Imagining India in Anglo-Indian Literature

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About the Book This book covers the textual creation of Anglo-Indian fiction-writers, who endeavoured to charter and carve out their own cultural and literary identity in their literary works. By using extensive archival source material, this work offers a new dimension to the study of Anglo-Indian literature.

A close analysis of some of the works of leading and obscure Anglo-Indian women writers, this study demonstrates the convergence of sociological and historical processes, which caught their imagination, shaped their identity and outlook.

Introduction The study focusses on the fiction written, produced and published by the British writers in India. It is primarily concerned with the text produced in India by the writers who had lived in India, and participated in and witnessed the growth and evolvement of the empire directly in various capacities or indirectly by adhering to the empire's political ideology. The colonial expansion and imperial ideology projected the supremacy and ascendancy of the British Empire. It is the 'encounter' of these writers with India, which is of primary interest to us.

After the revolt of 1857 as the representatives of the British Empire, claiming the privileges of the British race, the British in India were searching for their cultural and literary space within an imperial ideology. The colonial 'encounter' in India, despite their overriding ideology of British sovereignty affected them in various ways. The 'Indian encounter' led them to define themselves as Anglo Indians.

In my study I have used the term 'British Indian writings' to denote and emphasize the imperial ideology of the British Empire to which Anglo-Indian writers repeatedly owed their allegiance. It was during their stay in India that they produced these writings.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages