This document is a student paper on decolonizing literature in India. It was written by Parmar Milankumar for a post-colonial literature class taught by Dr. Dilip Barad at M.K. Bhavnagar University. The paper discusses key concepts related to decolonization in literature such as hegemony, nationalism, and magic realism. It also examines how Indian writers have moved away from realistic European novels and instead draw from ancient Indian tales and narratives to create a more authentically Indian literature in English.

1. M.K.Bhavnagar University
Decolonizing the Indian Mind-
by- Namvar Singh
Presented by-: Parmar Milankumar
Semester-: Third
Batch Year:- 2014-16
Enrolment no.-: 14101026
Paper no.-: 11-Post-colonial literature
Email id-: parmarmilan1994@gmail.com
Submitted to- Dr. Dilip Barad
Smt. S B Gardi
Department of English

2. What is decolonization ?
Hegemony in Literature
Nationalism in literature
Decolonization of literature
index

3. What is decolonization ?
“Decolonization is the process of revealing
and dismantling colonist power in all its
forms, this includes dismantling the hidden
aspects of those institution and cultural
forces that had maintained the colonialist
power and that remained even after
political independence”

4. Hegemony in Literature
English
Literature
Common
wealth
literature
New
literature
Colonial
literature
Post-
colonial
literature
First world
literature
Third
world
literature
World
Literature

5. National Allegory
• A phrase given by Fredric Jameson..characteristic
of “Third world novel’’
• Gora- 1920, Rabindranath Tagore,
• Samskara- 1965, U.R.Ananthmurthy
• Search for identity and identity crisis
• Gaur Mohan and Praneshacharya, both emerges
as human being.

6. “I’m just like you- a soul driven by lust and hate-
is this my first lesson in humanity?... I am sin, my
work is sin, my soul is sin, my birth is sin.’ No, no,
even that is lie. Must forget all words learned by
heart, the heart may flow free like a child’s.
Gaur Mohan “what I had day and night longed to
be but was not able to be, I have become today.
Today I belong to all India”

7. Decolonization of literature
Today’s Indian writers have left behind the tradition
of realistic European novel.
Narratives are based on the ancient tales and
narratives of India
They make use of myths, customs, and beliefs of
Indian life as exotic for the west, and therefore it
becomes object of attraction.
The Indian novels in English today would seem to be
rather more “Indian” than the Regional novel.
Returning to the old fashioned narratives which is
both “contemporary” and the “latest”

8. Magic Realism:- A term coined by Jacques
Stephan, Latin American critic, in “Of the
Magical realism of the Haitian’s (1956)
Modes of expression of that cultures reality
The inclusion of any mythic or legendary
material from local written or oral cultural
tradition in contemporary narrative.
Salman Rushdie’s novel’s “Shame” and
“Midnight’s children”.

9. • Decolonization does not mean a rejection of
the west altogether. There are many even
among the writers of the west who have
raised pens against colonization and
imperialism. It will be shortsighted on our
part to disassociate ourselves from this
tradition of the west, in name of a distinctive
identity of “Third World Literature” …

10. Works Cited
Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, Helen Tiffin. The
Post-Colonial Studies: The Key Concepts. 2007.
Routledge, 2007.
Singh, Namvar and HarishTrivedi. Decolonizing
the India mind. 27 03 2014
<http:/www.jstore.org/stable/23337172>.