralism is a general approach in various academic disciplines that explores the inter-relationships between fundamental elements of some kind, upon which some higher mental, linguistic, social, cultural etc structures are built, through which then meaning is produced within a particular person, system, culture. ... This article needs a complete rewrite for the reasons listed on the talk page. ... Post-structuralism is a body of work that followed in the wake of structuralism, and sought to understand the Western world as a network of structures, as in structuralism, but in which such structures are ordered primarily by local, shifting differences (as in deconstruction) rather than grand binary oppositions and... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... -1... Hypertext fiction is a genre of electronic literature found mostly online, characterized by non-linearity and reader interaction. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This page indexes the individual year in literature pages. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... How to describe the literature of a nation is often debatable, and is also in natural flux throughout the nations history, so this beginners guide to Canadian literature will offer links to as many actual Canadian authors as possible so the reader can weigh what is being said... Mexican literature plays an important role in Mexican culture. ... This topic is considered to be an essential subject on Wikipedia. ... Australian literature began soon after the establishment of the country by Europeans. ... New Zealand claims as its own many writers, even those immigrants born overseas or those emigrants who have gone into exile. ... Categories: Wikipedia cleanup | Literature stubs | Literature of Pakistan ... Tamil literature is literature in the Tamil language which most prominently includes the contributions of the Tamil country (or Tamizhagam) history, a large part of which constitutes the modern state of Tamil Nadu in India and some parts of Kerala, Karnataka and Andra pradesh. ... Literature in Hindi, the language spoken by the majority of people in India. ... Urdu literature has a long and colorful history that is inextricably tied to the development of that very language, Urdu, in which it is written. ... This article is about the Bengali language. ... Literature in Marathi. ... Literature written in Malayalam language. ... Japanese literature spans a period of almost two millennia of writing. ... Vietnamese literature is literature, both oral and written, created by Vietnamese-speaking people. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... South Africa has a diverse literary history. ... // Western Theatre History Ancient Greek theatre Main article: Ancient Greek theatre The earliest days of western theater remain obscure, but the oldest surviving plays come from ancient Greece. ... This article covers the history of the literary genre of science fiction. ... The history of ideas is a field of research in history and in related fields dealing with the expression, preservation, and change of human ideas over time. ... Intellectual history means either: the history of intellectuals, or: the history of the people who create, discuss, write about and in other ways propagate ideas. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... First language (native language, mother tongue, or vernacular) is the language a person learns first. ... India is rich in languages, boasting not only the indigenous sprouting of Dravidian and Indo-Aryan tongues, but of the absorption of Middle-Eastern and European influences as well. ... It has been suggested that NRIs be merged into this article or section. ... Salman Rushdie (born Ahmed Salman Rushdie Arabic: أحمد سلمان رشدی on June 19, 1947, in Bombay, India) is an Indian-born British essayist and author of fiction, most of which is set on the Indian subcontinent. ... Postcolonial literature is a branch of literature concerned with the political and cultural independence of peoples formerly subjugated in colonial empires. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Colonialism. ...

Early history

IWE has a relatively recent history, it is only one and a half centuries old. In its early stages it was influenced by the Western art form of the novel. Early Indian writers used English unadulterated by Indian words to convey an experience which was essentially Indian. Raja Rao's Kanthapura is Indian in terms of its storytelling qualities. Rabindranath Tagore wrote in Bengali and English and was responsible for the translations of his own work into English. Nirad C. Chaudhuri, a writer of non-fiction, is best known for his The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian where he relates his life experiences and influences. He was a self-confessed Anglophile. DeFoes Robinson Crusoe, Newspaper edition published in 1719 A novel (from French nouvelle, new) is an extended fictional narrative in prose. ... Raja Rao is an Indian writer of English language novels and short stories, whose works are deeply rooted in Brahmanism and Hinduism. ... Rabindranath Tagore (IPA: /rÉ™bɪndrəˌnät tÉ™gôr/, /täkur/; Bangla: রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর, transliteration: Robindronath Å¢hakur; May 7, 1861 – August 7, 1941), sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali poet, Brahmo philosopher, artist, dramatist, musician, novelist, and songwriter who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913, becoming the first... Nirad C. Chaudhuri (23 November 1897 – 1 August 1999) was born in Kishorganj in the Mymensingh district of East Bengal (now in Bangladesh). ... The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian is an autobiographical work of one of the most controversial writers of India -- Nirad C. Chaudhuri, the last imperialist. ...

R.K. Narayan is a writer who contributed over many decades and who continued to write till his death recently. He was discovered by Graham Greene in the sense that the latter helped him find a publisher in England. Graham Greene and Narayan remained close friends till the end. Similar to Thomas Hardy's Wessex, Narayan created the fictitious town of Malgudi where 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 Graham 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 in Swami and Friends is a good sample of his writing style. R.K. Narayan - 1906 - 2001 Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Narayan (October 10, 1906 - May 13, 2001) was an Indian novelist. ... This article is about the writer Graham Greene. ... Thomas Hardy, OM (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was a novelist, short story writer, and poet of the naturalist movement, who delineated characters struggling against their passions and circumstances. ... Wessex was one of the seven major Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (the Heptarchy) that preceded the Kingdom of England. ... Malgudi is the fictitious town created by R.K. Narayan in his novel Swami and Friends. ... Swami and Friends is the first of a trilogy of novels written by R.K. Narayan, a celebrated English novelist from India. ...

Later History

Among the later writers, the most notable is Salman Rushdie, born in India, now living in the United States. Rushdie with his famous work Midnight's Children (Booker Prize 1981, Booker of Bookers 1992) 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 the magic realism mode of writing most famously associated with Gabriel García Márquez. Salman Rushdie (born Ahmed Salman Rushdie Arabic: أحمد سلمان رشدی on June 19, 1947, in Bombay, India) is an Indian-born British essayist and author of fiction, most of which is set on the Indian subcontinent. ... Midnights Children cover Midnights Children (ISBN 039451470X) is a 1980 novel by Salman Rushdie. ... The Man Booker Prize for Fiction, also known as the Man Booker Prize, or simply the Man Booker, is one of the worlds most important literary prizes, and awarded each year for the best original novel written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland in... Magic realism (or magical realism) is a literary genre in which magical elements appear in an otherwise realistic setting. ... Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José García Márquez (born March 6, 1928) is a Colombian novelist, journalist, publisher, and political activist. ...

Bharati Mukherjee, author of Jasmine 1989, has spent much of her career exploring issues involving immigration and identity with a particular focus upon the United States and Canada. Bharati Mukherjee (born July 27, 1940) is an Indian-American fiction writer and university professor currently teaching at the English Department of the University of California, Berkeley. ... Jasmine (1989) is a novel by Bharati Mukherjee set in the present about a young Indian woman in the United States who, trying to adapt to the American way of life in order to be able to survive, changes identities several times. ... See also: 1988 in literature, other events of 1989, 1990 in literature, list of years in literature. ...

Vikram Seth, author of A Suitable Boy (1994) is a writer who uses a purer English and more realistic themes. Being a self-confessed fan of Jane Austen, his attention is on the story, its details and its twists and turns. Vikram Seth (pronounced sayt), born June 20, 1952 is an Indian poet, novelist, travel writer, librettist, childrens writer, biographer and memoirist. ... Jane Austen, in a portrait based on one drawn by her sister Cassandra Jane Austen (December 16, 1775 – July 18, 1817) was a prominent English novelist whose work is considered part of the Western canon. ...

Shashi Tharoor, in his The Great Indian Novel (1989), follows a story-telling (though in a satirical) mode as in the Mahabharata drawing 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. Shashi Tharoor Shashi Tharoor (born 1956) is an author of Indian origin who writes in English. ... The Mahabharata (Devanagari: महाभारत, phonetically Mahābhārata - see note), sometimes just called Bharata, is one of the two major ancient Sanskrit epics of India, the other being the Ramayana. ...

Other authors include Anita Desai, Bapsi Sidhwa, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Raj Kamal Jha, and Rohinton Mistry. Anita Desai (b. ... Bapsi Sidhwa (1938 - ) is an important author of Pakistani origin who writes in English. ... Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (1957) is an award winning author. ... Raj Kamal Jha (b. ... Rohinton Mistry (born July 3, 1952) is considered to be one of the foremost authors of South Asian origin writing in English. ...

Debates

It would be useful at this point to bring in the recent debates on IWE.

One of the key issues raised in this context is the superiority/ inferiority of IWE 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 Rushdie and Amit Chaudhuri expressed through their books The Vintage Book of Indian Writing and The Picador Book of Modern Indian Literature respectively essentialise this battle.

Rushdie's statement in his book – "the ironical 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. (It is probable that the level of Indianness constructed is directly proportional to the distance between the writer and India.) 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 called postcolonial theory. The very categorisation of IWE – as IWE or under post-colonial literature – is seen by some as limiting. Amitav Ghosh made his views on this very clear by refusing to accept the Eurasian Commonwealth Writers Prize for his book The Glass Palace in 2001 and withdrawing it from the subsequent stage. Postcolonial theory is a literary theory or critical approach that deals with literature produced in countries that were once, or are now, colonies of other countries. ... Amitav Ghosh (born 1956 in Calcutta), one of the finest Indian authors writing in the English language. ... The Commonwealth Writers Prize was established in 1987. ...

The renowned writer V.S. Naipaul, a third generation Indian from Trinidad and Tobago and a Nobel prize laureate, 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. Sir V.S. Naipaul Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul (born August 17, 1932), better known as V. S. Naipaul, is a British novelist of Hindu heritage and East Indian ethnicity from Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean, which was then a British colony. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

Jhumpa Lahiri, a Pulitzer prize winner from the US, is a writer uncomfortable under the label of IWE. Jhumpa Lahiri Jhumpa Lahiri (b. ... Listen to this article (help) Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-04-13, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about: United States Wikinews has news related to this article: United States United States government CIA World Factbook Entry for United States House. ...

Recent writers in India such as Arundhati Roy and David Davidar show a direction towards contextuality and rootedness in their works. Arundhati Roy, a trained architect and the 1997 Booker prize winner for her The God of Small Things, calls herself a "home grown" writer. Her award winning book is set in the immensely physical landscape of Kerala. Davidar sets his The House of Blue Mangoes in Southern Tamil Nadu. In both the books, geography and politics are integral to the narrative. Arundhati Roy (Malayalam: അരുന്ധതി റോയ്, Devanagari: अरुंधती राय) (born November 24, 1961) is an Indian novelist and activist. ... David Davidar made the company, Penguin, a force to reckon with in the publishing industry in India. ... The God of Small Things is a semi-autobiographical novel by Indian author Arundhati Roy. ... List of famous Keralites Districts of Kerala Local Body Election in Kerala Malayalam External links Government of Kerala Chief Minister of Kerala Kerala Trivia Poorams Pachakam Categories: | | ... Tamil Nadu (தமிழ் நாடு, Land of the Tamils) is a state at the southern tip of India. ...

As the number of Indian writers in English keeps increasing, with everyone with a story to tell trying to tell a story, and as publishing houses in India vie among themselves to discover the next new whiz-kid who will land up with world fame, it could become increasingly difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. Research, debates and seminars on IWE continue with increasing frequency. However,it might be too early a stage in the history of Indian writing in English to pass any final judgement.

Poetry

A much over-looked category of Indian writing in English is poetry. As stated above, Rabindranath Tagore wrote in Bengali and English and was responsible for the translations of his own work into English. Other early notable poets in English include Derozio, Michael Madhsudhan Dutt, Joseph Furtado, Armando Menezes, Toru Dutt, Romesh Chandra Dutt, Sarojini Naidu and her brother Harendranath Chattopadhyaya. Rabindranath Tagore (IPA: /rəbɪndrəˌnät təgôr/, /täkur/; Bangla: রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর, transliteration: Robindronath Ţhakur; May 7, 1861 – August 7, 1941), sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali poet, Brahmo philosopher, artist, dramatist, musician, novelist, and songwriter who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913, becoming the first...

In modern times, Indian poetry in English was typified by two very different poets. Dom Moraes, winner of the Hawthornden Prize at the precocious age of 19 for his first book of poems "A Beginning" went on to occupy a pre-eminent position among Indian poets writing in English. Nissim Ezekiel, who came from India's tiny Jewish community, created a voice and place for Indian poets writing in English and championed their work. Nissim Ezekiel (December 24, 1924 - January 9, 2004) was a poet, playwright and art critic. ...

Their contemporaries in English poetry in India were Arvind Mehrotra, Jayanta Mahapatra, Gieve Patel, AK Ramanujan, Parthasarathy, Keki Daruwala, Adil Jussawala, Arun Kolatkar, Dilip Chitre, Eunice De Souza, Kersi Katrak and Kamala Das among several others.

A generation of exiles also sprang from the Indian diaspora. Among these are names like Agha Shahid Ali, Sujata Bhatt and Vikram Seth.

The current generation of Indian poets writing in English includes Ranjit Hoskote, Jeet Thayil, Tabish Khair, Vijay Nambisan, H. Masud Taj, Rukmini Bhaya Nair, C.P. Surendran, Moniza Alvi, Imtiaz Dharker, Gayatri Mazumdar, Vivek Narayanan, Gavin Barrett, Anjum Hasan, Jerry Pinto, Smita Agarwal, Arundhathi Subramaniam, Anand Thakore, Meena Alexander, Gayatri Majumdar, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Kumar Vikram and Reetika Vazirani.

References

• Hoskote, Ranjit (ed.). Reasons for Belonging: Fourteen Contemporary Indian Poets. Viking/Penguin Books India, New Delhi, 2002.

• King, Bruce Alvin (ed.). Modern Indian Poetry in English: Revised Edition. Delhi: Oxford

U P, 2001.

• King, Bruce Alvin. Three Indian Poets: Nissim Ezekiel, A K Ramanujan, Dom Moraes. Delhi: Oxford University Press

• Parthasarathy, R. Ten Twentieth Century Indian Poets (New Poetry in India), Delhi: Oxford U P, 1977.

• Srikanth, Rajini. The World Next Door: South Asian American Literature and the Idea of America. Asian American History and Culture. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 2004.

External links

• The Poetry House
• Indian Writers in English
• Blog: Discussion on Indian Writing in English