Impact Factor: 5.2 IJAR

Pooja Swamy
2016 unpublished
Language continues to be a tool of hegemony in postcolonial India. Indian English Novel begun as a colonial by-product but the Rushdie phenomenon evolved the entire milieu of the Post-independent, Postcolonial novel. English being a global language has left its imprint on the psyche of the average Indian. The hegemony of English not only as a language but also culture in Indian society cannot be ignored. An elite class of intellectuals and novelists has made their presence felt on the map of
more » ... ian literary scene. With unbridled globalization a plethora of young Indian men and women have been experimenting with the novel. This corpus of pop lit and chick lit novels has without doubt permeated the distinct oeuvre of the Indian English Novels. This paper explores the potential and variation English as a language has been influenced by the desi pop lit novels. Introduction Language, Culture and Identity are interconnected and cohesive as reflected in the case of our country India. Not one entity can be thought of in isolation. The origins of English in India could be traced back before Macaulay enforced the study of English language. There are a range of varied reasons as to why English has become the language of the elite and of governance in India, ignoring the original Macaulayism. India being a multi-cultural, social, religious, linguistic country the pros and cons were and still are too many. In such a scenario the importance of English is only too obvious. In India, English serves two purposes-foremost is providing a linguistic tool for the administrative organization of the country, causing people who speak different languages to become united. Secondly, it serves as a language of wider communication, including a large variety of different people covering a vast area. It overlaps with local dialects and languages in different spheres of public influence. The rationale behind accepting the red man's language is still under debate. The question of language between the colonizer and the colonized is always there. Despite continued pressure from nationalists, English has remained at the heart of Indian society. It is widely used in the media, in Higher Education and government and therefore remains a common means of communication. It is surveyed that approximately 4% of the Indian population use English representing 35 million speakers-the largest English-speaking community outside the USA and the UK. In addition there are speakers of English in other parts of South Asia, such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, where English plays a similar role. English is virtually become a mother tongue for many educated South Asians, but for the vast majority it remains a second language. This means there are speakers whose spoken English is heavily influenced by speech patterns of their ethnic language. These questions were raised by Raja Rao, the novelist belonging to the genre of Indian English Fiction writers, in the foreword written for Kanthapura. The English language is not free from inflections of other languages and in a multilingual place like India it was apparent. Fiction is the rotund fruit which blossoms spontaneously and inevitably in the fast spreading, all encompassing, encroaching and evergreen tree of life, commented Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore in the introductory paragraph of his essay Shesh Kotha (Final Words). A comparatively new genre in the milieu of native Indian literature, the novel in India is a colonial product.
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