Unreliable Truths: Transcultural Homeworlds in Indian Womens Fiction of the Diaspora (Cross/Cultures - Readings in the Post/Colonial Literatures in English, 155)

While many people see 'home' as the domestic sphere and place of belonging, it is hard to grasp its manifold implications, and even harder to provide a tidy definition of what it is. Over the past century, discussion of home and nation has been a highly complex matter, with broad political ramifications, including the realignment of nation-states and national boundaries. Against this backdrop, this book suggests that 'home' is constructed on the assumption that what it defines is constantly in flux and thus can never capture an objective perspective, an ultimate truth. Along these lines, __Unreliable Truths__ offers a comparative literary approach to the construction of home and concomitant notions of uncertainty and unreliable narration in South Asian diasporic women's literature from the UK, Australia, South Africa, the Caribbean, North America, and Canada. Writers discussed in detail include Feroza Jussawalla, Suneeta Peres da Costa, Meera Syal, Farida Karodia, Shani Mootoo, Shobha Dé, and Oonya Kempadoo. With its focus on transcultural homes, __Unreliable Truths__ goes beyond discussions of diaspora from an established postcolonial point of view and contributes with its investigation of transcultural unreliable narration to the representation of a g/local South Asian diaspora. "While many people see 'home' as the domestic sphere and place of belonging, it is hard to grasp its manifold implications, and even harder to provide a tidy definition of what it is. Over the past century, discussion of home and nation has been a highly complex matter, with broad political ramifications, including the realignment of nation-states and national boundaries. Against this backdrop, this book suggests that 'home' is constructed on the assumption that what it defines is constantly in flux and thus can never capture an objective perspective, an ultimate truth. Along these lines, Unreliable Truths offers a comparative literary approach to the construction of home and concomitant notions of uncertainty and unreliable narration in South Asian diasporic women's literature from the UK, Australia, South Africa, the Caribbean, North America, and Canada. Writers discussed in detail include Feroza Jussawalla, Suneeta Peres da Costa, Meera Syal, Farida Karodia, Shani Mootoo, Shobha Dé, and Oonya Kempadoo. With its focus on transcultural homes, Unreliable Truths goes beyond discussions of diaspora from an established postcolonial point of view and contributes with its investigation of transcultural unreliable narration to the representation of a g/local South Asian diaspora."--Publisher's website Cover Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: Homemaking in a Globalized World PART ONE OF SOCIAL AND IMAGINARY HOMEWORLDS 1 South Asian Homeworlds, Transnational Alliances 2 Common Narrative Ground: Transcultural Narrative Unreliability PART TWO HOMING IN ON UNRELIABLE STORYTELLING 3 Fictionalizing South Asian Diasporic Homemaking: Farida Karodia’s Other Secrets & Shani Mootoo’s Cereus Blooms at Night 4 Growing Up in Transcultural Diasporic Worlds: Suneeta Peres da Costa’s Homework, Meera Syal’s Anita and Me, and Shobha Dé’s Strange Obsession 5 Transcultural Disillusionments: Oonya Kempadoo’s Tide Running Conclusion: South Asian Diasporic Writing and the Transcultural Imaginary Works Cited Index