Transculturalism and cultural translation in Cauvery Madhavan’s Paddy Indian

Abstract

Since the mid-20th century, literature in English has witnessed the appearance of a plethora of narratives that map the new territorialities of the Indian diaspora in places such as Britain, America, Canada, Australia or the Caribbean. Cauvery Madhavan’s Paddy Indian portrays an Indo-Irish cultural encounter on Irish soil, thus offering a pioneering scenario which echoes Ireland’s position as a country of immigration, rather than emigration. This article offers an analysis of the novel in the light of Homi Bhabha’s notion of “cultural translation” and recent theorizations on transculturalism. It argues that Madhavan’s Paddy Indian provides a fictional insight into cultural translation and transculturalism, not only through its content, but also through the characters’ use of language. Ultimately, the novel puts to the test traditional definitions of “Indianness” and “Irishness”, portraying India and Ireland as transcultural spaces within our contemporary global order.