The writing of Ghosh is affiliated both with postmodernism and liberal humanism

211 Pages·2011·0.97 MB·English

The Ethics of Representation in the Fiction

of Amitav Ghosh

The Ethics of Representation in the Fiction

of Amitav Ghosh

by Tuomas Huttunen

Anglicana Turkuensia No 30

University of Turku
Turku, Finland
2011
The Ethics of Representation in the Fiction of Amitav Ghosh

by Tuomas Huttunen

Anglicana Turkuensia
ISSN 1236-4754
(continuing from Publications of the Department of English,
University of Turku, ISSN 0781-707X)
No 30
University of Turku
Turku, Finland
2011

ISBN 978-951-29-4638-9 (Print)
ISBN 978-951-29-4639-6 (PDF)

Copyright © the author
Layout by the author

Typeset in 11pt Book Antiqua
Printed by Painosalama Oy, Turku
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements iii
Permissions vi
I. Introduction 1
II. The Novels 15
II.1. The Circle of Reason 16
II.1.1. The end of origins:
Ghosh‘s history of the present 20
II.2. The Shadow Lines 24
II.2.1. 'Knowledges' of London
-- narrating space 27
II.3. In an Antique Land 40
II.3.1. Modernism, postmodernism and
the subject in history 42
II.4. The Calcutta Chromosome 51
II.4.1. Parallel realities and social spaces 55
II.5. The Glass Palace 62
II.5.1. Self-alienation and totalitarianism
– colonial and totalitarian discourses 65
II.6. The Hungry Tide 72
II.6.1. Human alienation from nature:
intertextual links 77
II.7. Other Writing by Amitav Ghosh 82
III. Contexts and Themes 87
III.1. Theoretical and methodological starting points 88
III.1.1. Ethical study of literature
– a sketch towards a discipline 93
III.1.2. Ethics, language and the writing
of Amitav Ghosh 108
ii

III.2. Modernism, postmodernism
and the idea of India 122
III.3. National and communal struggle
– Representation of Violence 136
III.4. Narration and silence 148
IV. The Articles 165
IV.1. Amitav Ghosh‘s The Circle of Reason
– Dismantling the Idea of Purity 167
IV.2. The Shadow Lines:
the World of Experience And
the Language of Meaning 190
IV.3. Connections beyond Partitions
- In an Antique Land of Amitav Ghosh 207
IV.4. The Calcutta Chromosome
– the Ethics of Silence and Knowledge 228
IV.5. The Ethics of Representation in
The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh 243
IV.6. Language and Ethics
in The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh 269
V. Concluding Remarks 289
V.1. Critical overview 289
V.2. From ethics to politics
– political ideology
in the writing of Amitav Ghosh 296
VI. Bibliography 307
iii

Acknowledgements

―Something for you here,‖ said my supervisor-to-be, Professor
John Skinner, twelve years ago when handing me his copy of The
Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh. I was at the time completing my
advanced studies in the Department of English at the University
of Turku and had visited him shortly before to ask if he had any
ideas for my Pro Gradu thesis. I am still in the department of
English at the University of Turku. And I am still mulling over
novels by Amitav Ghosh. John did not get to see how prolonged
a process he had helped to set in motion. Nevertheless, I am
grateful to him for launching me into this orbit and for staying as
my satellite for eight years. To anyone inclined towards reading
this volume, I speak John‘s ominous words: Something for you
here...
The novels of Ghosh have followed me through a Pro
Gradu thesis, a Licentiate thesis, periods as assistant and lecturer,
and terms as a researcher in two Academy of Finland projects.
They have accompanied me to a stint as a visiting researcher in
the University of Aarhus, Denmark. They have also seen me
through one marriage and witnessed the miraculous appearance
of my two children. And now, finally, they have seen me squeeze
them into a Doctoral thesis.
I am indebted to my opponent, Professor Jopi Nyman from
the University of Eastern Finland, for a thorough reading of my
dissertion and for pointing out certain blind spots and structural
weaknesses in the text. I am also thankful to Professor Nicholas
Royle from the University of West Sussex for applying his
expertise to my work. And I would like to express my gratitude
to Colette Gattoni from the Centre for Language and
Communication at the Åbo Akademi University for polishing up
my language and style.
I have several institutions and numerous people to thank
for all these strange years of sound and fury. The monetary
aspect of my work has been greatly enhanced by the Academy of
Finland in the forms of a personal grant and research fellowships
in projects funded by it. I have been granted scholarships by the
Turku University Foundation and the Kone Foundation, for
iv

which I am deeply grateful. My work has also been supported by
Oskar Öflunds Stiftelse and the Turku University Foundation in
the form of travel grants.
While the first project I was involved in (Fragments of the
Past: History, Fiction and Identity in the New English Literatures,
2004-2007) was led by John, the second one, the one that enabled
the completion of this dissertation (Silence as Voice: Reempowering
the Disempowered in Contemporary English Literatures, 2008-2011) is
led by Lydia Kokkola, who became my supervisor in 2007. I owe
a great deal to her flexible mind and to her astounding ability to
discern traces of reason amidst nearly incomprehensible babble.
For all this time, I have been affiliated with the Department
of English in the University of Turku, which has also employed
me for several periods over the years. I would like to express my
gratitude to Risto Hiltunen, who has supported me and my work
in the department in numerous ways during the years. I am also
grateful to Joel Kuortti, who was the opponent in my Licentiate
defence in 2001, and whom I have come across several times over
the years in conferences and seminars both in Finland and
abroad. And I was honoured to make the acquaintance of the
eminent Ghosh scholar and novelist Tabish Khair, who invited
me to stay as a visiting researcher in the English department at
the University of Aarhus in 2004.
My awareness of the theoretical, philosophical and
methodological aspects of the study of literature took a gigantic
leap forward during the period I was a student in the
Department of Comparative Literature at the University of
Turku. I am deeply grateful to Liisa Steinby, Pirjo Ahokas and
Marja-Leena Hakkarainen for steering me during those years: I
was quite malleable at the time, and they managed to implant a
small embryo of a researcher beneath my skin. I would also like
to thank Kaisa Ilmonen for invaluable help in conference
organizing and book editing.
I have had the joy of going through two Academy projects
and numerous conference trips with Janne Korkka, whose wistful
vision of future I have proven to be correct: the pain will be
exquisite! I have also worked in two projects as well as organized
a conference and co-edited a book with Elina Valovirta, whose
v

many contributions to common enterprises I value. My other
project associates over the years have been Raita Merivirta and
Elina Siltanen. No worries; you‘ll be putting together your
acknowledgements in no time.
Whether working in the department or in the research unit
maintained by it, I have continuously had stimulating people
around me. Keith Battarbee has always been there with his
immense knowledge of things pertaining to university
administration, as well as to teaching and studying in the
department. Eleven years ago I witnessed the defences of Sanna-
Kaisa Tanskanen and Matti Peikola filled with awe, and I still
look up to them in admiration. Janne Skaffari and Pekka
Lintunen have always been a solid part of my working
environment although, or perhaps precisely because, our
interaction has mainly centred on the coffee spaces in either the
department or the research unit. Ira Hansen has kindly come to
my aid in numerous practical problems that turned out not to be
problems. I am also thankful to my more experienced collegues,
Professor Emerita Marita Gustafsson and Lecturer Ellen Valle,
who have moved on to enjoy their well earned retirements.
Family relations play a significant role in all areas of life. In
the context of academic endeavours, which are plagued by
uncertainty and money applications and the bliss of academic
freedom, family sometimes has to come up with all kinds of
irregularities. In this vein, thanks are due to my ex-wife Sanna for
her patience when the going was rough. And I am immensely
grateful to my parents, who have unselfishly kept track of my
gropings through life, both academic and otherwise. My children,
Unna and Eemu, although not yet cognizant of dissertations or
other matters academic, provide me both with immediate joy and
a horizon to look at.
And Annu, thank you for all your realities. I would not
have gotten this far without them.

Turku, May 2011 Tuomas Huttunen
vi

Permissions

Amitav Ghosh has kindly given me permission to publish
excerpts from his novels and other works. The permission was
granted by private communication on 31 March 2011.
My quoting of Ghosh has also been officially approved by his
agent, Matt Spindler from The Karpfinger Agency, on 6 April
2011.

Permissions to re-publish the six articles in this dissertation have
been granted via e-mail by the copyright holders as follows:

Amitav Ghosh‘s The Circle of Reason – dismantling the idea of
purity. The Nordic Journal of English Studies.
– by the Assistant Editor of NJES, Chloé Avril, on 3 April 2011

The Shadow Lines: The world of experience and the language of
meaning. In Prasad, Murari (ed). Amitav Ghosh’s The Shadow
Lines: A Critical Companion. New Delhi: Pencraft International,
208-224.
- by the Editor, Murari Prasad, on 23 March 2011

Connections beyond partitions - In an Antique Land of Amitav
Ghosh. The Atlantic Literary Review 4:3. 87-107.
- by Mr Harjeet Singh of Atlantic Publishers and Distributors,
on 30 March 2011

The Calcutta Chromosome – the ethics of silence and knowledge.
In Huttunen, Tuomas, Kaisa Ilmonen, Janne Korkka & Elina
Valovirta (eds). Seeking the Self: Encountering the other: Diasporic
Narrative and the Ethics of Representation. Newcastle upon Tyne:
Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 24-38.
- by agreement with other co-editors