The Indian Influence on European Literature: A Study of Narrative Styles and Literary Impressions
Author : Dr. Komil Tyagi
Abstract :
The present paper attempts to study the influence of Indian Narrative styles and literary impressions on European literature. It has often been asserted that Western literature has left an indelible mark on Indian Writing and the impact is so colossal that the impressions of Indian influence on western literary writing styles only appear to be a bleak line. However, the paper studies many literary narrative styles that are Indian by origin and have been adopted seamlessly by European writers since centuries. The paper gives numerous examples of how Indian narrative styles like frame narratives, mythological and philosophical allegories, parallel storytelling and flashbacks, magical realism and circular narratives reached far and wide through translation and were employed by European writers in their narratives. The profound impressions of Indian literary narrative styles can be seen spread across European literary and philosophical narratives, novels, plays, novellas and even dialogic discourses bringing home the fact that the process was not unidirectional but that of a wholesome exchange.
Keywords :
Indian Narrative styles, influence on European literature, frame narratives, mythological and philosophical allegories, parallel storytelling and flashbacks, magical realism, circular narratives.
