Twin perspectives and multi‐ecosystems: tradition for a commonwealth writer

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The use of English by writers in non‐Anglo‐Saxon areas such as India, Africa, and the West Indies is expanding and has led to an astounding growth of new literatures in English. This paper discusses the issue of multiple literary traditions, each of which is marked by particular linguistic, literary, and aesthetic preoccupations that constitute what can be conveniently called a literary ecology. In a crucial sense, the writer of the new literatures is enveloped by multi‐ecosystems. He inhabits two cultures, is exposed to twin perspectives which he has to reconcile and use creatively. To understand, appreciate and assess the new literatures in English, it is necessary to examine the differences between the total ecosystem which formed and nourished the writer and the new literary sub‐ecosystem he enters into when he enters a language such as English which is relatively new to his society. In this context, it is possible to respond appropriately to the way different writers relate to their societies and embody the texture of thought and feeling in particular ecosystems.