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Universidade De Lisboa Faculdade De Letras Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Letras The Search for Identity and the Construction of an Idea of India in the novels The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy and The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai Margarida Pereira Martins Orientadora: Profª Doutora Luísa Maria Rodrigues Flora Tese especialmente elaborada para a obtenção de grau de doutor em Estudos de Literatura e Cultura, especialidade em Literatura e Cultura de Expressão Inglesa. 2016 UNIVERSIDADE DE LISBOA FACULDADE DE LETRAS The Search for Identity and the Construction of an Idea of India in the novels The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy and The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai Margarida Pereira Martins Orientadora: Profª. Doutora Luísa Maria Rodrigues Flora Tese especialmente elaborada para a obtenção de grau de doutor em Estudos de Literatura e Cultura, especialidade em Literatura e Cultura de Expressão Inglesa. Júri: Presidente: Professor Doutor José Viriato Soromenho Marques, Professor Catedrático e Membro do Conselho Científico da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa. Vogais: Doutora Jacinta Maria Cunha da Rosa Matos, Professora Associada Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra; Doutora Ana Paula Ribeiro Menino Avelar, Professora Associada com Agregação Departamento das Ciências Sociais e Gestão da Universidade Aberta; Doutora Luísa Maria Rodrigues Flora, Professora Associada Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa, orientadora; Doutora Maria Teresa Barbieri de Ataíde Malafaia Lopes dos Santos, Professora Associada Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa; Doutora Maria Teresa Correia Casal, Professora Auxiliar Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa; Doutora Ana Cristina Ferreira Mendes, Investigadora Convidada Centro de Estudos Anglísticos da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa. 2016 English Abstract The main objective of this research project is to analyse how the novels The God of Small Things (1997) by Arundhati Roy and The Inheritance of Loss (2006) by Kiran Desai can help readers and scholars construct an idea of India and of the Indian cultural identity. In order to develop this theory it is necessary to look into three aspects which are crucial to the building of knowledge on a nation, its culture and people and these are, national history, identity and cultural representation through different artistic production, including fictional narratives. Historical processes are the key to the unfolding of present circumstances and fundamental to the construction of a national identity that makes sense collectively. However, the perceptions of the past change according to philosophical and ideological trends, placing historical objectivity in the hands of its subjective counterpart. It is cultural theory and how it evolves in simultaneity with the world and its social, political, economic and technological development that in effect dictates the forms and expressions that give shape to societies, nations and identities. The function of narrative whether as text, visual arts, film, architecture, dance and other creative expressions of the self, is to tell a story. And every moment of every living being can be told in a story. History too is a story and though in the past it focused mostly on the grand deeds of the European nations, with postcolonialism new stories began to emerge, revealing a world of diversity and deconstructing traditional views of the shaping of the past and the power relations involved. However, this new approach to the historical, cultural and political dialectic was achieved through the effect of the postcolonial narrative which used Western forms and structures, such as the novel and the English language, to achieve its aim. This appropriation of language and form resulted in an inversion of power relations as a cultural metaphor. For the purpose of such a debate, the present dissertation focuses on the two novels by Roy and Desai and is divided into three main sections each of which deals with one approach to the thesis. The first chapter contains the historical approach, in the second I discuss postcolonial theory and the third analyses the relation between anthropology and fiction. Keywords: India, postcolonialism, cultural studies, identity, literature. i Portuguese Abstract O objectivo principal deste projecto é de analisar como através dos romances The God of Small Things (1997) de Arundhati Roy e The Inheritance of Loss (2006) de Kiran Desai é possível construir uma ideia da Índia e da identidade cultural Indiana. O desenvolvimento desta teoria implica a análise e o estudo de três aspectos fundamentais para o conhecimento mais aprofundado de uma nação, a sua cultura, e as suas pessoas. São estes a história nacional, a identidade e a sua representação cultural através da produção artística, da qual as narrativas fazem parte. Os processos históricos são primordiais como chave para o desenrolar das circunstâncias presentes e fundamentais para a construção de uma identidade nacional com um sentido do colectivo. No entanto, percepções do passado mudam consoante as tendências filosóficas e ideológicas que as nações atravessam, colocando a objetividade histórica à mercê da sua contraparte subjectiva. Portanto, é a evolução da teoria cultural em sintonia com o desenvolvimento social, político, económico e tecnológico do mundo que determina as formas e expressões que definem as sociedades, as nações e as identidades. A função da narrativa enquanto texto, artes visuais, filme, arquitectura, dança ou outra manifestação cultural criativa, é o contar de uma história. A disciplina de história também conta uma história. E embora no passado a história ocidental focasse principalmente os grandes acontecimentos das nações Europeias, com o pós-colonialismo novas histórias surgiram revelando a importância de um mundo de diversidade, servindo para desconstruir visões estáticas da história e das relações de poder. Esta nova abordagem à dialética histórica, cultural e política foi conseguida através do efeito das narrativas pós-coloniais que fizeram uso de formas e estruturas ocidentais como o romance e a língua inglesa para atingir os seus objectivos e alcançar um público mais amplo. A apropriação da língua e da forma resultou numa inversão de poderes transformando-a em metáfora cultural. Este debate foca-se nos dois romances de Roy e Desai e está repartido por três secções principais, onde em cada uma é desenvolvido um dos ângulos de abordagem desta tese. O primeiro capítulo contém uma abordagem histórica, o segundo é uma discussão da teoria pós- colonial e no terceiro é analisada a relação entre a antropologia e a ficção. Palavras-chave: Índia, pós-colonialismo, estudos de cultura, identidade, literatura. ii Resumo alargado em português Esta tese tem como ponto de partida investigar como uma ideia da Índia poderia ser construída e compreendida através da ficção pós-colonial indiana escrita em inglês, utilizando como textos base The God of Small Things (1997), romance da escritora indiana Arundhati Roy, com qual ganhou o Man Booker Prize em 1997, e The Inheritance of Loss (2006), segundo romance de Kiran Desai, que também venceu o Booker Prize em 2006. Em 2010, quando iniciei a pesquisa para este doutoramento, a investigação sobre o romance indiano escrito em inglês era uma área já existente em Portugal na área dos estudos pós-coloniais e de identidade embora não tão desenvolvida como em países anglófonos. Desde o século XVIII que escritores indianos escrevem e publicam em inglês tanto na Índia, como fora dela. Após a independência, em 1947, e especialmente depois dos anos 80, um grupo de escritores começou a produzir um corpus de textos que poderia considerar-se como um “guia” para a Índia e ser reconhecido pelo mundo como tal. Esta tendência ganhou força em 1981 com a publicação de Midnight’s Children de Salman Rushdie. A minha investigação na área dos estudos pós-coloniais assim como a leitura mais aprofundada dos romances que se enquadram nesta categoria foi principalmente influenciada pelo trabalho teórico de Elleke Boehmer (2005), Bruce King (1996 and 2004) Homi Bhabha (1990 e 1991), Lisa Lau e Ana Mendes (2011) e pelos ensaios de Salman Rushdie (1991). A análise desenvolveu-se através da interpretação de pontos de interesse nos romances de Roy e Desai e dos debates que daí surgiram. A presente tese baseia-se em ideias sobre o que constitui a identidade, sobre como a nação Indiana, as suas pessoas e cultura têm sido concebidas ao longo dos séculos e como o fim da era colonial, a globalização e as ideologias têm afectado as culturas e narrativas que as representam e que têm vindo a ganhar ímpeto nos meios literários e académicos. O conteúdo temático dos dois romances, embora diferente em muitos dos aspectos ficcionais, trata da Índia do ponto de vista histórico, das realidades políticas, da língua, da religião, das classes sociais e castas, da diáspora, do género, do casamento e das relações amorosas. Aborda a família, as diferenças geracionais, e ainda os efeitos da globalização e ocidentalização na sociedade indiana. É a forma como nestes livros as realidades históricas e culturais são apresentadas, assim como no romance Midnight’s Children, que os torna objectos de estudo particularmente interessantes. Há um desafio implícito e explícito à institucionalização da forma romanesca e à estrutura das convenções culturais e narrativas, desafio esse percetível pela não temporalidade iii e não linearidade, pela manipulação da língua, e através do retrato de grupos e minorias sociais da Índia, uma forma de denúncia social e política dessas realidades, através da escolha das personagens. São estes aspectos dos romances: o desafio da autoridade, das leis e das expectativas, articuladas pela poética pós-colonial que me levam a fazer uma leitura direcionada às transformações na cultura e sociedade indiana. A acção de The God of Small Things decorre em Kerala no sul da Índia, na pequena cidade de Ayemenem onde grande parte da população é Síria Cristã, o primeiro estado da Índia, e do mundo, a eleger um partido comunista para o governo. A história abrange três gerações da família Ipe, ao longo de 23 anos, e descreve os acontecimentos na experiência dos gémeos, Estha e Rahel.
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