Milind Solanki, Pratap Ratad
This
paper studies the postcolonial approach in the novel The Glass Palace, written
by Amitav Ghosh, one of the well-known writers in Indian English literature.
This research is an attempt to analyse The Glass Palace through the systematic
investigation of postcolonial discourse. The present study assesses the novel
through close reading, considering the theories and terms given by various
postcolonial theorists such as Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, Homi K. Bhabha,
Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, Helen Tiffin, and Frantz Fanon. The colonial
period lasted until 1947 in India, and the end of the 20th century marked the
end on colonisation in most of the colonised countries of Africa, Asia, and the
Middle East. After India got independence from British rule, writers like
Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh, Shashi Tharoor, Vikram Seth commenced new drifts
in their writings by intertwining history with fiction. Historical events and
imperialism were there in most of their fiction. In The Glass Palace, too, the
author has blended two genres, history and fiction. Historical personages and
events reflected in the novel like Invasion of British Army over Burma in 1885,
Indian Rebellion of 1857, The Quit India Movement in 1942, and The Second World
War in 1939-45, Riots in India, Ghadar Movement; and the personages like The
royal family of Konbaung dynasty, Mahatma Gandhi, Dadasaheb Ambedkar, Taraknath
Das, Lala Har Dayal are some real historical figures in the novel. In this
critique of post-colonialism, theories given by postcolonial theorists in the
field of postcolonial studies are scrutinised, i.e. hegemony, subaltern, exile
and displacement, diaspora, mimicry, hybridity, ambivalence, and otherness.
Post-colonialism, hegemony, imperialism, subaltern, Diasporas, mimicry
VOL.13, ISSUE No.3, September 2021