The Emergency and the Indian English Novel Memory, Culture and Politics
Auteur : Merivirta Raita
This book examines the cultural trauma of the Indian Emergency through a reading of five seminal novels. It discusses the Emergency as an event that prompted the writing of several notable novels attempting to preserve the silenced and fading memory of its human rights violations and suspension of democracy.
The author reads works by Salman Rushdie, Shashi Tharoor, Nayantara Sahgal and Rohinton Mistry in conjunction with government white papers, political speeches, memoirs, biographies and history. The book explores the betrayal of the Nehruvian idea of India and democracy by Indira Gandhi and analyses the political and cultural amnesia among the general populace in the decades following the Emergency.
At a time when debates around freedom of speech and expression have become critical to literary and political discourses, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of English literature, cultural studies, postcolonial studies, media studies, political studies, sociology, history and for general readers as well.
Acknowledgements. 1. Introduction 2. Midnight’s Children: preserving memories for “the amnesiac nation” 3. Safeguarding democracy in The Great Indian Novel 4. Family ties: nepotism and corruption in Rich Like Us 5. The Repressive State Apparatus in Such a Long Journey and A Fine Balance 6. Conclusion. Bibliography. Index.
Raita Merivirta is an Endeavour Research Fellow at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. She is one of the authors of Frontiers of Screen History: Imagining European Borders in Cinema.
Date de parution : 12-2020
13.8x21.6 cm
Date de parution : 05-2019
13.8x21.6 cm
Thèmes de The Emergency and the Indian English Novel :
Mots-clés :
Young Man; Chandra Sekhar; Indian English Novels; Emergency; Indira Gandhi's India; counter-memory narratives; political novels; historical novels; historical amnesia; cultural trauma; Midnight's Children; Salman Rushdie; A Fine Balance; Tamil Nadu; Indira Gandhi's government; JP Movement; cultural trauma; Midnight’s Children; human rights violation; Nayantara Sahgal; Indian Emergency; Nehruvian India; Emergency Novels; Firozsha Baag; City Beautification; Julian Zelizer; Indian English Novels; Prime Minister’s Son; Lok Sabha; Shah Commission; Top Secret; Indian English Writers; Jawaharlal Nehru; Nehru; Forcible Sterilisations; Nehruvian State; Nehru Family; Great Indian; Delhi Calm