Indian English language literature

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Indian English Language Literature or Indian Literature in English Language is the literature that has been and is written in the English language by Indian writers . Depending on how broadly one encompasses Indian English-language literature, this also includes the literature of Indian authors who live and work outside India, e.g. B. in the USA or in Great Britain , like Salman Rushdie . A distinction must be made between Indian English-language literature and Anglo-Indian literature, which was written by British authors on Indian topics, such as Kim by Rudyard Kipling or A Passage to India by EM Forster .

Important representatives of Indian literature in English are the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore , who wrote his poetry in English and Bengali and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 . Also worth mentioning are the novelists Mulk Raj Anand , Raja Rao and RK Narayan , who made Indian literature in English the first high point in the 1930s and 1940s. Indian for a boom of English literature from the 1980s caused among other things the awarding of the Booker Prize to Salman Rushdie for his novel Midnight's Children (Engl. Midnight Children ), which also gives other Indian authors who write in English literature, easier access to the international book market found. Other important authors who also became internationally known from the 1990s onwards include: B. Anita Desai and Amit Chaudhuri . Novels by Indian authors such as Arundhati Roy ( The God of Small Things , 1997), Kiran Desai ( The Inheritance of Loss , 2006) and Aravind Adiga ( The White Tiger , 2008) won the Booker Prize in the 1990s and 2000s.

Beginnings of Indian English Language Literature

Toru bun

The beginnings of Indian English language literature go back to letters, tracts, and translations of Indian literature into English written by Indian authors during the colonial era. These authors included: For example, the Bengali Hindu reformer and journalist Rammohan Roy , who wrote English-language texts on various topics at the beginning of the 19th century, including freedom of expression and freedom of the press in India. He also translated Indian literary and philosophical texts into English and helped establish English as a means of communication and literary language in India.

The first literary publications include the poetry of Shoshee Dunder Dutt's Miscellaneous Verses , published in Calcutta in 1848. Shoshee Dunder Dutt belonged to the great Dutt dynasty of writers who produced other English-speaking authors, including Toru Dutt , who is also known as the first modern Indian poet in English and whose poems were for the most part published posthumously as Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan in 1882 .

The novel established itself as a new genre in Indian literature in the second half of the 19th century, initially in the Indian languages Bengali and Marathi . The first narrative texts by Indian authors in English that have survived today are probably A Journal of Forty-Eight Hours of the Year 1945 , a vision of the future by Kylas Chunder Dutt, published in the Calcutta Literary Gazette in 1835 , and The Republic of Orissa: A Page from the Annals of the 20th Century , also a future vision of India's independence by Shoshee Chunder Dutt, appeared in Saturday Evening Harakuru 1845. Probably one of the first novels to be written in India was Rajmohan's wife of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay , who appeared as a serial in The Indian Field magazine in 1864, a romantic love story. This first novel remained the only English novel by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, who wrote his major novels in Bengali.

Krupabai Satthianadhan , who wrote several novels in English, including the educational novels Kamala, A Story of Hindu Life (1894) and Saguna, A Story of Native Christian Life (published posthumously in 1895 ), is also worth mentioning as a representative of the English language novel of the 19th century in India ).

1900 until the independence of India

Cover page of the Gitanjali by Rabindranath Thakur

The outstanding figure in Indian literature at the beginning of the 20th century was Rabindranath Thakur (anglicized spelling: Tagore). Tagore wrote his poetry mainly in his native Bengali. It was only when he had already established himself as an important Bengali poet that he translated his work Gitanjali into English, which was published by Macmillan in London in 1913 and was a great literary success. Strictly speaking, the English version of Gitanjali was not an exact translation, but a revision of the Bengali version, to which Tagore also added other poems in English. Tagore received the Nobel Prize for Literature for his work in 1913.

The Indian English language novel saw its first major heyday in the 1930s. The authors Mulk Raj Anand , Raja Rao and RK Narayan are often cited as the founding fathers of the modern Indian novel in English . All three authors address, among other things, social issues in contemporary India. In his novel Untouchable , Anand deals with the social situation of Dalits (“untouchables”) in India. Raja Rao's novel Kanthapura (1938) describes the influence of Mahatma Gandhi's ideas on the countryside, exemplified by the village of Kanthapura. In his more than twelve novels, RK Narayan describes life in the small town of Malgudi in Mysore .

1950s to 1970s

After India gained independence from Great Britain, English was not a popular literary language as the language of the country from which it had just gained independence. As a result, many English-language authors were hesitant to establish themselves, but there are still a number of authors whose beginnings go back to the 1950s.

Worth mentioning here are Khushwant Singh , who wrote not only novels but also historical works and translations. Singh is best known for his novel Train to Pakistan from 1956, one of the most widely regarded literary works on the division of the Indian subcontinent into India and Pakistan. Also known is Ruskin Bond , whose career began well into the 1950s. Bond's first novel The Room on the Roof (1956) won the John Lllewellyn-Rhys Memorial Prize; however, Bond is best known for his children's literature.

Three notable authors from the 1950s to 1970s are Nayantara Sahgal , Kamala Markandaya, and Anita Desai . While Sahgal's novels deal primarily with issues of the Western elite and their relationship to political power and responsibility, Markandaya attempts to address a wide variety of topics, including the conflict between tradition and modernity. In her novels, Anita Desai mainly traces the psychological development of her mostly female main characters.

In the decades from 1950 onwards, some English-speaking poets established themselves in India: First of all, Nissim Ezekiel should be mentioned, who has published poems since 1945, as well as Dom Moraes and Kamala Das . In addition to English, Kamala Das also wrote Malayam in her native language. The English language served Das as an alternative, in which she could deal with more daring topics in India, such as erotic feelings or the question of identity as an Indian woman. Two poets who can be considered modernists of Indian poetry in English are Arun Kolatkar and Arvind Krishna Mehrotha. Arvind Krishna Mehrotha also made a name for himself as a literary critic, translator and editor of poetry anthologies. Poets who also publish mainly in English are Indians with a Parsi background such as Keki N. Daruwalla and Gieve Patel.

1980 until today

Salman Rushdie

The 1980s marked another turning point in the history of Indian English-language literature. With the publication of Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie in 1981 and the winning of the prestigious Booker Prize , Indian English-language literature became known worldwide. As a consequence of this success of Midnight's Children , interest in Indian English-language literature increased, from which other authors, who are now more open to international publishers, benefit. B. established in 1985.

Authors who have been writing modern Indian novels since the 1980s (either in the tradition established by Rushdie or as a backlash) include Amitav Ghosh , Shashi Tharoor , Mukul Kesavan , Vikram Chandra , Shashi Deshpande , Gita Hariharan and Arundhati Roy . Amitav Ghosh e.g. B. took up the style of Rushdie's magical realism in his first novel The Circle of Reason (1986). The pattern of linking the novel with Indian history is also taken up by several authors who succeeded Rushdie, for example in The Shadow Lines by Ghosh, The Great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor, Looking Through Glass by Mukul Kesavan and in the novels by Vikram Chandra. One of the most successful works in this “historical novel” category is Vikram Seth's mammoth work A Suitable Boy , the novel of which is set against the backdrop of historical events (the 1950s after India's independence) and which is appreciated both in India and internationally.

Shashi Deshpande belongs to the group of Indian women writers who have established themselves in India and internationally since the 1980s; other important authors are Gita Hariharan and Arundhati Roy. Deshpande's novels mainly deal with the situation of urban middle class women in India. Hariharan's novels experiment with literary forms. B. A Thousand Faces of Nights (1992) and The Ghosts of Vasu Master (1994) retelling of folk tales and children's literature. Arundhati Roy's novel The God of Small Things (1997) draws parallels between the individual fate of her heroine Ammu (“small things”) and the “Big God” of the nation. Roy won the Booker Prize for her novel in 1997, as did the Indian-born Kiran Desai ( The Inheritance of Loss , 2006) and Aravind Adiga ( The White Tiger , 2008).

Another novelist is Ruth Prawer Jhabvala , who is often counted among the Indian authors in English in secondary literature, although she is not a native of India. Prawer Jhabhvala was born in Germany to Polish parents and lived in England from the age of 12. She married an Indian architect and lives alternately in India and the USA. Her novels are keen observations of Indian middle class society. For her novel Heat and Dust ( heat and dust , dt. 1985), she won the 1975 Booker Prize. Prawer Jhabhvala is best known for her decades of collaboration with the directing duo Ismail Merchant and James Ivory . She has received two Oscar awards for her scripts.

Important Indian poets in English from the 1980s onwards include Manohar Shetty and the poets Eunice de Souza and Melanie Silgardo. If one also includes Indian authors who are part of the Indian diaspora, i. H. belong to the Indian community outside of India, then poets Meena Alexander, Sujata Bhatt and Imtiaz Dharker should be mentioned as important Indian poets in the English language. (Strictly speaking, Dharker was born in today's Pakistan, but is nevertheless occasionally mentioned in literary histories as an Indian English-speaking poet.) All three authors address the issue of gender and their identity as female authors in their poetry.

Indian English language drama

In contrast to novels and poetry, few English-language dramas have appeared in India that have achieved national or international significance. This is due, among other things, to the fact that most of the plays tend to be performed in the regional languages ​​of India.

Modern secular drama in India began in the 19th century when popular English playwrights and classic Indian Sanskrit dramas were performed by amateur troops mainly in Bombay and Calcutta . However, dramas written by Indian authors that were adaptations of British or Indian classics were performed almost exclusively in the Indian languages, with the exception of Shakespeare productions by college students.

It was not until the 1960s that the Indian English-language theater experienced an initial boom. These included the announcement by the Theater Group Bombay in 1968 that it would award the Sultan Pad Masse Award for Indian theater plays in English. Nissim Ezekiel, Indian playwright and poet, became the first director of the National School of Drama in 1961. Some Indian dramatists who write their plays in English include, besides Nissim Ezekiel, Gieve Patel, Cyrus Mistry, Dina Mehta and Mahesh Dattani. T. are also known as lyric poets.

Indian comics in English

Finally, another genre of Indian English-language literature is the comic . By 1967, the genre of comics was dominated by British and American publishers, when Anant Pai started the comic Amar Chitra Katha, which was published by International Book House. The motivation for these comics was the dominance of European and American myths and narratives in the comic market, which Pai comics countered with acts from Indian mythology in order to familiarize Indian children with their own history and literature.

The debate about English as an Indian literary language

The English language is one of the official languages ​​of India, but as a literary language in India it was and is still controversial; their status is hotly debated by Indian authors and critics. There are authors who deliberately do not write in English, but in one of the other national languages ​​of India, because they reject English as the language of the former colonial power Great Britain. The availability of English-language literature to the majority of the population of India is also a contentious issue. English-language literature has only a small audience in India itself, which is mostly limited to an urban elite and often only addresses its issues. English-speaking Indian authors must therefore ask themselves whether they are writing for the Indian market at all or whether they are looking at international success in English-speaking countries such as the USA and Great Britain.

There is also a competitive situation between the English-language literature and the literatures in the national languages ​​of India: Due to the success of Salman Rushdie and other English-language authors, Indian literature outside of India is often equated with Indian English-language literature, so that the diverse literature in the national languages ​​of India is often misunderstood or considered unmarketable. Authors in the regional languages ​​of India also have to contend with the fact that they have less easy access to international publishers than their colleagues who write in English.

Another discussion revolves around whether English-language literature can be representative and authentic for the situation in India. Many of the English-speaking authors live and work outside of India and belong to an urban elite that has little contact with the average Indian population. Authors of regional literature - so the thesis - can write more authentic Indian literature in their national language and through closer contact with daily life in India.

However, if one looks at the proportion of those who are powerful in writing and speaking English in absolute numbers, one still comes to the considerable number of potential readers in India, which means that India definitely offers a readership for English-language literature. Furthermore, the view of English in India has also changed - it is increasingly valued as the language of global communication and as the lingua franca in multilingual India. In the cities of India, a population group is also emerging that is acquiring English as their mother tongue.

The success of popular literature in English, such as the entertainment novel Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat in 2014, which, along with other Bhagat novels, sold millions of copies in India, also indicate a change in the Indian book market: English-language literature is increasingly being sold to the broader masses and is limited no longer just for a small English-speaking elite.

See also

Indian literature

literature

  • Rosinka Chaudhuri (Ed.): A History of Indian Poetry in English . Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2016, ISBN 978-1-107-07894-9 .
  • KR Srinivasa Iyengar: Indian Writing in English , 5th edition. Sterling, New Delhi 1985.
  • Martin Kämchen (Ed.): Indian literature of the present . Richard Boorberg Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-88377-846-X .
  • Bruce Alvin King: Modern English Poetry in English , 2nd edition. Oxford University Press, Delhi 2001, ISBN 978-0-19-565616-9 .
  • Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (Ed.): A History of Indian Literature in English . Columbia University Press, New York 2003, ISBN 0-231-12810-X .
  • Rashmi Sadana: Writing in English . In: Vasudha Dalmia, Rashmi Sadana (Ed.): The Cambridge Companion to Modern Indian Culture . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2012, ISBN 978-0-521-73618-3 , pp. 124-141.
  • William Walsh: Indian Literature in English . Longman, London / New York 1990, ISBN 0-582-49480-X .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Kullmann: The English-language contemporary literature of India . In: Martin Kämchen (ed.): Indian literature of the present . Richard Boorberg Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-88377-846-X , p. 117 .
  2. ^ A b Jon Mee: After Midnight: The Novel of the 1980s and 1990s . In: Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (Ed.): A History of Indian Literature in English . Columbia University Press, New York 2003, ISBN 0-231-12810-X , pp. 318-319 .
  3. ↑ Rashmi Sadana: Writing in English . In: Vasudha Dalmia, Rashmi Sadana (Ed.): The Cambridge Companion to Modern Indian Culture . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2012, ISBN 978-0-521-73618-3 , pp. 134 .
  4. ^ Bruce Carlisle Robertson: The English Writings of Raja Rammohan Ray . In: Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (Ed.): A History of Indian Literature in English . Columbia University Press, New York 2003, ISBN 0-231-12810-X , pp. 37 .
  5. ↑ Rosinka Chaudhuri: The Dutt Family Album . In: Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (Ed.): A History of Indian Literature in English . Columbia University Press, New York 2003, ISBN 0-231-12810-X , pp. 55, 65 .
  6. ↑ Meenakshi Mukherjee: The Beginnings of the Indian Novel . In: Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (Ed.): A History of Indian Literature in English . Columbia University Press, New York 2003, ISBN 0-231-12810-X , pp. 93-94, 99 .
  7. ↑ Meenakshi Mukherjee: The Beginnings of the Indian Novel . In: Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (Ed.): A History of Indian Literature in English . Columbia University Press, New York 2003, ISBN 0-231-12810-X , pp. 100-102 .
  8. ↑ Amit Chaudhuri: The English Writings of Rabindranath Tagore . In: Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (Ed.): A History of Indian Literature in English . Columbia University Press, New York 2003, ISBN 0-231-12810-X , pp. 105-106 .
  9. ^ William Walsh: Indian Literature in English . Longman, London 1990, ISBN 0-582-49480-X , pp. 62, 69 .
  10. ^ Shyamala A. Narayan, Jon Mee: The Novelists of the 1950s and 1960s . In: Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (Ed.): A History of Indian Literature in English . Columbia University Press, New York 2003, ISBN 0-231-12810-X , pp. 220-221 .
  11. ^ Shyamala A. Narayan, Jon Mee: The Novelists of the 1950s and 1960s . In: Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (Ed.): A History of Indian Literature in English . Columbia University Press, New York 2003, ISBN 0-231-12810-X , pp. 225-227 .
  12. ↑ Thomas Kullmann: The English-language contemporary literature of India . In: Martin Kämchen (ed.): Indian literature of the present . Richard Boorberg Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-88377-846-X , p. 142-143 .
  13. ^ Rajeev S. Patke: Poetry Since Independence . In: Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (Ed.): A History of Indian Literature in English . Columbia University Press, New York 2003, ISBN 0-231-12810-X , pp. 246, 251, 254, 260, 262 .
  14. ^ Peter D. Macdonald: Arvind Krishna Mehrotha and the Interplay of Languages . In: Rosinka Chaudhuri (Ed.): A History of Indian Poetry in English . Cambridge University Press, New York 2016, ISBN 978-1-107-07894-9 , pp. 328-344 .
  15. ^ Jon Mee, After Midnight: The Novel of the 1980s and 1990s . In: Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (Ed.): A History of Indian Literature in English . Columbia University Press, New York 2003, ISBN 0-231-12810-X , pp. 324-332 .
  16. ↑ Thomas Kullmann: The English-language contemporary literature of India . In: Martin Kämchen (ed.): Indian literature of the present . Richard Boorberg Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-88377-846-X , p. 132 .
  17. ^ Jon Mee, After Midnight: The Novel of the 1980s and 1990s . In: Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (Ed.): A History of Indian Literature in English . Columbia University Press, New York 2003, ISBN 0-231-12810-X , pp. 332-335 .
  18. ^ William Walsh: Indian Literature in English . Longman, London 1990, ISBN 0-582-49480-X , pp. 105-108 .
  19. ^ Rajeev S. Patke: Poetry Since Independence . In: Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (Ed.): A History of Indian Literature in English . Columbia University Press, New York 2003, ISBN 0-231-12810-X , pp. 269, 272 .
  20. ↑ Sharanya: The Third Generation: Melanie Silgardo and Manohar Shetty . In: Rosinka Chaudhuri (Ed.): A History of Indian Poetry in English . Cambridge University Press, New York 2016, ISBN 978-1-107-07894-9 , pp. 328-344 .
  21. ↑ Lopamudra Basu: Meena Alexander, Sujana Bhatt, Imtiaz Dharker . In: Rosinka Chaudhuri (Ed.): A History of Indian Poetry in English . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2016, ISBN 978-1-107-07894-9 , pp. 389-406 .
  22. ↑ Shanta Gokhale: The Dramatists . In: Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (Ed.): A History of Indian Literature in English . Columbia University Press, New York 2003, ISBN 0-231-12810-X , pp. 337-338 .
  23. ↑ Shanta Gokhale: The Dramatists . In: Arvind Krishna Mehrotra (Ed.): A History of Indian Literature in English . Columbia University Press, New York 2003, ISBN 0-231-12810-X , pp. 343-348 .
  24. ↑ Asha Kasbekar: Pop Culture India! Media, Arts, and Lifestyle . ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, California 2006, ISBN 1-85109-636-1 , pp. 94-96 .
  25. ↑ Asha Kasbekar: Pop Culture India! Media, Arts, and Lifestyle . ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, California 2006, ISBN 1-85109-636-1 , pp. 98 .
  26. ↑ a b Martin Kämchen: Introduction . In: Martin Kämchen (ed.): Indian literature of the present . Richard Boorberg Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-88377-846-X , p. 15-17 .
  27. ↑ Rashmi Sadana: Writing in English . In: Vasudha Dalmia, Rashmi Sadana (Ed.): The Cambridge Companion to Modern Indian Culture . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2012, ISBN 978-0-521-73618-3 , pp. 127 .
  28. ↑ Martin Kämchen: Introduction . In: Martin Kämchen (ed.): Indian literature of the present . Richard Boorberg Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-88377-846-X , p. 13 .
  29. ↑ Rashmi Sadana: Writing in English . In: Vasudha Dalmia, Rashmi Sadana (Ed.): The Cambridge Companion to Modern Indian Culture . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2012, ISBN 978-0-521-73618-3 , pp. 137-140 .