THE INTERPLAY OF IDEOLOGIES IN THE SELECT NOVELS OF AMITAV GHOSH THESIS SUBMITTED TO VIDYASAGAR UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (ARTS) IN ENGLISH BY MEENAKSHI DE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH FACULTY OF ARTS VIDYASAGAR UNIVERSITY, MIDNAPORE WEST BENGAL, INDIA 2016 Certificate This is to certify that the thesis entitled “The Interplay of Ideologies in the Select Novels of Amitav Ghosh” which is being submitted by Ms. Meenakshi De for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English to Vidyasagar University, Paschim Medinipur – 721102, West Bengal, in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree, is a record of original work carried out by her under my direct supervision and guidance. To the best of my knowledge, Ms. De has not submitted her thesis for any other award or degree elsewhere. Nor do the contents of this thesis form a basis of the award of any previous degree. Date- ---------------------------------- DR. SNEHASIS MAITI (Supervisor) Department of English (U.G. & P.G.) Prabhat Kumar College, Contai Vidyasagar University, West Bengal DECLARATION OF THE CANDIDATE I, Meenakshi De bearing registration no. 0172/Ph. D. (Arts), do hereby declare that the dissertation entitled “The Interplay of Ideologies in the Select Novels of Amitav Ghosh” submitted by me to the Dept. of English, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore – 721102, West Bengal, in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English is an original research work, and has not been submitted to any other university or institution for the award of any degree. Date: Signature -------------------------- Meenakshi De Research Scholar, Dept. of English Vidyasagar University DEDICATED TO MY LOVING ELDEST BROTHER SANKAR PRASAD DEY CONTENTS PAGE NO. PREFACE … … … i - iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS … … … iv INTRODUCTION … … … 1 - 16 CHAPTER I : CONCEPT OF IDEOLOGY DOWN THE AGES … … … 17 - 45 CHAPTER II : IDEOLOGY AND LITERATURE … … … 46 - 63 CHAPTER III : AMITAV GHOSH vis-à-vis HISTORY, FICTION AND IDEOLOGY 64 - 85 CHAPTER IV : AMITAV GHOSH’S NOVELS AND INTERPLAY OF IDEOLOGIES 86 - 135 CHAPTER V : AUTONOMY OF THE NOVELS : ABSENCE OF ANY OVER-ARCHING IDEOLOGY … … 136 - 166 CONCLUSION … … … 167 - 177 BIBLIOGRAPHY … … … 178 - 197 i PREFACE The opportunity of going through the works of Amitav Ghosh, who being a master storyteller combines effectively history, philosophy, science and other social issues and concerns of the world, embraced me when I had been rigorously preparing myself for the UGC-NET, for, the synopses of fictional works of this writer gathered before my eyes and gladdened my heart. The Shadow Lines (1988) illumining my notions of nation and history charmed me with its ‘story’ and I fell in love with the novelist, Amitav Ghosh. The novel mesmerized me to such an extent that I could not resist my urge to be acquainted with the works of Ghosh more and more and to delve deep into the art of his novels. Moreover, the rejection of the much coveted Commonwealth Award by Ghosh made me bow down before him with profound reverence and his strong sense of self-dignity and honesty inspired me a lot. At that time, as a part of preparation of UGC-NET, I approached the neo-Marxist critic, Louis Althusser who by his famous formulation of the concept of ‘Relative Autonomy’ of the text drew my attention to the formation of literature. As something flashing in my inward eyes, my inquisitive little brain obligated me to go through Ghosh’s novels in the theoretical light of Marxism. Honestly speaking, the inquisitiveness and the urge of doing something would obviously have been nipped in the bud unless I got the chance of carrying out a research work on Amitav Ghosh’s works at Vidyasagar University. My gratefulness is due to the Dept. of English, Vidyasagar University for providing me with the privilege of carrying out my project. In this connection, special mention ought to be made of SCILET (Study Centre for Indian Literature in English and Translation) library which provided me with a treasure trove of valuable articles and books on Ghosh’s fictional oeuvre which eased my mind. ii My idea was boosted up by my teachers Prof. Joyjit Ghosh and Prof. Snehasis Maiti, my mentor, that a project may be carried out on Amitav Ghosh to explore the role of ‘ideology’ ( ideology of the textual content) in his fiction. Finally, my initial hesitation and fear evaporated when a board of eminent professsors gave the green signal that my project might be proceeded. Now, the present study is an outcome of some efforts. I take this opportunity to express the debts I have incurred to a legion of people during five years of my doctoral research. At the very outset I cannot but put on record a deep debt of gratitude I owe to Prof. Joyjit Ghosh, Dept. of English, Vidyasagar University without whose inspiration my long cherished dream of doing doctoral research would not have been translated into reality. I am obligated to acknowledge my gratefulness to Prof. Snehasis Maiti without whose expert counsel, direct supervision, and scholarly guidance this project could not have assumed its present form. I am fortunate enough to have enjoyed the benefit of holding discussions on myriad theoretical problems encountered by me with respected and most revered Prof. Sankar Prasad Singha, Dept. of English, and Prof. Tirthankar Das Purkayastha, Dept. of English, Vidyasagar University. I cannot but acknowledge my gratefulness to Prof. Debashis Bandyopadhya who extended his co-operative hands towards me. In this connection, I cannot help recording with great appreciation the untiring assistance I came by from late Asoke Bhattacharjee, Professor of Bengali, Midnapore College. My gratitude is also due to my loving father whose discussions on numerous historical phenomena illumined my mind. Special mention need be made of my beloved mother whose very presence served as a beacon of inspiration for me in proceeding to complete my research work. My debt to my elder brother also runs very deep as he perfectly performed the part of my critic. The sweet innocent face of my niece, Mithai also refreshed iii my mind and enthused me to carry on my project. I would also like to extend my grateful thanks to my life-long companion, my husband Sk Nasim Ali, who went through my thesis with rapt attention and made a careful rectification of the errors committed by me inadvertently. Last of all, my indebtedness to my eldest brother, Sankar Prasad Dey, my friend, philosopher and guide, is so profound that it cannot be expressed in words. His dedication and powerful guidance have made me what I am today. From the bottom of my heart, I dedicate my thesis to my eldest brother. Place : Paschim Medinipur ………………………………… Date : (Meenakshi De) iv ABBREVIATIONS FOR THE WORKS BY AMITAV GHOSH ALB At Large in Burma CC The Calcutta Chromosome CD Countdown CR The Circle of Reason DC Dancing in Cambodia GMG The Ghost of Mrs. Gandhi GP The Glass Palace HT The Hungry Tide IAAL In an Antique Land ITI The Imam and The Indian: Prose Pieces ROS River of Smoke SL The Shadow Lines SOP Sea of Poppies INTRODUCTION „„ for me, home is where the orcaella are :” … “For me home is wherever I can brew a pot of good tea”‟ Amitav Ghosh, The Hungry Tide (2004) How can it be possible? Why does this dissension of view about „home‟ occur? The present age, as an age of displacement and dislocation, nurtures this dissention of view about home — „home‟ is simply a home to some one; „home‟ is not a home to another; again „no home‟ is a kind of home to some people. Apart from postcolonial and postmodernist stance, the existence of human beings, according to Marxist point of view, determines human consciousness rather than vice versa. Existence is „reality‟ which determines human „belief system‟, by which the concept of „home‟ varies. This „reality‟ is not same to all people. Reality is the subjective idea over the objective matter. A distortion of relation between subjective ideas and objective things occurs systematically and purposefully by the ruling class in order to retain power. In this way existence of „reality‟ differs from „appearance‟. This phenomenon of socially determined consciousness can be regarded as ideology. It is, in general sense, the perception, belief system or consciousness of reality. Ideologies provide the basis not only for our social, political and economic aspects of individual or collectives lives, they also influence the creative world in more than one way. Sometimes, ideologies go into the making of the fictional world that later on becomes a site for ideological interplays. Having special fascination for the eminent novelist, Amitav Ghosh, along with being a renowned anthropologist and a historian and being charmed by the author‟s skill of combining ideological, political and historical elements with a pledge to De 2 the novel as a beautiful work of fiction, the present study starts to find out the interplay of ideologies in select novels of Amitav Ghosh. As Ghosh‟s novels are steeped in ideological debates on political, historical, scientific, cultural and economic issues, the novels are characterized by the interplay of ideologies. His novels are unique in the employment of multifarious, innovative styles, generic experimentation and a conscious responsibility to the contemporary issues of the world around him. Ghosh‟s personal life, to some extent, needs to be focused on, as his personal experiences and some contemporary situations of his „time‟ and „place‟ exerted great influence on his literary career. Born in Calcutta on 11 July, 1956 to Shailendra Chandra Ghosh, a diplomat, and Ansali Ghosh, a housewife, Amitav Ghosh, having the privilege of an upper class family, was shifted along with his parents from Calcutta to East Pakistan, to Sri Lanka, Iran and Mayanmar.