Izvorni znanstveni članak
Migration, Globalization, and Divided Identity in Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance Of Loss
Ksenija Kondali
; Sveučilište u Sarajevu
Sažetak
In this time of ever-accelerating migration and cultural globalization,
the production of Anglophone literature and the field of literary studies
reflect the profound influence of these processes. Among the group
of transnational and multicultural authors who write literary texts that
address these processes is Kiran Desai, whose personal background
and literary output exemplify the growing presence and importance of
transnational writing. Drawing on the studies of Vijay Mishra and Paul
Jay about diaspora and globalization, this paper discusses Kiran Desai’s
novel The Inheritance of Loss (2006) in light of the colonial legacy of
displacement and the resultant divided identity. Through an examination
of the novel’s main themes centered on the impact of the U.S. capitalist
empire and English colonization in India, this analysis explores the
fragmentation of values and the crisis of individual and collective
identity in an ever-changing, globalizing world. Spanning continents,
and switching back and forth in time and viewpoints, Desai’s narrative
reveals the ambivalence of the characters’ adjustment to the inexorable
economic and social demands that leave them trapped between
tradition and transition, colonialism and nationalism, diaspora and
cosmopolitanism. This paper argues that the complex interplay of local
custom, migration, postcolonial conflicts and diasporic existence both
bring together and separate seemingly disparate worlds and characters.
It also investigates how tensions between the colonial hegemony of
the past, family aspirations, and community expectations affect the
characters who are suspended between assimilation and resistance in
the struggle to assert their personal and national identities.
Ključne riječi
Postcolonial writing; Indian diaspora; Kiran Desai; The Inheritance of Loss, colonialism; global mobility; identity
Hrčak ID:
203573
URI
Datum izdavanja:
9.7.2018.
Posjeta: 3.460 *