“NOT I”: postcolonial reconfigurations of Samuel Beckett

Abstract

Since the inception of postcolonial studies, literature, as taught around the world, has been critiqued for its neo-empirical drive. In addition to Eurocentric canons, various critical lenses and modes of appraisal have also been revised and altered to better understand and engage with texts. This essay moves away from the Bloomian notion of the literary canon that ends with Samuel Beckett, and instead, it compares and contrasts Beckett’s works in new contexts, with the writings of Salman Rushdie, Upamanyu Chatterjee, and M. Mukundan, who intertextually refer to Beckett in their work. The ensuing discussion brings to light the ubiquitous nature of key Beckettian themes that have inspired writers, especially in a postcolonial scenario, which is permuted by the shifting relations of languages and cultures that shape one’s identity.