The Uneven Aesthetics of I. Allan Sealy's The Trotter-Nama: Secularization, Nationalism, and the Marginalization of the Anglo-Indian Community

Abstract

I. Allan Sealy’s The Trotter-Nama: A Novel narrates the four-hundred-year history of the Anglo-Indian minority in India. While critics point to the novel’s use of postmodern strategies to criticize Indian nationalism for marginalizing the Anglo-Indians, they have not noticed the novel’s uneven aesthetics—as the novel progresses it turns into a linear narrative and the postmodern parody declines.

Though critics have suggested that the aesthetics of minority writing are shaped by nationalism, I argue that the uneven aesthetics of The Trotter-Nama are a consequence of the Anglo-Indian community’s decision to “secularize” itself—to create an “essentialized” Anglo-Indian identity—during colonial rule. The excess of postmodern parody at the novel’s beginning captures the fluidity of identity within the Anglo-Indians during the early years of their existence. However, the parody declines as the Community consciously secularizes itself—defining itself in contrast to other communities in India and in opposition to Indian nationalism.