Language, Nation and the Question of Indian Literature

Abstract

The article begins by tracing the paths by which the Indian novel in English has come to substitute for "Indian literature" in the Western academy. I then critique the relationship between literature and the nation in some significant accounts of the larger category of "Indian Literature" and argue for a relational, comparative understanding of Indian literatures through the lens of translation. The article draws on and contributes to debates in both South Asian literary studies and in the larger fields of postcolonial studies and world literature.