Bildungsroman of an Eccentric Hindustanwalla: Revisiting Peculiarities of All about H. Hatter by G V Desani
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58213/ell.v4i1.44Keywords:
Indian English, Novel, Bildungsroman, HumourAbstract
End of second world war brought in some new changes in Indian English fiction. Most of the writers were touched by the agony of wars that affected western world as well as Indian subcontinent; their inclination towards portraying violence, bloodshed, social issues, major event like Partition of India. Writers like Dr Mulk Raj Anand had a sharp-edged axe to grind on all the social evils of the society in his peculiar coarse, blunt satire but at the same time, there was R K Narayan who portrayed most common issues of very common people (residing strictly in Malgudi). When and if he used satire, they were always carried a mild tone. Somewhere in between, or beyond them sits All about H. Hatter, the only novel written by Desani. Present paper aims at revisiting the peculiarities—concerning its theme, characterization and language—of this monumental work, sadly forgotten by common readers.
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