Binary Construction: A Postcolonial Study of the Novels of Amitav Ghosh
Author : Shobha BR
Abstract :
Western colonial discourses have been hugely influenced in the development of postcolonialism. In general they explore the ways that representations and modes of perception are used as fundamental weapons of colonial power to keep the colonised peoples subservient to colonial rule. Postcolonial theory addresses the idea that the literary and critical theory is dominated by the Western academy. Reconstruction of literature is experience, politicized based on Eurocentric hegemony. The concept of Orient as defined by Edward Said is a product of the same experience. Postcolonial theory aims at resisting and challenging the assumed superiority of the western thought. A conscious effort is made to present this experience of the colonized culture vis-à-vis the imperial powers has helped the national literatures to develop a postcolonial understanding. The national literatures and the postcolonial literature are a result of the experience of colonization and their resistance towards the imperial power and their counter narratives of the assumptions of the imperial power. This is what makes it distinctively ‘postcolonial.’ (Ashcroft 1998:2).
Amitav Ghosh is one of the predominant writers from India who has extensively studied and analyzed the experiences of the colonized. His understanding of the postcolonial perspective makes him fall under a different category of postcolonial writers. He not only presents the native experiences of colonization but also expresses touches upon different kinds of imperial power which have impacted the various aspects of life in the erstwhile colonies of the British Empire. He throws light upon the accommodating and adjusting eastern culture juxtaposed to the western culture which always worked toward subversion and control.
The research paper tries to analyse the binary construction of the self-other, east-west encounter and the subversion of Western hegemonic discourse The novels of study are The Circle of Reason, The Glass Palace and Sea of Poppies.
Keywords :
Postcolonial, Hegemony, Subversion, Binarism, Abrogation, Eurocentrism, Historiography, History, Self and Other, Interface.
