Shades of ex centricity an analysis of madness in select postcolonial indian english fiction

Abstract

Madness has been a fascinating theme throughout literary history. Myths, legends, ancient religious texts, and literatures across the world contain references to newlinemadness. Studies on the concept of madness indicate that the definitions of madness newlinehave changed several times throughout history, and the popular understanding of newlinemadness has been influenced by the socio-cultural values and political atmosphere of newlinethe respective time and place (Foucault; Porter; Scull). As literature has also been newlinewidely influenced by these changing definitions, rather than representing madness as a medical condition, literature has often portrayed madness as a product of the newlineauthoritative socio-cultural norms and contexts created by certain power structures newlinethroughout various moments of history and as a site for resistance. Similarly, even newlinepostcolonial literature has adopted the theme of madness in multiple ways. According newlineto studies on the theme of madness in postcolonial literature, madness in postcolonial texts often acts as a site for witnessing and responding to colonialism (Huebener; Keller; Zinato and Pes; Luangphinth; Josephs). Although many studies have examined the theme of madness in postcolonial literature, only a few have explored its representation in postcolonial Indian English fiction. With a diverse cultural background and an overwhelming history of colonial rule and its aftermath the Indian context offers a complex backdrop for studying the representation of madness. Thus, the thesis titled Shades of Ex-centricity: An Analysis of Representation of Madness in Select Postcolonial Indian English Fiction aims to examine the theme of madness newlineand its socio-political implications in Anita Desai s Cry, the Peacock, Anirudh Kala s newlineThe Unsafe Asylum: Stories of Partition and Madness, and Arundhati Roy s The God of Small Things using literary stylistic analysis and a postcolonial conceptual framework. Even though the writings of Anita Desai, Anirudh Kala, and Arundhati Roy are diverse in style and content.