Indian Diasporic Literature and Modernity

Abstract

Modern Indian literature has evolved in close interaction with migration, cultural exchange, and global modernity. Sandeep Pathak and R. K. Dhawan’s edited volume, Modern Indian Literature: Diaspora, Travel and Culture (2020), highlights the centrality of the diaspora in shaping contemporary Indian literary sensibilities. Diasporic writers such as Salman Rushdie, Jhumpa Lahiri, Kiran Desai, Vikram Seth, Bharati Mukherjee, Amitav Ghosh, Meena Alexander, and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni explore themes of identity, hybridity, nostalgia, language, and globalization, situating their works within transnational spaces. These authors not only articulate the complexities of life between multiple geographies but also redefine Indian literature as culturally diverse, globally aware, and inherently modern This paper examines how diasporic narratives function as a lens to understand modern Indian consciousness, exploring how migration, memory, language, and cultural negotiation collectively shape literary modernity.