Indian English fiction has long served as a powerful vehicle for engaging with the complexities of cultural identity and nationhood in the postcolonial context. This article explores how select literary works by prominent Indian English writers narrate the nation—not as a singular or static entity, but as a dynamic and deeply contested construct shaped by historical trauma, social divisions, and cultural hybridity. Drawing upon the works of Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, Amitav Ghosh, and Kiran Desai, the paper investigates how these narratives interrogate the legacies of colonialism while simultaneously participating in the re-imagination of India’s collective selfhood. By examining the interplay between personal memory and national history, the paper highlights how postcolonial fiction resists homogenising state narratives and instead foregrounds fragmented, subaltern, and marginalised perspectives. These literary texts explore themes such as displacement, exile, caste discrimination, and religious plurality, shedding light on the challenges of forging cultural identity in a pluralistic society. The article also analyses how narrative structure, language choice, and symbolic imagery serve as tools of both resistance and reclamation within these texts. Through a critical engagement with postcolonial theory and cultural studies, the study contends that Indian English fiction does not merely reflect the nation—it actively participates in shaping its cultural consciousness. In doing so, these narratives offer a nuanced and often counter-hegemonic vision of what it means to belong to a postcolonial nation still grappling with the shadows of empire and the demands of modernity. This article ultimately positions Indian English fiction as a crucial literary space where the nation is continuously reimagined, contested, and rewritten from within.
Post colonialism, Indian English Fiction, Cultural Identity, Nationhood, Hybridity, Memory, Narrative Strategy
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