Contemporary Indian writing in English between global fiction and transmodern historiography

This study offers a comprehensive overview of Indian writing in English in the 21st century. Through ten exemplary analyses in which canonical authors stand next to less well-known and diasporic ones Christoph Senft provides deep insights into India's complex literary world and develops an argumentative framework in which narrative texts are interpreted as transmodern re-readings of history, historicity and memory. Reconciling different postmodern and postcolonial theoretical approaches to the interpretation and construction of literature and history, Senft substitutes traditional, Eurocentric and universalistic views on past and present by decolonial and pluralistic practices. He thus helps to better understand the entanglements of colonial politics and cultural production, not only on the subcontinent. Contemporary Indian Writing in English between Global Fiction and Transmodern Historiography Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgement 1: Introduction 2: Stories, Histories, Theories 3: History between Secularism and Speculation: In Times of Siege (2003) 4: Microcosms of Modernity: Sea of Poppies (2008) 5: The Personal as Global: Shalimar the Clown (2005) 6: The Future of the Past: The Last Jet-Engine Laugh (2001) 7: Historical Imagination beyond Memory and Ideology: Solo (2009) 8: Disclosing Suppression, Narrating Neglect: The Point of Return (2002) 9: Writing the Unspeakable: Fireproof (2006) 10: Deconstructing Colonial Epistemologies: The Thing about Thugs (2010) 11: Urban Imaginaries of Past and Present: Maximum City (2004) 12: Songs of Faith and Devotion: The Music Room (2007) 13: Conclusion Works Cited Index Christoph Senft provides a set of re-readings of contemporary Indian narrative texts as decolonial and pluralistic approaches to the past and thus offers a comprehensive overview of the subcontinent's literary landscape in the 21st century.