Abstract
Focusing on the representation of leisure or otium, the article discusses recent South Asian fiction and its idealization of states of otiose leisure that existed in the past and are now nostalgically dwelled on in contrast to current conditions of stress exacerbated by global capitalism. After explaining the origin of this approach to South Asian fiction in an interdisciplinary research cluster on otium, the main thesis of the article is laid out. An example text, Sunetra Gupta’sA Sin of Colour, is used to illustrate the various aspects of nostalgic leisure. The article also discusses narrative strategies that enhance a readerly experience of retardation and concentration.
Highlights
This nostalgia for former experiences of otium is contrasted with contemporary social and labor conditions in South Asia, in Monika Fludernik is a professor of English literature at the University of Freiburg in Germany
Focusing on the representation of leisure or otium, the article discusses recent South Asian fiction and its idealization of states of otiose leisure that existed in the past and are nostalgically dwelled on in contrast to current conditions of stress exacerbated by global capitalism
I will turn to one text that I will analyze at length, Sunetra Gupta’s A Sin of Colour (1999; section 3)
Summary
This nostalgia for former experiences of otium is contrasted with contemporary social and labor conditions in South Asia, in Monika Fludernik is a professor of English literature at the University of Freiburg in Germany.
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