GLOBAL ISSUES AND THEMATIC CONCERNS IN THE NOVELS OF KIRAN DESAI: RESPONSE TO COLONIALISM

Abstract

Abstract

Of the two novels, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard (1998) and The Inheritance of Loss (2006), that Kiran Desai has written so far, the first, from the point of view of its themes and global issues whatsoever, is of little concern to response to colonialism. However, the themes of this novel, as every work of fiction has some theme(s) or the other, are the themes concerning the purpose of adult life, that the author deals with, using the elements of humour and irony. Among the main themes of the novel are superstition and lethargy reigning dominantly still in the Indian society. Among the main themes of Desai’s second novel, The Inheritance of Loss, providing main thrust of this article are migration, alienation, separatism, hybridity - human, literary and cultural, multiculturalism, globalization etc. This Man-Booker award winning novel is a unique mingling or rather a jumble of a number of themes that are taking shape in the real world of the new postcolonial era of globalization too. The themes pertaining to living in two worlds, in between two worlds and in between past and present have been delineated with brimming beauty and grandeur of fiction. Through some characters, especially through the character of Jemubhai Popatlal Patel, a retired judge of colonial times, living a disenchanted life in Kalimpong, a hill station in the North-Eastern part of India, Desai presents the theme of alienation with adequate irony and humour, through Biju, the issues and problems of N.R.I.s and through the Gorkha Movement in the Kanchenjunga Hills, she raises the