Nation and Indian Writing in English

Abstract

India is a country in which multiple languages are spoken. Though Indians treated English as an alien tongue until 1950s, it became part and parcel of the lives of Indians today.  It gained the status of being as one of the official languages of India in due course. Literature is nurtured in India in as many languages as possible. However, there has been a great divide between literature produced in English and literature produced in regional languages of India.  If Indian literature is recognised by the world, it is most often due to the literature produced in English but not the literature produced in vernacular languages of India. This has been the case since 1930s or even earlier. If we look at the literature produced in India at a broader perspective, literature produced in English engages with issues at national and international level whereas literature produced in regional languages engages with issues at domestic level. Because of this wide gap with respect to the themes dealt with, Indian Writing in English gained more prominence than literature produced in vernacular languages in India. I would be discussing in this paper the way Indian Writing in English became a part of world literature by portraying nation and national events in the novel writing.