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Proceedings of National Seminar on Postmodern Literary Theory and Literature , Jan. 27-28, 2012, Nandedunable to follow a chronological pattern toimpose order on his writing. Still, at least,writing becomes an activity. By means ofthis, he can find the reasons for his failure.From what he writes we can learn, like him,how colonial experiences have affected andshaped his life and personality. As what hesays cannot be reduced to what is being saidexplicitly. Like thought itself and behaviour,it bears the weight of the other. The other ofthis, we are all unaware or which we halfrefuse. [Lemaire 1977 : 40] As he is born todisorder, Singh longs for a sense of controlover his life. Therefore, he turns to writingwhich becomes a “means of releasing” fromthe “‘barren cycle of events.” [White 1975 :180] As Kelly has pointed out, “It isthrough the expression and presentation ofthe events that he can reduce the pain ofbeing a displaced colonial man: the act ofwriting his memoirs provides him the finalsolution to his sense of dislocation, forthrough writing he is at last able to takecontrol of the fragments of his past andshape them into a spiritual andpsychological autobiography.”[1989 : 90]References:Hensen, Michael. “Guest Editor’sIntroduction to V.S. Naipaul and hisWorks : A Borderline Case?” TheAtlantic Literary Review, Vol. 3.No.1, Jan.-Mar. 2002. v-viii.Cudjoe, Selwyn R. V. S. Naipaul : AMaterialist Reading. Amherst : TheUniversity of Massachusetts Press,1988.Dhawan, R. K. Indian Writing In NewMillennium. New Delhi : IndianAssociation for English, 2000.Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of theEarth. New York : GroveWeidenfeld, 1963.Kelly, Richard. V. S. Naipaul.NY: Continuum, 1989.King, Bruce. Modern Novelists: V. S.Naipaul. Hong Kong : Macmilllan,1993.Lemaire, Anika. Jacques Lacan. Trans.David Macey. London: Routledge,1977.Naipaul, V. S. The Mimic Men. London :Penguin Books Limited, 1967. [Allthe parenthetical references hereafterare taken from the same publication.]Rai, Sudha. V. S. Naipaul: A Study InExpatriate Sensibility. AtlanticHighlands, N.J. : Humanities Press,1982.Simpson, Louis. Disorder and Escapein the Fiction of V. S. Naipaul.Hudson Review, 1984. 37 : 4.Thieme, John. The Web of Tradition:Usesof Allusion in Naipaul’s Fiction.Hertford : Hansib, 1987.White, Landeg. V. S. Naipaul : ACritical Introduction. London :Macmillan, 1975.473 PLTL-2012: ISBN 978-81-920120-0-1
Proceedings of National Seminar on Postmodern Literary Theory and Literature , Jan. 27-28, 2012, NandedA Study of the Multiculturalism in Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy--Pathan M. D.Sanjivni Mahavidyalaya, Chapoli, LaturAbstract: Multiculturalism is not a short term or limited to any state or nation. Multiculturalism is a globalphenomenon. It is the product of 20th century acceleration of movement between people and cultures. Althoughmulticulturalism is often discussed in the context of the particular American experience as the recognition of people ofdifferent cultural backgrounds and identities, international multiculturalism reflects a more widespread search forrecognition of people’s particular experiences within a larger shared, and often adopted, community. It is not limitedwith the American’s experience as it is a global phenomenon. It spread all over the world in U.K. Asia, Africa fromeach and every continent. No corner of the world remain without multiculturalism. Multiculturalism offers insight intothe ways in which cultures transform our identities. Influenced by factors such as nationality, gender, sexual identity,class, religion, and race, cultural experiences reinforce our lives like the roots of a tree. Trees can be replanted in thenew soil, but the new earth does not always offer the same sustenance as old, and the roots may struggle to secure thetrees as strongly as before. Immigrants too bring their own cultural experiences with them to their adopted country,yet retaining and perpetuating those experiences often involves new challenges, and the sense of displacement and lossthat often accompanies the journey is not always easily overcome.A Suitable Boy is a masterpiece, written by Vikram Seth, an Indian writer writing in English. Thisnovel is a set in political hotbed that characterized India during the post-independence, post partition decade of 1950s.This story examines the interworkings and travails of four families the Kapoors (Punjabi), the Mehras (Punjabi), theChatterjis (Bengali) and the Khans (Muslim).A Suitable Boy is a landmark in Seth’s career because it represents a sortof coming of age, of industrial, modern, and materialistic India as Shobha De’s fiction gives us a glimpse of thechanging trends of India and Indian English Writing. She is born and educated in New Delhi and Mumbai - themetropolitan cities. As she is educated from these cities, she is familiar and well-known with the life-styles of the socalledelite societies of the metropolitan cities of India which are totally influenced by materialism.A Suitable Boy is a masterpiece,written by Vikram Seth, an Indian writerwriting in English. This novel is a set inpolitical hotbed that characterized Indiaduring the post-independence, post partitiondecade of 1950s. This story examines theinterworkings and travails of four familiesthe Kapoors (Punjabi), the Mehras(Punjabi), the Chatterjis (Bengali) and theKhans (Muslim). Two primary characters inthis sotry are Mrs. Rupa Mehra and Lata,her marriageable but rebellious youngestdaughter. Mrs. Rupa Mehra is a widowwhose mission throughout the novel is totake care of family and in particular, thesearch for a suitable husband for Lata. Thepolitical hotbed, newly independent India,was marching towards the industrialization;Western wind of industrial revolution andculture were blowing in India. Thisindustrialization and Western wind ofculture makes the metropolitan cities morematerialistic.The novel opens with a weddingceremony that brings the main four familiestogether and thereby allows Seth to placehis main characters right away onto hiscanvas. Savita, Mrs Rupa Mehra’s elderdaughter is getting married to Pran, auniversity lecturer in English and the son ofthe State Revenue Minister Mahesh Kapoor.Also present at the function are anglicizedChatterji family who reside at Calcutta, andthe Khan family of the Nawab of Baitar, oneof the largest landowners in the state. Apartfrom the Khans, the other three families areinterlinked through marriages. In addition tothe network of relationships that emerge outof these family webs, Seth introduces a largecast of other characters drawn from acrossreligions, languages, class and caste.The four families the Mehras, theChatterjis, the Kapoors and the Khans are474 PLTL-2012: ISBN 978-81-920120-0-1
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