Representation of History in the Novels o Salman Rushdie Shashi Tharoor and Vikram Seth A Select Study

Abstract

This research proposes to discuss representation of history in the novels of Salman Rushdie, Shashi Tharoor and Vikram Seth. In the last two decades of twentieth century history has been problematized in the fiction of Indian English novelists in postcolonial perspective. Postcolonial writings attempt to resist colonialism and its inherent ideology through various strategies. Postcolonial studies draw attention to the fact that during the colonial period much of the history of the colonized nations was produced by Europeans as they think that natives are incapable of writing their own history. In imperial history writing negative pictures of the colonized nations were presented. These negative representations helped the Europeans to justify their rule as a civilizing mission. In recent times postcolonial writers are seen to be more preoccupied with history as they use it as a tool of decolonization. Through overt and subtle use of history they are subverting existing power relationships and construction of history and culture. In the field of fiction writings too, Indian English novelists namely Salman Rushdie, Shashi Tharoor, Vikram Seth , Amitav Ghosh, Allan Sealy, Rukun Advani, Upmanyu Chatterjee, Vikram Chandra, Rohinton Mistry, Farrukh Dhondy and Mukul Kesavan while representing history in their fiction intend to make rupture in the colonial perception of history which is based on hegemony and imperialistic bias. In this thesis, we have discussed how history has been problematized in the novels of Salman Rushdie, Shashi Tharoor and Vikram Seth in postcolonial perspective. These writers have used historical materials in their novels in their own way to question Europe s dominant status as master of all history writings. newlinePostmodern questioning of traditional European notion of representing history in fiction which gained momentum in 1980s begins with Salman Rushdie in Indian English novel. Using different postcolonial literary devices Rushdie has captured the history of Indian subcontinent in his novels. Shashi Tharoor, former UN diplomat and a member of Indian parliament has also narrated history of twentieth century India in fictional terms. Tharoor s writing poses a postcolonial challenge to western notion of history, fiction and historiography. Versatile genius Vikram Seth s work presents microscopic details of a particular time span of history of India. Dealing with the same theme Seth s approach is very different from the above two writers. His magnum opus A Suitable Boy offers social history of the Indian nation. All these writers have used historical materials in their novels but approach of these writers is very different from each other. The present study has tried to interpret and analyze the various ways used by these writers to counter the given version of history and replacement of the above by their own version of the events. An analysis and interpretation of the novels of these writers will enable us to have a deeper understanding of representation of history in relation to socio-political, economic and cultural concerns of the subcontinent. Therein lies the relevance of studying the works of these writers. newline newline