The Postcolonial Indian Gothic in Anuradha Royâs An Atlas of Impossible Longing

Lydia Saleh Rofail

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The Postcolonial Indian Gothic in Anuradha Royâs An Atlas of Impossible Longing

äºThe Gothic: Studies in History, Identity and Space

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Lydia Saleh Rofail

Lydia Saleh Rofail
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Page Range:: 31â39

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9781848880993_005

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This chapter explores how Postcolonial Indian womenâs writing reconfigures traditionally held Romantic notions of the Gothic and moves towards a unique Indian Postcolonial Gothic perspective. As with Romantic Gothic literature, these contemporary Indian texts expose the underlying chaos that threatens apparent societal order. When viewed through the lens of the Postcolonial Gothic, these texts reveal a new political critique and vision for modern-day India. This vision is littered with apocalyptic inferences, abnegation and annihilation of self as contemporary Indian societal anxieties are uncovered and female and lower-caste oppression are critiqued. In the An Atlas of Impossible Longing (2008) by Anuradha Roy, the Gothic attributes which lie beneath the surface of Indian suburban lives can be read as a metaphor for modern-day Indian anxieties and preoccupations as well as a critique on the restrictions placed on women and the lower castes. Pervading alienation, self-imposed exile, mad women shut away in upstairs rooms, crumbling houses, decaying landscapes littered with architectural ruins, ghosts and haunting/s all feature in the book, lending it a supernatural air. The quiet desperation of lives languishing in loneliness haunt the novel with a mood of pervasive sadness. The river, the colour of darkening sepia, exists as an apocalyptic symbol of the ever- menacing threat of extinction and submergence of the self. In the words of T.S. Eliot: âHouses rise and fall, crumble, are extended / Are removed destroyed, restored.â In Royâs imaginative rendering of time, however, there is no real restoration, no retribution, no exhalation of relief. Beneath humdrum existences in suburban mansions, there are drowned houses, ruined forts and encroaching insanity. Exiled psyches shrivel alongside malnourished bodies, and women die in childbirth. All attempts at real human connection and abiding love are thwarted by circumstantial loss, human ineptitude and loneliness.

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The Gothic: Studies in History, Identity and Space

ISBN:: 9781848880993

åºçç¤¾:: Brill

å°å·åºçæ¥æ:: 08 Apr 2012

Subjects
- Media Studies
  - General
- Social Sciences
  - Cultural Studies

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African Studies	Education	Media Studies
American Studies	History	Middle East and Islamic Studies
Ancient Near East and Egypt	Human Rights and Humanitarian Law	Musicology
Art History	International Law	Philosophy
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Book History and Cartography	Life Sciences	Theology and World Christianity
Classical Studies	Literature and Cultural Studies

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The Postcolonial Indian Gothic in Anuradha Royâs An Atlas of Impossible Longing

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The Postcolonial Indian Gothic in Anuradha Royâs An Atlas of Impossible Longing

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