Myth in Contemporary Indian Fiction in English

The book Myth in Contemporary Indian Fiction in English: A Critical Study theoretically explores the phenomenon of ‘proliferation of mythological novels’ by focusing on the social, cultural, and political context in the present era of globalization. It explores why and how novels based on mythology have gained unprecedented popularity. It speculates various cultural reasons and underlying social dynamics of this proliferation of mythological novels in contemporary times by eclectically drawing upon ideas from the number of theorists and critics like Meenakshi Mukherjee, Partha Chatterjee, Pavan Varma, Anthony Giddens, Andre Lefevere, Yuri Lotman, Levi-Strauss, Roland Barthes, and Fredric Jameson. It tries to analyze contemporary mythological novels by combining the various analytical perspectives like postmodernism, postcolonial studies, translation studies, and cultural semiotics regarding globalization and identity. The book tries to study the reasons behind the resurgence of myth in Indian fiction in English and the subsequent unparalleled interest generated in mythological writings in English. It focuses on examining how these writers in their texts display an array of divergent attitudes towards the characters and incidents in the Indian Epics and Mythology, how these versions of ancient texts reinterpret the mythical past, and how the respective authors utilize myth creatively for coming to terms with the predicament of the present. Read more