Postcolonial Nation in The Shadow Lines of Amitav Ghosh

Abstract

Amitav Ghosh is one of the well-known novelists of contemporary Indian Writings in English. He gained popularity with his debut novel The Circle of Reason (1986) and received Sahitya Akademi Award for his second novel The Shadow Lines (1988). Ghosh is known for his artistic style and the themes he chooses. He brings out historical, political, social and cultural issues in his novels. The Shadow Lines is one such novel where Ghosh links the private lives of the individuals with the history of the nation and public events. It is a multilayered novel with non –linear narration in which Ghosh questions the division of people with borders. The present paper attempts to delineate the concept of nation and nationalism from postcolonial perspective with special reference to The Shadow Lines novel of Amitav Ghosh. Nation, nationality, national identity and nationalism have been the significant themes of many postcolonial novels written in English including native and diasporic writers.