Narrating India: The novel in search of the Nation

The papers collected in this volume were presented originally at a national seminar organized by the Akademi on The Novel in Search of a Nation. The various sessions of the seminar addressed issues such as the region and the nation, articulating the local, rewriting/rereading history, women and the nation, Limits of the nation and the nation and beyond. The papers included here were selected solely for their value for a larger audience consisting of both general readers and specialists in Indian literature.

The papers in the first section of the book deal with some general issues regarding narratives of the nation. They map the larger contexts for subsequent sections. The focus of the second section is an certain collectivities. Themes such as the Partition, representation of women, treatment of Dalit experience and region and the nation are discussed. The third section turns to individual texts for detailed analysis.

This volume will stimulate further debates and enquiries regarding the relationship between the Indian novel and the thematics of nationhood.

About the Author:

E. V. Ramakrishnan (b. 1951) is a bilingual poet and critic writing in Malayalam and English. He has more than seven books to his credit. He has received the Kerala Sahitya Academy Award in 1995. He is currently teaching English at the South Gujarat University.