This ppt is based on Salman Rushdie's essay - commonwealth does not exist,

1. Commonwealth literature:
Orthodoxy of Intellectuals…

2. •Prepared by : KAVITABA P. GOHIL
•Roll No : 19
•Paper – 11 : The Postcolonial Literature
•M.A (English) : Sem -3
•Enrollment No : 2069108420180018
•Batch : 2017-19
•Email : kavitabaprahaladsinhjigohil@gmail.com
•Submitted to : Smt .S. B Gardi, Department of
English, MK Bhavnagar University

3. Outline
• Introduction
• What is commonwealth
literature?
• What is like inside the ghetto of
‘Commonwealth’?
• What problem this ghetto cause?
• Conclusion

4. 4
Introduction
➢ ‘Commonwealth does not exist’- is essay written by
Indian born British writer Selman Rushdie.
➢ This presentation main focuses on relevance of
Commonwealth literature and it’s effect.

5. What is commonwealth literature?
• What is commonwealth?
• Oliver Chromwell-1649
• Well-being
• The noun means – Public welfare, general good or advantage
• [Commonwealth literature- it appears, is that body of writing
created, I think, in the English language, by persons who are not
themselves white Britons, or Irish, or citizen of the United states of
America.]-Rushdie
5

6. Continue...
➢ ‘Commonwealth literature’ was
sounding very unlikable indeed.
Not only was it ghetto, but it was
actually an exclusive ghetto.
➢ Chimera
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7. What is life like inside the ghetto of ‘Commonwealth Literature’
and what kind of problem it creates?
 Rules of ghettos
 “Literature is an expression of nationality”
Patrick white-Australian
Doris Lessing-African
V.S. Naipaul-West Indianness
 Books which mix traditions, or which consciously to break with tradition,
are often treated as highly suspected.
- E.g..- Arun Kolatkar – Jejuri-doyen ,C.D. Narsimhaiah- accused
7

8. Continue...
➢ ‘Authenticity’ is the respectable child of old-fashioned
exoticism. It demands the symbol all sources, forms, style,
language and symbol all derive from a supposedly
homogeneous and unbroken tradition.
➢ Imagine a novel being eulogized for being ‘authentically
English’, or ‘authentically German’. It would seem absurd. – but
Ghettos do it.
➢ Rushdie’s own case – Indian born British writer- British
resident Indo-Pakistani.
8

9. Continue...
➢ Eclecticism- the ability to take from the world what
seems fitting and to leave the rest.
➢ E.g..- India( Tagore, Anita Desai, Raja Rao, Mulk Raj
Anand etc..)
➢ Not good word in lexicon of ‘Commonwealth literature’.
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10. Continue...
➢ Major work done in India in many languages other
than English; yet outside India there is just about no
interest in any of this work. The Indo-Anglicans
seize all the limelight.
➢ Then what happen with other regional writers?
➢ E.g.- Suresh Joshi
10

11. Conclusion...
➢ ‘Commonwealth literature should not exist.
➢ What is the need of , this kind of ghettos in the Era of
Globalization?
➢ Actually, as a student of Department of English I should ask
one more question, - Why in the World of Globalization we
are learning Post-colonial studies? Can we ever remove
such out-dated things from our Education system?
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12. THANK
YOU