E. Dawson Varughese - Böcker

This book investigates fiction in English, written within, and published from India since 2000 in the genre of mythology-inspired fiction in doing so it introduces the term ‘Bharati Fantasy’. This volume is anchored in notions of the ‘weird’ and thus some time is spent understanding this term linguistically, historically (‘wyrd’) as well as philosophically and most significantly socio-culturally because ‘reception’ is a key theme to this book’s thesis. The book studies the interface of science, Hinduism and itihasa (a term often translated as ‘history’) within mythology-inspired fiction in English from India and these are specifically examined through the lens of two overarching interests: reader reception and the genre of weird fiction. The book considers Indian and non-Indian receptions to the body of mythology-inspired fiction, highlighting how English fiction from India has moved away from being identified as the traditional Indian postcolonial text. Furthermore, the book reveals broader findings in relation to identity and Indianness and India’s post-millennial society’s interest in portraying and projecting ideas of India through its ancient cultures, epic narratives and cultural (Hindu) figures.

The Routledge Companion to Twenty-First-Century Indian Fiction in English explores key trends in Indian fiction in English from the millennium onwards, offering a comprehensive, critical survey of the field.Indian Fiction in English has undergone significant transformations since the millennium. Now firmly integrated into the global literary market, it speaks to and of an India that continues to rapidly change, socially, culturally, and politically. This timely intervention into the study offers crucial exposure and fundamental analyses of works published by writers such as Jerry Pinto, Nilanjana Roy, Anjum Hasan, Raj Kamal Jha, Kavery Nambisan, Temsula Ao, Chetan Bhagat, Anuradha Roy, R. Raj Rao, Samit Basu, Janice Pariat, Sarnath Banerjee, and Anuja Chauhan. Twenty-five essays and four narrative-interviews by leading and emerging international scholars cover topics such as:Urban India and place-making in the twenty-first century;Resistance and struggle across Indian society in the political, corporate, education, and health sectors;Gender, sexualities, intergenerational relationships, and coming-of-age experiences;Environmentalism, climate-change, and speculative futures;Form and style, including analysis of genres such as crime fiction, chick lit, romance as well as graphic narratives, Indian Englishes, and book cover design;Literary festivals, the publishing scene both lay/commercial and the landscape of academic journals in the field.The Routledge Companion to Twenty-First-Century Indian Fiction in English offers a rich exploration of contemporary matters central to the field. It also considers new perspectives and asks challenging questions about the production and circulation of this body of writing. This authoritative collection is essential reading for anyone interested in the past, present, and future of post-millennial Indian fiction in English.

This book examines the use of book covers as marketing devices, asking what exactly they communicate to their readers and buyers, and what images they associate with a genre and create about a culture. Focusing on Indian women's writing in English, it combines the study of text with the study of materiality of the book.

This book investigates fiction in English, written within, and published from India since 2000 in the genre of mythology-inspired fiction in doing so it introduces the term ‘Bharati Fantasy’. This volume is anchored in notions of the ‘weird’ and thus some time is spent understanding this term linguistically, historically (‘wyrd’) as well as philosophically and most significantly socio-culturally because ‘reception’ is a key theme to this book’s thesis. The book studies the interface of science, Hinduism and itihasa (a term often translated as ‘history’) within mythology-inspired fiction in English from India and these are specifically examined through the lens of two overarching interests: reader reception and the genre of weird fiction. The book considers Indian and non-Indian receptions to the body of mythology-inspired fiction, highlighting how English fiction from India has moved away from being identified as the traditional Indian postcolonial text. Furthermore, the book reveals broader findings in relation to identity and Indianness and India’s post-millennial society’s interest in portraying and projecting ideas of India through its ancient cultures, epic narratives and cultural (Hindu) figures.

With the backdrop of new global powers, this volume interrogates the state of writing in English. Strongly interdisciplinary, it challenges the prevailing orthodoxy of postcolonial literary theory. An insistence on fieldwork and linguistics makes this book scene-changing in its approach to understanding and reading emerging literature in English.

Exploring expressions of ‘Indianness’ buried within and scattered across post-millennial Indian speculative fiction in English, this book asks questions around what it means to ‘belong’ to an India of ‘now’ and what it might mean to belong to multiple Indias of the (near) future.With dystopia, near-future, apocalyptic Indias and fantastical metropolises all imagined across this body of writing, Post-Millennial Indian Speculative Fiction in English traces economic, social and political transformations in post-2000 ‘New India’ across these various narratives. Drawing on established notions of the speculative, Dawson Varughese argues for a recognized, post-millennial canon of Indian speculative writing in English which moves beyond Western-centric frames of reference, centring instead on Indian sensibilities, expressions of belonging to India and speculative ‘Indian’ futures.Organized around key tropes and characteristics of post-millennial Indian speculative fiction in English to date - urban infrastructures, citizenship, bodies and biotech, future (Indian) histories and climate catastrophes – it takes stock of a range of science fiction, fantasy, near-future and dystopian novels and short stories and offers critical insights into the writings of Samit Basu, Varun Thomas Mathew, Gautam Bhatia, Rimi B. Chatterjee, Prayaag Akbar and Anil Menon, alongside many others.Post-millennial Indian Speculative Fiction in English examines shifting ideas of what it means to belong to India and conceptions of India as a nation and pulls these ideas together, creating a workable framework of understanding for this nascent field as we move into the third decade of the millennium.

Reading New India is an insightful exploration of contemporary Indian writing in English. Exploring the work of such writers as Aravind Adiga (author of the Man-Booker Prize winning White Tiger), Usha K.R. and Taseer, the book looks at how the 'new' India has been recreated and defined in an English Language literature that is now reaching a global audience. The book describes how Indian fiction has moved beyond notions of 'postcolonial' writing to reflect an increasingly confident and diverse cultures.Reading New India covers such topics as:- Representation of the city: Mumbai and Bangalore- Chick Lit to Crick Lit - Call centre dramas and corporate lives - Crime novels and Bharati narratives - Graphic novelsIncluding a chronological time-line of major social, cultural and political reforms, biographies of the major authors covered, further reading and a glossary of Hindi terms, this book is an essential guide for students of contemporary world literature and postcolonial writing.

Reading New India is an insightful exploration of contemporary Indian writing in English. Exploring the work of such writers as Aravind Adiga (author of the Man-Booker Prize winning White Tiger), Usha K.R. and Taseer, the book looks at how the 'new' India has been recreated and defined in an English Language literature that is now reaching a global audience. The book describes how Indian fiction has moved beyond notions of 'postcolonial' writing to reflect an increasingly confident and diverse cultures.Reading New India covers such topics as: •Representations of the city - from Mumbai to Calcutta •Young India - from Chick Lit to Blog Novels •Genre fiction - crime novels, science fiction and fantasy •Bollywood adaptations and Graphic Novels. Including a chronological time-line of major social, cultural and political reforms, biographies of the major authors covered, further reading and a glossary of Hindi terms, this book is an essential guide for students of contemporary world literature and postcolonial writing.

This book investigates the intersection of Indian society, the encoding of post-millennial modernity and ‘ways of seeing’ through the medium of Indian graphic narratives.