South Asian Anglophone Fiction and the Deliberation of Identity: A Postcolonial Inquiry

Author(s) : Safeer Hussain

Abstract:

Postcolonial literature, especially Anglophone Fiction from South Asia, often grapples with the questions of belonging, migrancy, alienation, hybridity, home, and, most importantly, the question of identity. The paper discusses major postcolonial Anglophone fiction from South Asia and its deliberation of the question of identity and related themes. Utilizing close reading skills along with ideas from major scholars in the field, this paper argues that the question of identity in most canonical fiction from South Asia responds to major political and/or historical events, be they local or global. It also identifies that fiction stages these identities as shifting, evolving, and changing over time, with respect to local-global events. The research not only presents a comprehensive overview of the thread of identity linking canonical postcolonial anglophone texts from South Asia but also paves the way to further isolated and focused research on each of these works of fiction.