Genealogy and Cultural Versatility in Amit Chaudhuri’s A New World

Abstract

The paper attempts to critically analyse the representation of cultural versatility about tradition, rituals, family, class and identities through the lens of Amit Chaudhuri’s novel A New World. By shedding light on culturally significant locations like Kolkata’s streets and markets as well as cultural components like cuisine and music in Bengali society, he hopes to study and re-examine the city’s past while portraying its present. The Indian immigrant Jayojit Chatterjee and his son Bonny’s hybridised sense of identity, dislocation, and alienation would be further discussed in Genealogy and Cultural Versatility. A New World does not substantively explore the struggle to conquer life in his new world. Instead, the novel is a celebration of the old world Jayojit has left behind.