Words from India in the West: A Critical Approach to Select Writings by the Diasporic Indian Litterateurs

This edited volume critically assesses different aspects of five literary genres – novels, poetry, short-stories, drama, and non-fictional prose – contributed to by the Indian diasporic writers settled principally in North America and Europe. Films made by or on members of the Indian diaspora have been also checked out. The predominant approach in the anthology is not only a feminist one, although special emphasis is given on assessing the writings by females.

The emphasis of the anthology is on: (a) critical analyses of themes, styles, diction, and relevance of the writings; (b) assessment of the research potentialities of these writings; (c) examining how literary theories could be used for explaining and assessing the writings; (d) proper contextualization of the writings; and (e) finding out the historical roots and suggesting the future ‘prospects’ of such writings.

The essays included in the book re-read Indian diasporic writings for their appreciable points as well as those which need development. The collection fills in lacuna of critical approaches to Indian diasporic writings presently available in the market. In fact, there is scarcely any book presently available that covers critical approaches to all the five literary genres of Indian diasporic writings.

Dr. Pinaki Roy (born 1980) studied English at Visva-Bharati (Santiniketan, West Bengal, India) and University of North Bengal (Shibmandir, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India). Since 2019, he is Professor of English (and Dean of Students’ Welfare) at the RAIGANJ UNIVERSITY in Raiganj (West Bengal, India).

His previous books include THE BROKEN PENS: THE (INDIAN) PARTITION IN LITERATURE AND FILMS (Aadi, 2015), WILFRED OWEN: THE MAN, THE SOLDIER, THE POET (Books Way, 2013), THE SCARLET CRITIQUE: A CRITICAL ANTHOLOGY OF WAR POETRY (Sarup, 2010), and THE MANICHEAN INVESTIGATORS: A POSTCOLONIAL AND CULTURAL REREADING OF THE SHERLOCK HOLMES AND BYOMKESH BAKSHI STORIES (Sarup, 2008), and 3 others. His papers have been published by, among other outlets, CLUES, W.L.A., MUSE INDIA, ENGLISH FORUM, VISVA-BHARATI QUARTERLY, and YEARLY SHAKESPEARE.

Dr. Ashis Sengupta, the writer of the ‘Foreword’, is Professor of English at the University of North Bengal (Shibmandir, Darjeeling, W.B., India). Dr. Bashabi Fraser, C.B.E., the writer of the ‘Introduction’, is Professor Emerita of English and Creative Writing at Edinburgh Napier University (Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K.) and an internationally-recognised Indian Diasporic Poet.