At home in the world: Indian literature in the postcolonial academy (R. K. Narayan, Shashi Deshpande, Raja Rao, Upamanyu Chatterjee, Shrilal Shukla)

This dissertation is structured both as a disciplinary critique of postcolonial studies, as it relates to the study of Indian literature, and as a critical survey of Indian fiction. In it, I attempt to account for the global methodologies and approaches that have historically structured engagements with Indian literature in the Western academy, and to suggest new, more local directions for an Indian literary studies, whose interests may or may not be coterminous with those of postcolonial studies. Each chapter, therefore, critiques prevailing global approaches to major issues in Indian literary criticism via close readings of texts that emphasize their local content and contexts.; The first chapter sketches a disciplinary history of postcolonial studies both in general and with regards to India. I examine the ways in which Indian literature has come to be defined, in both popular and academic discourse in the West, in terms of the English language and a diasporic subjectivity, and argue against simple oppositions between Indian literature in English and those in other languages, and for a cultural studies approach to Indian literature.; The second and third chapters take up representations of gender in early 20th century and contemporary Indian novels. Through close readings of R. K. Narayan's The Dark Room and three novels by Shashi Deshpande, I critique the ways in which Indian women's fiction has historically been constructed and studied and make a case for more locally situated readings. In the fourth chapter I examine, via readings of Raja Rao's Kanthapura and Narayan's Waiting for the Mahatma, attitudes to history in both nationalist fiction and postcolonial criticism. Against approaches that treat history in Indian fiction at the level of structure or theme I present readings that emphasize the interplay of competing local narratives within these texts.; The concluding chapter returns to the issue of language and translation. Via readings of Upamanyu Chatterjee's English, August and Shrilal Shukla's Raag Darbari, I examine the representation of a multilingual subjectivity in contemporary Indian fiction, and make a case for code switching as a defining term of both Indian fiction and Indian literary criticism.