NATIONAL AND TRANSNATIONAL IDENTITIES: AN ANALYSIS OF V.S. NAIPAUL’S INDIAN TRILOGY

Abstract

How a migrant community faces the issues of cultural, linguistic, and religious loss through which they transformed into transnational identities yet neither completely lose their ethnic identity nor acquired the culture, language, and religion of the settled land completely. They are in statelessness. The same concept has been applied to the colonial community, who face the issues of identity mooring within their native land and boundaries more or like the migrated community who struggle beyond borders. But the struggle and the issues are the same, loss of national identity and quest for it. In such conext, Naipaul has been explained in detail as a diaspora and colonial personality. In the first chapter, titled Introduction, the details of postcolonial literature and its associated theme of national identity has been described in brief contextualizing it with the concept of identity crisis in the light of Benedict Anderson and Antony D Smith. Along with the concept of decolonization and indigenization, the focus has been shed on the concepts of national identities and transnational identities. In the second chapter, titled Chronicle of Travel Literature, a short history of English travel writing has been analyzed, contextualizing Naipaul with in the canon of travel literature. How the perception of traveler is modified through the influence of the English literary canon which has got its influence from the classical literature of Greek and Latin. In the next chapter, titled An Area of Darkness: In Search of Roots Ending in Cross Culture, with an analysis of An Area of Darkness, it has been approached with two distinctive methods. The first one is Naipaul’s identity quest and the second one is for the purpose of constructing national identity, how Hinduism can be utilized to mobilize people in India as it is not only a religion but a culture and a civilization that intensifies the belief of an individual even after radical and rational analysis of the practices of religion to stick with it as for the purpose of it connecting and uniting the individuals. In the next chapter, titled Historical, Political and Cultural Views of Naipaul in India: A Wounded Civilization through the analysis of India: A Wounded Civilization, with the key concepts of Bill Ashcraft’s famous book, The Empire Writes Back, with the concept of metonymic mode of cultural conception, it has been analysed how Naipaul has intensified the reason behind such a fall of the great civilization yet continuing to exist along with the people and how it can be recuperated into the literary fold has been appropriated. Also, it has been analysed how the blended ethnic and western philosophy as “borrowed institution” is transforming the individual into something submissive as a result of imbibing the master’s cultural practices without any questions. The following chapter titled, Restructuring Cultural, Religious Identity of Nation on Modernity Through Transnational Vision- India: A Million Mutinies Now is based on India: A Million Mutinies Now. It has been argued that in India how Hinduism can function as a prime tool for constructing ethnic-national identity which is present ever since ancient times and how it connects people among its cultural, linguistic, and religious diversities has been explored. The following chapter is on narrative technique titled, The Art of Narration: Styles and Techniques deals with the styles that Naipaul has utilized in his three books has been analysed. So, this thesis in the Conclusion part concludes that Hinduism has the capacity to function as a prime tool for the construction of ethnic national identity also opens space for speculation to conduct further studies in this aspect.