This document is a presentation on Commonwealth literature prepared by a student for their English literature course. It discusses how Commonwealth literature refers to writing by non-white British, Irish or American authors in English. However, the term has been criticized for creating an exclusive "ghetto" that restricts writers and demands works conform to perceived homogeneous traditions from a single cultural background. The presentation examines problems this approach causes and questions the need for such categorization in an era of globalization.

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
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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.
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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
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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