View of PARAMETERS EVALUATION ON INDIAN ENGLISH LITERATURE: A REVIEW

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ACCENT JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS ECOLOGY & ENGINEERING

Peer Reviewed and Refereed Journal IMPACT FACTOR: 2.104(INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL) UGC APPROVED NO. 48767

Vol.03, Issue 05, May 2018, Available Online:www.ajeee.co.in/index.php/AJEEE

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PARAMETERS EVALUATION ON INDIAN ENGLISH LITERATURE: A REVIEW Zeba Naz

Research Scholar, (English Literature), Jayoti Vidyapeeth Woman’s University, Jaipur

Abstract: Many papers and books have been written on the same but what about another upcoming genre that has really helped Indian Writing in English to grow and it is Science Fiction writing in Indian English Literature. Science Fiction in Indian English Literature faced a massive opposition from regional SF as it was more popular and was able to draw its readers. Many famous SF writers wrote in regional languages and commanded huge fan base. But it is only recent that Indian SF written in English have become popular and original fiction instead of the regular translated ones. Writers like Samit Basu as well as Anil Menon and Vandana Singh and many others have contributed to this and it is only time that Science Fiction in Indian English Literature becomes a much sought after avenue.

This paper will try and chart the growth of Science Fiction in Indian English Literature.

Keywords: Science Fiction, Indian English Literature, Indian Writing in English is now a varied

and rich genre with writers that have critical and commercial success. But the early days of Indian Writing in English was fraught with difficulties as the language was alien to the natives and only a handful of people could understand it and knowing English became a mark of authority and competency as well as privilege. One of the main reasons behind the expansion of Indian writing in English was the British rule that saw India being acquainted with western education. A large number of Indians took to the British style of education, that of course became mandatory, to get better opportunities. But many Indians with a grasp on the language used it to write stories so that the tales of Indians getting brutalized under a repressive regime reached audience far and wide. This can be attributed as one of the main reasons on why Indian Writing in English was developed and as India got independence and more writers came and joined this budding movement and now as we look at Indian Writing in English it has developed in to a full fledeged genre. And among it, one particular theme has captured international attention, apart from the regular ones and it is science fiction.

But Indian Writing in English apart from the regular stories have another very important as well as important aspect i.e. science fiction stories which after several decades of lackadaisical treatment and the dominance of regional science fiction has now finally come up on its own thus

becoming a very important part of the Indian English Writing movement.

Science Fiction had its roots in regional literature where a number of writers took endless aim to make it popular but the idea of writing SF in English came much before that where writers from Bengal wrote Future history stories such as Shashi Chander Dutt as well as Kailash Chunder Dutt (mentioned in M.K. Naik). But these are the earliest examples and there are some random examples here and there like Begum Rokeya Hussain's Sultana's Dream which is not only one of the first example of feminist fiction written in English in India but also feminist science fiction written in English. Somehow all these achievements were lost when regional SF became very popular. There have been writers who wrote science fiction in English but there reach and popularity could never compare with the regional science fiction writers.

GN Saibaba in his essay speaks up about the privileged position of English as a language in India and how it is used to demarcate the status quo between Indian Writing in English and Regional Literature. He clearly states that English wiritng in India is given a position of power and status over regional literature.

Writers writing in English have that advantage because they easily a worldwide audience while regional literature have has to wait till it is translated. But then again, for Science Fiction in India it is the regional SF that has the upper hand here because Science fiction in English had very few takers and

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2 could never reach the popularity of their regional counterparts.

Science Fiction in Indian English Literature has several specific denominators and that's what most writers follow. However, most of the inspirations come from American or British SF, the current trend moves towards Indianizing many SF tropes and ideas with India-centric stories making up bulk up the work. Let us discuss some of the basic ideas involved in Science Fiction writing in Indian English Literature.

1. TECHNOLOGY AND THE NATIVE:

HOW INDIAN SCIENCE FICTION WROTE ABOUT THE SUBALTERNS In most Indian Writing in English focusing on science fiction we observe that the writers tend to write about the socio-political impact of the introduction of technology in a backward country and its repercussions, how technology is used as well as abused. One thing that we have to remember that the British during their rule in India introduced several technology but it was because of their own interests and in the long run these technologies were adapted by the Indians.

These became the crux or theme of many stories. The native disgruntle over technology that ruined his livelihood as well as the wonder of using things that they have never dreamed about often invoked American writer Philip K. Dick's stories which too focused on the over- utilization and over-dependence on technology. The native is also weary of such technologies because it is again but a symbol of the colonial ideology as well as rule so the natives always feel that once such technology is introduced it will be used to repress them. Samit Basu's Turbulence in many ways focus on this fear where suddenly the idea of superheroes who are essentially western in concept and suddenly is introduced to the Indian psyche gets cold shouldered by one because no one can trust these super-powered humans.

2. POLITICS, NATIONALISM AND THE NATION IN INDIAN SCIENCE FICTION IN ENGLISH

When we look at Anil Menon's Nine Billion Feet of the Beast we see how the science fictional tale re-twists everything in and around that of the nation with a stern

critique of nationalism as well as focusing on the politics of the nation and what it could become in a future state. Nine Billion Feet of the Beast constantly tries to focus on parties that have nationalism as their agenda and how they choose to berate others who oppose their ideologies.

One of the main characters in the book becomes victim of government conspiracy because he tries to oppose their policies.

Similarly in Rimi B. Chatterjee's Signal Red we come to know about a future where a right-wing government has more or less ended personal freedom and have started a Orwellian future opposing any dissidents. Be it stories like Signal Red or Harvest or even Generation 14, one has to look at the way nationalist policies plays an important role in these stories as they eventually lead to serious totalitarian to authoritative regimes crushing the freedom of the citizens that can be dubbed as internal colonization. So in a way the science fiction texts promotes the idea that the independence that the nation got from the British has more or less failed and much have be done to nullify the effect of neocolonialism. Ian McDonald's River of Gods, though not a part of the Indian English Writing Canon but still has to be mentioned here because of the plausible use of India as a theme in many of his short stories and the mentioned novel uses nationalistic ideals in River of Gods where a Balkanized India, divided into several countries try to outmatch each other and a water-war that brews. The idea behind these stories is of course the political situation in India and a subtle critic that many regular fictional works often find difficult to perform.

3. FUTURE CITIES AND FUTURE STATE IN INDIAN SCIENCE FICTION IN ENGLISH

Many science fiction authors from India writing in English focus on another important theme while writing their stories. The future of India as such and how it will develop into a modern heterotopia. With writers like Ruchir Joshi, Samit Basu, Rimi B. Chatterjee and many others, they try to deduce what it will be like to think of an India of the future where cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai will finally become hi-tech with all the possible technological

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3 advancement that will make lives of people comfortable. If we look at Ian McDonald's collection of short stories Cyberadabad Days or his novel River of Gods, we will find out how wonderfully he creates an alternative India though this India is now Balkanized into several countries and have become enemies of each other.

4. FEMINISM AND OPPRESSION OF WOMEN IN INDIAN SCIENCE FICTION IN ENGLISH

There are so many authors in India, namely female authors who have wrote a lot about the oppression and suppression that Indian women face in this patriarchal state. Authors like Anita Desai, Kiran Desai, Nayantara Sehgal, Shashi Deshpande and so many other female authors have written stories targeting the abuse of women in a staunchly patriarchal state. But science fiction once again expands these idea. They predict what might happen to the women of the future. They try to understand what will become the condition of women in a world that is so technologically advanced, a world where progress will be measure through the help of science but yet there will be no real progress since the socio- political scenario will be such where women will be downgraded to third-grade citizens. SF writers in India like Vandana Singh, Manjula Padmanabhan as well as Rimi B. Chatterjee qualify as such writers who have focused on the condition of women. Now let us go through a quick list of Indian writers writing Science Fiction in English.

Samit Basu

Samit Basu can be regarded as the foremost science fiction writer in India and his writings have been both a mix of science fiction as well as fantasy. He started out with the fantasy series Game world which has been dubbed by many the first authentic English fantasy series to come out from India and it received a lot of international acclaim. Post-Game world, Samit Basu started working on Turbulence, a science fiction book about Indian superheroes again a first of its kind for Indian science fiction writing in English that was a postmodernist take on various tropes of superhero genre. A

sequel, Resistance is awaited eagerly by his fans.

Anil Menon

Anil Menon, is another leading author of speculative fiction in India and many of his short stories have been published in a number of international magazines. Anil Menon's science fiction stories mainly point out on the relationship between technology and the nation along with a focus on climate change and how dangerous it is for the environment..

Vandana Singh

Vandana Singh's short story Delhi, a part of several prestigious magazines as well as the compilation So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction and Fantasy is a fascinating tale of colonial hangover as the lead protagonist gets lost in a time-space continuum that makes him experience the entire history of Delhi, the old and new, the past and present, the pre-Mughal era as well as the Mughal era along with the British timeline. .

Ruchir Joshi

Ruchir Joshi is another writer who suddenly found himself branded as a sci- fi author after his The Last Jet Engine Laugh was released. Technically not a straight forward SF but rather a strange cocktail of memory mixed with stories, future India, politics of past and present, feminism and oppression, the Bengali identity, the communist movement, the opposition to Emergency, The Last Jet Engine Laugh is a political satire, a science fiction romp with often nasty remarks about a nation that has transformed so much that no one can recognize it.

Priya Sarukkai Chabria

Generation 14 is somewhat similar to the Island of Lost Girls by Manjula Padmanabhan but written by Priya Sarukkai Chabbria it is a tale of a nation that has lost its identity and self, and has become a dangerous place, a place where people are cruelly and mercilessly subdued, and are virtually slaves to a government and cloning is rampant with the memories of dead people preserved in the clones and hence they are not really dead. A political satire, Generation 14

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4 also uses the thematic idea of India as a totalitarian regime as opposed to the democratic vibes India has in front of the world. .

5. CONCLUSION

Indian Science Fiction has with all its problems have finally reached a placed where critics and readers have finally accepted that it has become a genre to reckon with. Writers like Samit Basu to Anil Menon and many more have finally done what many Indian writers have tried for ages. Indian SF is finally a genre that has international attention and with the current situation where SF is trying to break free of American and British hegemony and welcoming new writers from across the world. SF has become not only popular around the entire world but many works are being translated so that the readers have a variety of options.

Recently, Cixin Liu became the first Asian to win the prestigious Hugo awards and this gives us the understanding that Science Fiction from different parts of the world can really do well. There is a chance, an opportunity that has to be grabbed and with Indian SF writers already creating a niche for themselves it is only time that SF in India will become even more popular.

REFEERENCES

1. Clute, John and Nicholls, Peter (2013). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Sleight:

Gollancz.

2. Sarwal, Reema and Hoagland, Erika (2010).

Science Fiction, Imperialism and the Third World: Essays on Postcolonial Literature and Film. Jefferson: McFarland.

3. Mondal, N.C. "Popular Science Writing in Bengali: Past and Present." Science Reporter (2012).

4. Saibaba, G.N. "Colonialist Nationalism in the Critical Practice of Indian Writing in English: A Critique." Economic and Political Weekly (2008).

5. Banerjee, Suparno. "Alternative Dystopia:

Science, Power, and Fundamentalism in Rimi B. Chatterjee's Signal Red". Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts (2008)

6. Naik, M.K. and Narayan, Shyamala A (2001). Indian English Literature, 1980- 2000: A Critical Survey. New Delhi:

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