Contemporary English-Language Indian Children's Literature: Representations of Nation, Culture, and the New Indian Girl (Children's Literature and Culture)

215 Pages·2011·1.6 MB·English

by  Michelle Superle

CONTEMPORARY
ENGLISH-LANGUAGE
INDIAN CHILDREN’S
LITERATURE
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CONTEMPORARY
ENGLISH-LANGUAGE
INDIAN CHILDREN’S
LITERATURE
Representations of Nation, Culture,
and the New Indian Girl
MICHELLE SUPERLE
NEW YORK AND LONDON
First published 2011
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2011.
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collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
© 2011 Taylor & Francis
The right of Michelle Superle to be identified as author of this work has been asserted
by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known
or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Superle, Michelle, 1974–
Contemporary English-language Indian children’s literature : representations of
nation, culture, and the new Indian girl / Michelle Superle.
p. cm. — (Children’s literature and culture ; 78)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Children’s literature, Indic (English)—History and criticism. 2. Indic fiction
(English)—Women authors—History and criticism. 3. Children—Books and
reading—India. 4. Gender identity—India. 5. India—In literature. I. Title.
PR9492.6.C45S87 2011
820.9'92820954—dc22
ISBN 0-203-81625-0 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN13: 978-0-415-88634-5 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-81625-7 (ebk)
Contents
Series Editor’s Foreword ix
Foreword xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction Contemporary English-language Indian Children’s
Novels as Aspirational Literature 1
Chapter 1 The Development of Contemporary, English-language
Indian Children’s Novels 19
Chapter 2 Indian Women Writers: Imagining the New Indian Girl 37
Chapter 3 Imagining Unity in Diversity through Cooperation
and Friendship 61
Chapter 4 Imagining and Performing the Indian Nation 85
Chapter 5 Imagining “Indianness” 105
Chapter 6 Imagining Identity in the Diaspora: Performing
a “Masala” Self 131
Chapter 7 Performing New Indian Girlhood 151
Conclusion Old and New Boundaries 177
Appendix 181
Notes 183
Bibliography 189
Index 199
vii

Series Editor’s Foreword
Dedicated to furthering original research in children’s literature and culture,
the Children’s Literature and Culture series includes monographs on individual
authors and illustrators, historical examinations of different periods, literary
analyses of genres, and comparative studies on literature and the mass media.
The series is international in scope and is intended to encourage innovative
research in children’s literature with a focus on interdisciplinary methodology.
Children’s literature and culture are understood in the broadest sense of
the term children to encompass the period of childhood up through adoles-
cence. Owing to the fact that the notion of childhood has changed so much
since the origination of children’s literature, this Routledge series is particu-
larly concerned with transformations in children’s culture and how they have
affected the representation and socialization of children. While the emphasis
of the series is on children’s literature, all types of studies that deal with chil-
dren’s radio, fi lm, television, and art are included in an endeavour to grasp the
aesthetics and values of children’s culture. Not only have there been momen-
tous changes in children’s culture in the last fi fty years, but there have been
radical shifts in the scholarship that deals with these changes. In this regard,
the goal of the Children’s Literature and Culture series is to enhance research
in this fi eld and, at the same time, point to new directions that bring together
the best scholarly work throughout the world.
Jack Zipes
ix