Common Perspectives in Post-Colonial Indian and African Fiction in English

COMMON PERSPECTIVES IN POST-COLONIAL INDIAN AND AFRICAN FICTION IN ENGLISH ABSTRACT THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF Bottor of IN ENGLISH LITERATURE BY AMINA KISHORE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH ALIGARH MUSLIIVI UNIVERSITY ALIGARH 1995 Abstract The introduction of the special paper on Commonwealth Literature at the Post Graduate level and the paper called 'Novel other than British and American' at the Under Graduate level at AMU were the two major eventualities which led to this study. In the paper offered to the M A students, the grouping together of Literatures from atleast four of the Commonwealth nations into one paper was basically a makeshift arrangement. The objectives behind the formulation of such separate area as courses for special study remained vaguely described and therefore unjustified. The teacher and students, were both uncertain as to why and how to hold the disparate units together. The study emerges out of such immediate dilemma and it hopes to clarify certain problematic concerns related to the student of the Commonwealth Literature. Most Commonwealth criticism follows either (a) a justificatory approach; or (b) a confrontationist approach; In approach (a) usually a defensive stand is taken by local critics and a supportive non-critical, indulgent stand is adopted by the Western critic. In both cases, the issue of language use, nomenclature and the event cycle of colonial history are the routes by which the argument is moved. Approach (b) invariably adopts the Post-Colonial Discourse as its norm of presenting the argument. According to this approach, the commonness of Commonwealth Literatures emerges from the fact that all these Literatures have walked ••• through the fires of enslavement and therefore are anguished, embattled units of creative expression. This study attempts to explode the myth of commonness which is created through these above mentioned stands. An attempt is made to trace the phases of growth of the Commonwealths after the political freedoms of each one of the colonised nations. The political and social and cultural history of a nation is, no doubt reflected in its Literature. If we follow the argument as such, then, the Literatures of the enslaved and embattled nations like India and Africa, should reflect the culture cringe or atleast a hangover of the colonial times. Recent critism which takes its cue from the Post-Colonial Discourse theory interprets all writings in the light of this assumption. However, the dispassionate and objective study of the new Literatures (especially Poetry and Fiction) indicates an obvious absence of such general colonial mindbend among the Commonwealth artists. The study posits itself beyond the generally accepted theory that the artist from the erstwhile Commonwealth nations is, in any way, a creature of confusions or a dumb imitator. The study adopts the view that anxieties of criticism and the imperatives of finding a sound critical idiom have sent the critics into wild theorising. But, this thesis proceeds to prove that the artist from the Commonwealth nations has managed to keep himself above the political issues for the most part. It is necessary to distinguish between those erstwhile colonies which are essentially English speaking nations (eg. Newzealand, Australia etc.) and those which are non-native in terms of the tongue (eg. India and Africa). The present study takes up the second category for consideration of the question of common perspective in Literature. The central argument is that, inspite of differences of language, culture and historic events the main enterprise of Literature remains the same viz., an evaluation and interpretation of Life and Man. The human image is at the core of all writings. As a specimen of the 'non-native' Commonwealth Literatures, this study concentrates on two major Commonwealth Literatures in English ie., Indian Literature in English and African Literature in English. The study clarifies its position vis a vis the choice of Indian Literature in English and African Literature in English as broad categories. There has been a great discussion about the consideration of Indian Literature in English as part of the body of Indian Literature (inclusive of the Literatures of all Indian languages as well as English). Another view is to consider Indian Literature in English as an extension of or as a part of the mainstream English Literature. As for Literature in English from Africa, a small arbitration has had to be made ie., Nigeria has been taken as the illustrative norm for the broad spectrum of African Literature in English in order to concretise the evaluation. About Africans writing in English, there has been much criticism regarding their use of English. It has been taken as one of the necessary critical exercises to comment upon the use of English by these writers. The critical preoccupation with the question of language has been attempted to be countered by raising the question of the Englishness of English Literature. The second aspect on which the thesis has found it necessary to make an emphatic statement is the question of National Identity. Until the Eighties it was common critical fashion to regard the Literatures emanating from the newly independent Commonwealth nations as being Literatures of quest for selfhood. In the post 1980 years, this theory has found voice in the idiom of Post-Colonial Discourse. While not denying the value of the Post-Colonial Discourse angle of assessment or the 'quest for self motif in the Commonwealth Literatures in English, it is also important to establish that the exotica of 'Selfhood' or the raucuous and separatist cry for National Identity are not the only concerns of the Commonwealth Literatures under question. Often these Literatures appear to project the Identity issue. But to see this projection as springing out of any conflict with the mainstream Euro-Western literary tradition is to problematise an issue. As far as one can see it, the Commonwealth artist uses quest for self motif in an apolitical neutral way, in a bid to allow himself space for new ways of self-expression. After all the universal function of Literature is to interpret life in different ways and the universal habit of the Literature is to transcend boundaries of time and space. After declaring its opposedness to the overplay with the issues of National Identity and Language Use, the study proceeds to establish that Fiction among all literary genres is the most eclectic and that it allows space of the artist to exploit his growing taste for plurality in matters of thematic strains as well as techlniques. The long fiction of the two Literatures in question is distinctive because the narrative literary form is bound by limitations of space and time. But such form-specific features do not prevent the fictionists from exploring life under the surface of reality. In this way, all novels are excercises in the quest for the unknown. In depth study of novels will reveal the novelist's statement regarding the truth that he has discovered hidden underneath the patterns of interactive and expeijential spectrum of the Human Self s movements through life. The thematic base of the novels, then, is the focus of attention. The Reader-Critic should learn to scratch the surface of the text; he should recognise the 'flags' which the artist willingly or unwillingly sets flying. The sub-stratum of the novel ie., the perspectives of the novelist are only hinted at by the novelist and the reader should decode the signs to reach the meaning of the text. In the process of this unravelling, he will have to adopt various methodologies. Since the writer's experiential base is the reality around him, and since the writer is definitely an entity shaped as he is by his immediate environ, it is also necessary to formulate a view of the writer as a man/woman of his/her land. In chapter III an analysis of Indian and African writers' literary character is attempted to be made vis a vis a statement of the typology of the national character. This helps to analyse the ideals and objectives for various backgrounds. Interestingly, separate analyses have resulted in a sharp possibility of commonness of artistic vision in the seemingly disparate works of fiction. The study proceeds to add a third and very meaningful dimension to the dipolar assesments by taking up the character study of the British literature. The fascinating feature of such an addition is that the hiatus that is usually created between the colonised psyche and that of the coloniser is obliterated and the reader-critic is invited to observe the phenomenon of colonization as a powerful brain storming medium which affects all alike. The parallelising excercise is the core of the thesis. In chapter IV, some significant British, Indian and African fiction-texts are taken up for close study with the intention of discovering the thematic core of each separately. The method used in this search for the thematic core is that, instead of recounting at length the plot and its convolutions, the centrality of authorial vision is culled out, by means of identifying the 'flags' — the recurrent significant signs that are forgrounded through tensions of language, image etc. The plot juncture, the selection of narrative devices and the development of character are some of the specifics which help in this process of foregrounding. As such, the analysis of different texts brings out only an artistic, individual difference in the selection and presentation of material. The generalisations on each novel clearly point to a commonality of artistic purpose. The more deep we study the more are we able to establish that the Commonwealth Literature is as rooted in projecting the universalising function of Literature as any other Literature does.

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