AMITAV GHOSH'S THE GLASS PALACE: A POST-COLONIAL CRITIQUE

Abstract

This paper studies the postcolonial approach in the novel The Glass Palace, written by Amitav Ghosh, one of the well-known writers in Indian English literature. This research is an attempt to analyse The Glass Palace through the systematic investigation of postcolonial discourse. The present study assesses the novel through close reading, considering the theories and terms given by various postcolonial theorists such as Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, Homi K. Bhabha, Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, Helen Tiffin, and Frantz Fanon. The colonial period lasted until 1947 in India, and the end of the 20th century marked the end on colonisation in most of the colonised countries of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. After India got independence from British rule, writers like Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh, Shashi Tharoor, Vikram Seth commenced new drifts in their writings by intertwining history with fiction. Historical events and imperialism were there in most of their fiction. In The Glass Palace, too, the author has blended two genres, history and fiction. Historical personages and events reflected in the novel like Invasion of British Army over Burma in 1885, Indian Rebellion of 1857, The Quit India Movement in 1942, and The Second World War in 1939-45, Riots in India, Ghadar Movement; and the personages like The royal family of Konbaung dynasty, Mahatma Gandhi, Dadasaheb Ambedkar, Taraknath Das, Lala Har Dayal are some real historical figures in the novel. In this critique of post-colonialism, theories given by postcolonial theorists in the field of postcolonial studies are scrutinised, i.e. hegemony, subaltern, exile and displacement, diaspora, mimicry, hybridity, ambivalence, and otherness.