Myths of the Nation

National Identity and Literary Representations
Erscheinungsjahr 1999
ISBN: 978-0-19-818339-6
Verlag: OUP Oxford

Buch, Englisch, 232 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 145 mm x 222 mm, Gewicht: 464 g

Myths of the Nation focuses on the construction of forms of historical consciousness in narratives, or schools of narrative. The study seeks to underscore what goes behind the writing of `true' and `authentic' histories by treating historical fiction as the literary dimension of nationalist ideology. It traces nationalism from its abstract underpinnings to its concrete manifestation in historical fiction which underwrites the Indian freedom struggle. The construction of identity through mythicized conceptions of India is examined in detail through Raja Rao's first novel, Kanthapura.

The key concept governing the subject is that of representation. Since the `fictional reality' of the nation is a much debated issue, the study examines how history slides into fiction. The author shows how orientalist, nationalist, Marxist, subalternists, and poststructuralists, have all, in their own celebratory ways, used the disenfranchised sub-proletariat in their works. What she finds useful in poststructuralist practices, however, is that subaltern identities are imbued with heterogeneity, thus splitting open an authoritarian and reactionary nationalism, and a continuing neo-colonialism.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Sethi, Rumina

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Ideologien Nationalismus
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literaturwissenschaft
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein Historiographie
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Volkskunde: Sitten, Traditionen, Mythen, Legenden

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Introduction: Narratives of Nationalism and the Politics of the Orient

- Part One

- 1: The Nativization of English

- 2: The Ideology of Gandhi: A Mass Fantasy

- Part Two

- 3: Peasant Uprisings and Fictional Strategies

- 4: Contesting Identities: Involvement and Resistance of Women

- Part Three

- 5: The Future of a Vision

- 6: Fixity and Resistance

- Bibliography

Über Autor(innen)

Rumina Sethi is a British Academy Research Fellow at Wolfson College, University of Oxford, and has written widely on Postcolonial Cultural Studies.