Dinu Dutta is researching the myth of the Gun Merchant for a book. He travels from Brooklyn to Calcutta and the Sundarbans to learn more. He meets several characters involved in climate change issues like Piyla Roy. Dinu learns different versions of the Gun Merchant story and visits the shrine of Manasa Devi. Tipu is bitten by a snake there and has visions. Dinu later travels to Venice to help with a documentary on migrants. He encounters the migrant community and learns the Gun Merchant story may be historically linked to migrants from Bengal to Venice hundreds of years ago.

1. Department of English
Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University
GUN ISLAND
Amitav Ghosh
Presented by:
MA Sem 4
Dhruvita Dhameliya (03)
Divya Parmar (05)
Emisha Ravani (07)
Himanshi parmar (08)
Jheel Barad (12)
1
11 - 01 - 2023

2. 2
Points to ponder :
About the Author : Emisha Ravani
Characters Introduction : Divya Parmar
Plot Overview : Jheel Barad
Themes of the Novel : Himanshi Parmar
Articles Reading : Dhruvita Dhameliya

3. 3
Key Facts :
● Originally published: 6 June 2019
● Author: Amitav Ghosh
● Genres: Novel, Historical Fiction
● Cli-Fi
● Original language: English
● Modern retelling of Bengali myth
● Chapterization : Cities names,
Character’s names, Non material
like Visions, Dreams, Warnings.
● High imaginary vision
● Hindi, Marathi and Malayalam (
Translated editions available)

4. 4
● Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta
and grew up in India, Bangladesh and
Sri Lanka. He studied in Delhi, Oxford
and Alexandria.
● The Circle of Reason, The Shadow
Lines, In An Antique Land, Dancing in
Cambodia, The Calcutta Chromosome,
The Glass Palace, The Hungry Tide,
and The Ibis Trilogy, consisting of Sea
of Poppies, River of Smoke and Flood
of Fire. The Great Derangement;
Climate Change and the Unthinkable.
Who is Amitav Ghosh?

5. 5
A
Awards :
Jnanpith Award
Sahitya Akademi Award
Ananda Puraskar
Dan David Prize
Padma Shri

6. 6
2019 National Book Festival
Bengali folklore
The conflict between the merchant and the goddess of snake is
exactly the conflict between the profits, industry and the environment.
The ancient story is conceptualized. The basic issue at the heart of
climate change.
Chicago Humanities Festival
He claimed that climate change is uncanny like the novel is collection of
uncanny episodes. Or series of uncanny episodes. Praised the
description of basic emotions of beings in Bangla ancient stories. How
people were so pure.

7. 7
Little ice age – The Little Ice Age (LIA) was a period of
regional cooling, particularly pronounced in the North
Atlantic region. It was not a true ice age of global extent.
The term was introduced into scientific literature by
François E. Matthes in 1939. The period has been
conventionally defined as extending from the 16th to the
19th centuries, but some experts prefer an alternative
timespan from about 1300 to about 1850.
Ice Age :

8. 8
What he thinks about this novel?
- My book is just an attempt to do what I feel as I have always
done which is to respond in a creative way to the realities of our
time. And these are the realities of our time which why they
figure in the book.
- It is not about climate change. That is, I disown such labels. It is
having the links between the past and present and in those
links one of the link or period interesting is the seventeenth
century. Cause which is the last time the earth went through the
traumatic tribulation.
- Global novel
- Research work for Migration – He has lived there with refugee
and to the days were eye opening to him.
- Bandook – Etymological history

9. 9
Learning Outcome:
For me, Climate Change, the topic was not new but the less
interested. After went through this novel it has became the
concern. As author is very capable to make aware his readers
with this enough seriousness and literariness. Amitav Ghosh said
in one of his interview when he is asked, that it is not the worry for
the old generation people and they are not getting this problem as
much as younger generation people are making themselves
aware towards it as a problem.
So, it was the journey from ‘Topic’ to ‘Concern’. Novel makes me
curious to read more through the lens of climate change.

10. 10
Characters

11. 11
Characters as
Researcher
Protagonist
Dinonath
(Folklore)
Piyali Roy (Marine
biology)
Gia Cinta Schivan
(Historian)
Characters From
India
Kunai Dutt
Nilima Bose
Moyna and her
Husband Fokir
Tipu
Horen Naskar
Muslim Boatman
Rafi
Characters From
Mythical Story
Mansa Devi
Gun Merchant
Chand Sadgar
Lakindar
Behula
Nkhuda ilyas

12. 12
Other Characters :
Lisa (Entomologist, teaching)
Gisella or Gisa
Ruggiero
Altiero
Imma
Gia como
Lucia
(There is also people introduced as migrated
people from Bengal to Italy)

13. V
13
List of Some Migrated People in The Novel :
Lubna khala Alam
Munir
Palash
Bilal
Kabir

14. 14
Learning Outcome:
My reading of this novel leads me to read about climate changes with
happening around the world! If we read characters like dinonath
dutta, piyali, cinta and all are educated people. But Piyali’s research
topic is related Marine Biology. Climate change, Migration, People’s
believe on Mythology (Educated people too) presented very well by
Amitav. Also he presents the character of Gisa, who wants to make
Documentary upon the Migrated people in Italy from Bengal. Amitav
noticed the all contemporary things and documented in novel, and
also by the character of gisa we find that all contemporary and
important things and incidents can be noticed by Literature. This how
author draw the real sketch of the world front of our eyes with this
novel.

15. PLOT OVERVIEW
15

16. 16

17. 17
CLIMATE
UPHEAVALS
MASS
MIGRATION

18. CHAPTERS
Part 1: The Gun Merchant
Calcutta
Cinta
Tipu
The Shrine
Visions
Rani
Brooklyn
Wildfires
Los Angeles
Gun Island
Part 2: Venice
The Ghetto
Rafi
Strandings
Friends
Dreams
Warnings
Highwater
Crossings
Winds
The Lucania
Sightings
Storm 18

19. 19
Sequel of The Hungry Tide
Protagonist and narrator- DINANATH DUTTA (Dinu, Dino, Deen)- a dealer in rare books and Asian
antiquities.
Going to Calcutta from Brooklyn
Protagonist’s introduction to the word ‘Bonduki Sadagar (Gun Merchant)’ while returning to his
domicile land- Calcutta.
CALCUTTA
Meeting his distant relative KANAI DUTT, introduced to a story of ‘Bonduki Sadagar’
Myth of ‘Chand Sadagar and Manasa Devi’
Meeting NILIMA BOSE suggested by Kanai and collected data about the The Shrine (Dhaam).
Introduces to ‘PIYA’LI ROY, teacher in Oregon and cetologist .
FOKIR (died while helping Piya in her research work in The Hungry Tide), his MOYNA and their son
TUTUL (Tipu)

20. 20
Nilima founded NGO, Badabon trust; get to know about the devastation due to Bhola Cyclone,
1970 though fisherman HOREN NASKAR.
Went for the distribution of supplies for the sufferers, on on small island of Sundarban there was no
body harm, on enquiring she came to know about The Shrine of Manasa Devi, The goddess of
snakes.
Shrine was like Temples of Bishnupur
The custodian or caretaker- middle- aged muslim man, Manjhi, a boatman; worked for the people
who tended the Shrien Hindu gayans
Nilima told the story of Gun Merchant she gathered from a boatman. (pg 16-17) and wished Dinu to
visit Shrine as she feels ‘some record should be made’
Memory of DURGA and her back life.
He was trying to solve ‘When the shrine was built?’ (pg 21-22)
Call from Professoressa GIA‘CINTA’ SCHIAVON
Her visit to Bengal, visiting a performance in tent; her husband’s and daughter LUCIA’s death

21. 21
Cinta was the one who helped Dino to get job in NY. earlier he was librarian in Midwest.
He decides to Visit Shrine. Talks about the life, climate and people of Sundarbans.
Alia Cyclone, 2009
Moyna talks about Tipu and help of Piya.
Meets TIPU.
Ges another version of story of Gun Merchant. (pg 55-56)
Tipu working as dalal (connection men) and makes story for migrants.
Reaches to Shrine; comes across symbols and knows about it from RAFI (real name ILYAS) (Pg
70-71)
the goddess of snakes,
Manasa Devi with the
Gun Merchant.
helmeted figure: this was
indeed a pirate, than the
leader of the harmads who
had captured the Gun
Merchant
Gun Island

22. 22
Further story about merchant and Caption Ilyas who brought him by Rafi (pg 74-75)
Cobra; Tipu gets bit by Cobra in Shrine
Tipu gets visions of Rani and asks to let Piya know about it.
Piya comes from Bhubaneswar with Antivenins.
Rani is a dolphin (important part of her research); she was tracked.
Dolphin beaching news; island of Garjontola; culprit iss refinery according to Piya.
USA
Return to Brooklyn.
Gets a mail from Bonduki@bonduki.com
BHUTA and SHAMAN
Mails Piya chats about Tipu and LISA (entomologist, research on bark beetles) which results in
wildfires and she got blamed for it.
‘It’s like we’re back in the Dark Ages – women being attacked as witches!’

23. 23
Tipu asks about possession- Possession and Greed
Tipu was in Bangalore
Conference in Los Angeles ‘Climate and Apocalypse in the Seventeenth Century’
Dino in flight (pg 115); Reached LA.
Conference; Wildfires;
Talks with Cinta about the story of Manasa Devi and Gun Merchant.
Cinta’s cousin’s daughter (Uncle Ruggiero's son Altiero’s daughter) GISSELA (Gisa) a
documentary maker. Her partner is IMMA they have adopted two orphaned refugees and a
dog LEOLO.
Children was not going to school due to air quality.
Went to a beach; Yellow- bellied sea snake- venom lethal (migrating northwards). Dog
dead; asks about it with Piya.

24. 24
Cinta talk in conference- Venice, Ghetto ‘Island within Island’ and its history.
Bonduki Sadagar not ‘The Gun Merchant’ but ‘The Merchant of the Venice’
Venice al- Bunduqeyya
(arabic name)
Land of Palm Sugar
Candy
Taal- misrir- desh Egypt
Land of Kerchieves Rumali- desh Fort of Rumeli-Hisari-
Turkey
Aleph- Hebrew alphabet Ilyas must be jew

25. 25
They were expelled due to fire; Great fire of Istanbul in 1660.
Cinta outlines the story historically.
Promise Cinta to visit new york.
Dino is broke; call from Italy, Gisa.
She needed translator for making a documentary on the migrants, in Venice.
VENICE
Kinship between Varanasi and Venice
Shout of warning ‘Shabdhaan! Careful!’
Lubna Khala, her husband Munir and her backstory.
Returned to flat, met Cinta, a call from Gisa; Called Rafi (got number from Lubna)
He was selling ice cream. Refused to do documentary.
Encounter with poisonous spider. Rafi remembers something from story. Took 44 euro

26. 26
The panel and saw it could be manasa Devi creature and a story. (Pg171)
Forcibly sent Dino.
Dino gets a call from Gisa. ‘Boatload of refugees had been spotted in the Eastern
Mediterranean. She briefs to Dino about human smuggle and trafficking.
The Blue Boat- Important for their documentary.
Call from Piya regarding mail from unknown sender, she doubts its Tipu, about the beaching of
Irrawaddy dolphins at garjantola Island in Sundarbans.
Learnt about Tipu from Moyna about his job in Banglore. Where is Tipu?
Rafi in Hospital. His housemate Bilal.
Loan from a Trafficker for friend to whom he separated at Turkey.
Story of Bilal and Kabir, their backstory.
Dino’s encounter with spider; sent photo to Piya; Larry- one who studies spider.

27. 27
Fozlul Hoque Chowdhury/ Palash.
Queerini Stampalio Library
Talked to Gisa about Lubna hiring a boat to Blue boat.
Cinta and Dino talks about possession; went to roam in Venice tracing the footsteps of Gun
Merchant. History of Venice, period of Plague, Santa maria della Salute- madonna of good health.
No plague around region of Madonna= no harm in flood around Shrine of Mansa devi.
Punta della Dogana canal; uncle Ruggiero; warning for high water; encounter of shipworm.
Venice is built on wooden pilings; bridge collapse- Bilal saved.
Ospedale Civile- Hospital, rafi was admitted in same.
Rafi tells their whole story, how they were illegally transferred.
Tipu- Ethiopian women- Forsihta (decides to go Egypt, needed money) [ch. Crossings]
Tipu on Blue boat, picture torn out of newspaper.

28. 28
Decided to join Lubna to rescue bluboat, hired boat was at Maghera.
Island of Chains- Shikol dwip- Sicily; where refugee boat is headed.
Hailstorm, Tornado; man dressed in yellow robe shows path to Marghera.
Lucania- hired ship
Piya talks about Fokir, she thinks Tipu blames her for his death.
Gisa listens voice of Lucia.
School of cetaceans;
Satellite images of Blue Boat has began journey from El- Arish, in the Sinai- notorious
connection house- a place known to have hub of trade of human organs.
Refusal and attack of right wingers.
Back story of Palash; their convo on books and mobile.
rightwing= anti immigrant group
Birds migrating northward; ethiopian women;
Bioluminescence

29. 29
“Tipu’s safe at last!”
Navy admiral Admiral Vigonovo being interviewed for going against the orders.
Cinta Dies; she thinks Lucia has come to take her away.
He’s pushed along by situations that one could just as easily attribute to “mere chance,” or
global warming, or the wrathful vengeance of a Goddess scorned.
He’s pushed along by situations that one could just as easily attribute to “mere chance,” or
global warming, or the wrathful vengeance of a Goddess scorned.

30. 30
Climate related migration and displacement… change change is uncanny, disoriented. So to write about
it today is to write about uncanny. We dont know whats happening in world wide.. Uncanny is heart of
book. (Amitav Ghosh - Reading and Conversation on Gun Island #)
A talk held in New Delhi after the release of the novel, Ghosh stated that the merchant “was a trope for
trade.” The merchant and the goddess dramatize “the conflict between profit and the world.” In the
novel, the goddess pursues the merchant to make him aware of other realities like the animal world:
“Humans—driven, as was the Merchant, by the quest of profit—would recognize no restraint in relation
to other living things.” (Joshi in World literature Organisation)
Amid the freak cyclones and oxygen-starved waters comes the story – or stories – of migration across
the ages; tales of escapology, of deprivation and persecution, of impossible yearnings for a new world
that bring us, inexorably, to the terrified refugees on the Mediterranean. Which is, perhaps, Ghosh’s
essential point; a shaggy dog story can take a very roundabout path towards reality, but it will get there
in the end. It has to, or we’re all doomed. (Clark in TheGuardian)
Gun Island’s worldview is largely a positive one. In a culture saturated with tales of impending or
passed apocalypse, of survivalism and ruthlessness, Ghosh paints a picture of compassion and
community. (Battaglia Kenyon review)

31. 31
Cover Page

32. 32
Designed by Nirupa Rao, The botanical artist, Bengaluru.
www.nirupa-rao.com
“Since the novel is set in the Sundarbans, I was keen to include some flora typical of
the area too. I provided them with a few sketch options, and they, along with Ghosh,
settled on the design that finally made the cover,” says Rao.(Iyengar in Indian Express)

33. 33
Learning outcome:
● ‘Don’t set yourself up to fail, yet again.’
● ‘Do you think that people elsewhere don’t believe in such things?’
● ‘People think that knowing the future can help you prepare for what is to come – but
often it only makes you powerless’
● ‘It’s always a mistake, to do the easy thing, just out of habit.’
● ‘impossible is nothing’ – ‘Just do it!’
● ‘Time itself is in ecstasy.’
Admiral- order vs duty
Difficult to get through the skin of characters
Unexpected end- sense of dissatisfaction.
Our small actions can be responsible for various changes.
Easy paths can lead us to difficulties. (Tipu)
How someone is accepted as divine (emergence of God).
Cover art- new field of career.

34. 34
Themes

35. 1] Title - ‘Gun Island’
~ In the title, the word ‘Gun’ stands for ‘Venice’.
‘And through Arabic the name of Venice has travelled far afield, to Persia and parts of
India, where to this day guns are known as bundook – which is, of course, none other than
“Venice” or “Venetian”!’
2] ‘Gun Merchant’ or ‘Bonduki Sadagar’ means ‘A Merchant who visited Venice’.
Was it possible that I had completely misunderstood the name ‘Bonduki Sadagar’? Could
it be that its meaning was not ‘The Gun Merchant’, as I had thought, but rather, ‘The
Merchant who went to Venice’?
35
1] Etymological Mystery and the title ‘Gun
Island’.

36. 3] Ghetto
~The word ‘Ghetto’ is not related to Jews but used for an ‘Island within an
Island’ in the novel.
‘The old ghetto is an island within an island, as you can see.’
‘The island that was allotted to the Jews, she said, had previously been a foundry
where armaments, including bullets, were cast. The word for foundry in the old
Venetian dialect was getto and this had become the name of the city’s Jewish
settlement. Not only would this settlement become a great centre of Jewish
learning, it would also lead to the coining of certain words, of which ghetto was
only one.’
36

37. 4] Bhoot
~ Usually it means ‘Ghost’.
~ In novel it means ‘Past state of being’.
~ Bhoot also stands for memory.
‘All I can tell you is that the Bangla word “bhoot” or “bhuta” comes from a basic
but very complicated Sanskrit root, “bhu”, meaning “to be”, or “to manifest”. So
in that sense “bhuta” simply means “a being” or “an existing presence”.’
‘Because “bhuta” also refers to the past, in the sense of “a past state of being”.
Like when we say “bhuta-kala” or “times past”.’
37

38. 5] Possession -
~ ‘Possession is when someone is taken over by a demon.’
~ ‘It’s nothing. Just a metaphor for greed. An imaginary thing.’
~ according to cinta, The word ‘Possession’ is not demonic or negative. (Chapter -
Warning)
~ Possession = Awakening
~ The person who claim that he/she is possessed are awakening new life, new personality,
new understanding and vision.
6] ‘Land of Palm Sugar Candy’ (Taal-misrir-desh) = Egypt
7] ‘Land of Kerchieves’ (Rumaali-desh) = Turkey
8] ‘The Island of Chains’ (Shikol-dwip) = Sicily 38

39. ~ There are many myths and names of place are mentioned in the novel that are also existing in reality. Like
Sundarban, Venice, Gito, Sicily etc.
~ There are three symbols given in the novel.
~ First image is looked like hooked Snake and Gun, but it is a alphabet in Hebrew language and which span stands
for Ilias’s identity.
~ The second picture seems like it is of Island within the Island, but it's historical location is ghetto.
~ The third images is looks like spider, but in actual it must be arms. The image might for foundry also.
39
2] Historification of Myth and Mythification of History

40. ~ The Myth is history, not an imaginary thing.
~ The novel might talking about 17th century because it has a references of
plague, fire and ‘Bonduki Sadagar’.
~ Gun Merchant trapped by pirates and sold in slave market that indicate human
trafficking in present time.
~ Journey of Tipu and Rafi and the journey of Bilal and Kabir comes as an
example of slave trades in present time but in different way.
~ In conclusion, We can say that myth is not myth but a history that we are living
in 21st century.
~ Concern of myth in novel is historical truth, not universal truth. 40

41. ~ ‘Gun Island’ written after the book ‘The Great
Derangement : Climate Change and the Unthinkable’
By Amitav Ghosh.
~ ‘Gun Island’ is an answer to the questions raised in this book.
~ ‘The Great Derangement : Climate Change and the
Unthinkable’ is divided into three parts.
1) Stories
2) History
3) Politics
~ Climate Change seems like unreal, similarly in novel some incidents like Cinta time and again
talking to her daughter who died in accident, Story of Manasa Devi, Spirit of Gun Merchant etc
are also unreal, uncanny things. 41
3] Climate Change

42. ~ Section - 2 is about History. Role of colonialism in climate crisis.
~ Colonial idea of development and climate change.
~ Section - 3, Politics,According to Amitav Ghosh, Capitalism is a responsible
for the damage we are doing to the climate, For example Film Sherni, Don't Look
Up.
42

43. Corpus
1. Flood
2. Storm
3. Cyclone - Aila and Bhola
4. Calamities
5. Drought
6. Reforestation
7. Famine
8. Plague
9. Smoke
10.Tornado
11.Green house
12.Fossil fuel 43
13. Weather alert
14. Wildfires
15. Tsunami
16. Apocalypse
17. Volcano / Volcanics
18. Temperatures
19. Seismic
20. Earthquake
21. Air quality
22. Global warming
23. Hail storm
24. Coal
25. Tufaan
26. Winds

44. Migration / Human Trafficking and Refugee Crisis
~ There are three major reasons of migration of people.
1 - War and natural disaster.
2 - Religious Migration.
3 - Climate Refugees.
~ The novel is focusing on two locations.
1- Sundarban
2- Venice
Both this sites are sinking sites, that
causes migration so often.
44

45. Reasons of Migration
1- Natural Calamities - Lubna - Khala
~ cyclone and shifting.
~ snakebite and two deaths. (Brother, Niece)
‘Shob gasé!’ she said. ‘Everything’s gone now; the house, the people – the
water’s taken it all.’
2- Communal Violence - Bilal and Kabir
~ Family issue of Bilal.
~ Riots causes migration.
~ Migration is hard. 45

46. ‘One day there was a fight. My uncle and cousins attacked my father and
me, so Kabir came to our defence and knocked my uncle down. After that it
was like a riot. Kabir and I managed to get away, but from then on, we had
to be constantly on the run.’
3 - Poverty - Tipu and Rafi
~ Life in Sundarban is very hard.
~ Rafi telling a story.
We spent two weeks in Dhaka and then the dalal put us on a
minibus, along with a group of other men. I was carrying only a backpack,
and so was Tipu. We had some clothes, a bit of food, and around 250 US
dollars each, that’s all.
46

47. 4 - Socio - Economic conditions - Palash
~ Palash migrated to Italy as a student.
~ Wealth, education and opportunities are also sometimes causes migration.
‘I came to Italy as a student, you see, which sets me apart from most
Bengali migrants. Back in Bangladesh, my circumstances were completely
different from theirs. Most of them are from villages and small towns, while my
father is a banker, in Dhaka. My older brother is a civil servant, quite high up. I
studied at Dhaka University and even have a degree in management. For some
years I worked as a manager in a multinational corporation. I used to go to work
in a car every day, wearing a suit and tie.’
47

48. Learning Outcome
1- Myth is history.
2- Travelling is beneficial for personal development.
3 - Nature is a reflection of human behavior.
4 - To help a friend the way Rafi helping Tipu.
5 - World is more complex than we think.
6 - Good Mental health is important.
7 - Never give up.
8- The possibility of our deliverance lies not in the future but in the past, in a
mystery beyond memory.
9- People think that knowing the future can help you prepare for what is to
come - but often it only makes you powerless.
48

49. 49
Articles

50. 50
From The Sundarbans to Italy: Ecocritical Concerns in The Hungry Tide and
Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh Dr.Pranav D. Khoche
The Article discusses the recurring themes of environmental conservation, man-animal conflict and
coexistence of humans with nature by alluding to both the novels. The Article also focuses on how Gun
Island is a continuation of ecocritical awareness debuted in The Hungry Tide.
The first novel is The Hungry Tide (2004) in which the lives of characters, namely, Piya, Kusum and her
son Fokir, have been intertwined quite intricately around the wildlife of the Sundarbans in the Ganges
deltas of West Bengal. Especially Kusum and Fokir are habitants of the tide country of the Sundarbans.
They are very much attached to its natural environment. They, like most of the indigenous people, hold
nature and wildlife sacred and it shows through their faith in Bon Bibi, the forest goddess.
The Hungry Tide talks about the legend of Bon Bibi, Gun Island has the myth of Manasa Devi, the
goddess of snakes.
As the Article tries to affirm, both the novels by Amitav Ghosh raise acute ecocritical concerns that is an
urgent need of our ecologically disastrous times. Ghosh makes a global appeal to fight this worldwide
catastrophe by shifting his narratives from the Sundarbans to the USA to Italy.

51. 51
Gun Island: A Tale of Myth, Migration and Climate Change
Ashna Francis
This paper attempts to explore how the notion of interconnectedness manifests itself in each
of these elements. Gun Island uses the myth of the Gun Merchant as a nexus to draw
parallels between the Little Ice Age and our present-day scenario where droughts, floods,
cyclones, wildfires and epidemics have become a part of our everyday lives.
According to Palash, a Bengali immigrant, the Blue Boat “has become a symbol of
everything that’s going wrong with the world – inequality, climate change, capitalism,
corruption, the arms trade, the oil industry. There’s a lot of hope that this will be a historic
moment. Maybe now, while there’s still time to make changes, people will wake up and see
what’s going on”
Throughout the novel Ghosh succeeds in maintaining a positive outlook. Instead of projecting
warnings of impending doom and apocalypse he gives the readers hope for a better
tomorrow.

52. 52
Planetary Los Angeles: Climate Realism and Transnational Narrative
in Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island (2019) Edwin Gilson
This Article examines the reasons behind Ghosh’s choice of L.A as a main setting, and
the city’s specific role in the novel’s planetary narrative and ethic system. It then
positions Gun Island within ecocritical and spatial contexts, explaining how Ghosh’s
portrayal of L.A taps into regional literary tradition to engage with the ‘sense of planet’
discussed by Heise 2008 and the notion of ‘planetarity’ coined by Elias and Moraru.
This essay scrutinises Ghosh’s transnational narrative, and specifically the way in
which his fire-plagued Los Angeles acts as a vehicle for a broader engagement with
the global realities of climate change.
Finally, it argues that the L.A of Gun Island is indicative of Ghosh’s brand of climate
realism, which exposes the local-global interrelations of the Anthropocene and evokes
the ‘planetary Los Angeles’ of this essay’s title.

53. 53
The Crisis of Climate and Immigration in Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island
Trina Bose, Amrita Satapathy
The paper focuses on the socio-economic, political, and climatological reasons for, and the
consequences of, the illegal migrations of the underprivileged people portrayed in the text under
discussion, by situating them within the framework of the contemporary era of capitalist
globalization.
This paper particularly aims to explore the traumatic yet daring account of illegal migrants from
Indian Sundarbans and several other developing countries.
It also explores the socio-political and climatological reasons as well as the consequences of
such migrations while at the same time interpreting how the capitalistic politics of the globalized
world impact illegal migrations.
The paper aims to carry out a close reading of the text discussed and also to analyse related
passages for the investigation of these two contemporary global crises, - anthropogenic climate
change and illegal immigration.

54. 54
India Immigration Statistics

55. 55
Gun Island: Not a Fiction but a Prediction
Dr. Panchal Dnyaneshwar Anantrao
Gun Island, he wrote - predicted on the wildfire in Los Angeles, a
sprawling Southern California city.
This paper is an attempt to throw light on this prediction of wildfire
in Los Angeles. He started writing on this novel in 2016, published
it in June 2019 and immediately in November 2019 the world
witnessed the prediction came true. He has been writing on
climate change for more than twenty years. In as Interview when
he was asked to comment on California wildfire he said the threat
of climate change is real and it is intensifying. Though he focused
on the problem, climate change, he didn’t mentions and gave the
solution to the world. He thinks as a writer I can only write or show
you what is happening and what will.

56. 56
Learning Outcome
Through the reading of the articles, I came to know about the Five different
perspective of novel, first article is about climate and connection of two novels,
Second article is about Myths and Migration of the novel, Third article is about
critical approach towards the setting of novel, fourth one is about issue of
climate and migration and the final one is about how fiction becomes reality
today.

57. Works Cited
Amitav Ghosh: Gun Island. Chicago Humanities Festival, 2020,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPsj_lstkBs. Accessed 10 1 2020.
Amitav Ghosh on "Gun Island" | 2019 National Book Festival. PBS Books, 2020,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1ThLi0wkMw. Accessed 10 1 2023.
Amitav Ghosh - Reading and Conversation on Gun Island. Institute of the Humanities and Global
Cultures, 2019, https://youtu.be/pixQalTh0xQ. Accessed 6 January 2023.
Amrita SATHPATHY, Trina Bose. “The Crisis of Climate and Immigration in Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island.”
The Crisis of Climate and Immigration in Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island, vol. 31, no. 2, 2021.
57

58. 58
Barad, Dilip. “Gun Island (Sem 4-2022).” YouTube, 19 February 2022,
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSmZQVxjN9_iDDfODO-NC3Le2cOAd9Xnt. Accessed 6
January 2023.
Battaglia, Ian J. “On Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh - The Kenyon Review.” Kenyon Review, 2019,
https://kenyonreview.org/reviews/gun-island-by-amitav-ghosh-738439/. Accessed 6 January
2023.
“California fires: More blazes sparked in Los Angeles area.” BBC, 1 November 2019,
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50265337. Accessed 10 January 2023.
Clark, Alex. “Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh review – climate and culture in crisis.” The Guardian, 5 June
2019, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/05/gun-island-amitav-ghosh-review.
Accessed 6 January 2023.

59. Dnyaneshwar, Dr. Panchal Anantrao. “Gun Island: Not a Fiction but a Prediction.” vol. 9, no. 2, February 2021.
Elkan, Michael. “Record Number of Indians Seeking Asylum in US at Mexico Border.” South Asia Investor Review,
https://www.southasiainvestor.com/2022/10/record-number-of-indians-seeking-asylum.html. Accessed 10 January
2023.
Francis, Ashna. “Gun Island: A Tale of Myth, Migration and Climate Change.” vol. 9, no. 9, September 2021.
Ghosh, Amitav. Amitav Ghosh : Home, https://www.amitavghosh.com/. Accessed 10 January 2023.
Ghosh, Amitav. Gun Island. Penguin Random House India, 2019.
Gilson, Edwin. “Planetary Los Angeles: Climate Realism and Transnational Narrative in Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island (2019).”
Planetary Los Angeles: Climate Realism and Transnational Narrative in Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island (2019), vol. 19,
no. 2-3, 2022. Taylor & Francis online,
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14775700.2022.2114286#:~:text=Research%20Article-
,Planetary%20Los%20Angeles%3A%20Climate%20Realism%20and%20Transnational%20Narrative,Amitav%20Gho
sh's%20Gun%20Island%20(2019)&text=This%20essay%20argues%20that%20t. Accessed Sunday January 2023. 59

60. Iyengar, Vidya. “B’luru artist illustrates Amitav Ghosh’s latest novel.” The New Indian Express, 24 June 2019,
https://www.newindianexpress.com/lifestyle/books/2019/jun/24/bluru-artist-illustrates-amitav-ghoshs-latest-
novel-1994386.html. Accessed 8 January 2023.
Janmohamed, Zahir. “Illegal Indian immigrants in US: Many overstayed their tourist or student visas or are from
broken marriages.” The Economic Times, 8 October 2017, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/visa-
and-immigration/illegal-indian-immigrants-in-us-many-overstayed-their-tourist-or-student-visas-or-are-from-
broken-marriages/articleshow/60986244.cms. Accessed 10 January 2023.
Joshi, Rita. “Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh.” World Literature Today, 2019,
https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2019/autumn/gun-island-amitav-ghosh. Accessed 6 January 2023.
60

61. Khoche, Pranav. “From The Sundarbans to Italy: Ecocritical Concerns in The Hungry Tide and Gun Island by Amitav
Ghosh.” From The Sundarbans to Italy: Ecocritical Concerns in The Hungry Tide and Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh,
vol. VIII, no. 1, 2021. academia.edu,
https://www.academia.edu/50981118/From_The_Sundarbans_to_Italy_Ecocritical_Concerns_in_The_Hungry_Tide_
and_Gun_Island_by_Amitav_Ghosh. Accessed Sunday January 2023.
Paul, Ruchira. “Review of "Gun Island" by Amitav Ghosh.” 3 Quarks Daily, 23 September 2019,
https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2019/09/review-of-gun-island-by-amitav-ghosh.html. Accessed 11 January
2023.
“Transnational fantasy: Gun Island.” EducationWorld, 2020, https://www.educationworld.in/transnational-fantasy-gun-
island/. Accessed 11 1 2023.
“World Map: A clickable map of world countries :-).” Geology.com, https://geology.com/world/world-map.shtml. Accessed 6
January 2023.
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62. THANK YOU
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