November is the Coolest Month. Flowers are Lilac and Memories are Green: English and the Subnational in Recent Indian Fiction in Inglish

Abstract

The paper discusses the ways in which the English language has undergone a prismatic transformation in the decades since Independence. The relevance of the language as an agency in the discourse of power and subnational engagement opens up interesting insights into the fissures that run through the ideology of the nation. The paper examines if English should even be seen as a foreign language and a colonial legacy or if the Indian melting pot has put forth a whole new language- Inglish.