Nationalism and socialism portrayed in the Novels of the Indo-Anglian Novelist trio : Raja Rao, Mulk Raj Anand and R.K Narayan

Abstract

History of Indian writing in English significantly accounts the emerging new rich genre in India the novel, which was adopted by the 20th century Indian writers. Indian writers had their native languages, yet writing in English was a product of their colonial encounter and diasporic constructions. In addition, the nationalistic movements for independence during the 20th century, which brought in political and social changes, also brought forth changes in the themes of Indian writers. Therefore, nationalism and socialism were the major issues, which were being dealt with to portray and present the real scenario of India in the colonial and postcolonial times. The contributors to this new literary genre are the Indo-Anglican writers, most famous being the trio—Raja Rao, Mulk Raj Anand and R.K Narayan. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explore how English language of the colonial rulers became a language of the Indian writers, who were writing about their native land and people and India of the colonial period using the colonial language. Furthermore it focuses on the dormant nationalistic and social issues in the novels. However, it also tries to understand how nationalism and socialism are portrayed in these novels to bring out the real and desired India.