The convergence of the theory and the text: an eclectic approach to exploring the motif of globality in Mishra and Kundera's selected works

Abstract

The present study is an attempt to read the selected works of the Indian writer, Pankaj Mishra and the Franco-Czech writer, Milan Kundera in the light of an eclectic approach which aims to find the relationship between the phenomenon of globalization and these works while exploring the motif of globality in them. The study focuses on the works titled, The Romantics, Butter Chicken in Ludhiana: Travels in Small Town India, The Joke, and The Unbearable Lightness of Being respectively. The main purpose of this research is to conduct a unified and comprehensive study on the relationship among globalization, globality and the abovementioned works of Pankaj Mishra and Milan Kundera. The underlying assumption is that the selected works (like many other works of literature which have excellence of form and expression) bear the brilliant structural features of permanency and universality, thus they are automatically considered as global masterpieces with great readership. This can also denote that Mishra and Kundera implement certain policies and utilize specific elements in their works to make them more global. The major terms and principles applied to these works are: globalization, globality, and eclectic approach. The theory in the title refers to the probable existence of a relation among globality, globalization and the selected texts. The globality in the title, signifies the end-state of globalization; it is considered as a hypothetical condition in which the process of globalization is complete or nearly so. Hence, in this study globality is what comes next after literary globalization or more exactly what comes after the globalization of the selected texts, indeed. The eclectic approach in the title, refers to the examination of the selected texts through a combination of multiple theories, styles and ideas. Distinguishing intra-textual and extra-textual features of the texts under study is done through this approach.