P.M. Biswas Diasporic Mythography

Annotation

A Diasporic Mythography: Myth, Legend and Memory in the Literature of the Indian Diaspora is a collection of essays on how diasporic Indian authors living in the West use myth and legend to reconnect with India. Looking at works from Salman Rushdie, Shashi Tharoor, Suniti Namjoshi and Vikram Chandra, the analysis will revolve around three major points: first, that the Indian diaspora is a crucible for myth-making, in which psychology, history and postcolonial politics are inextricably entwined; second, that the nature of diasporic mythography reveals an essential human need to connect to an origin, however mythical it might be; and third, that no connection to an origin is possible without simultaneously revisioning it.