The Writing of the Indian Subcontinent

3 units

The Indian Sub-continent has in recent years yielded a number of writers, expatriate of otherwise, whose works articulate the postcolonial experience in the foreign English tongue. This course is designed to be an introductory survey of such writing, drawing on select Sub-continental writers. Covering both fiction and non-fiction by several authors including R. K. Narayan, Salman Rushdie, Anita Desai, Amitav Ghosh, Sara Suleri, Micheal Ondaatjie and Romesh Gunesekera, we will discuss such issues as the nature of the colonial legacy, the status of the English language, problems of translation (linguistic and cultural), the politics of religion, the expatriate identity and the constraints of gender roles.