Postcolonial Indian City-Literature: Policy, Politics and Evolution [Paperback]

Introduction

Chapter I  The Rejecting: Emergence of the Urban Literature during the 1930-40s

Chapter IIThe Realist: Nation Building, Social Realism and the Urban Grind of the 1950-60

Chapter IIIThe Belligerent: Emergency, Rebellion and the 1970s

Chapter IVThe Neoliberal: Commercial City, Diaspora and the (G)local, 1980-90

Chapter VThe Resistive: Millennial Urban and Resisting the Capital

How is the city represented through literature from the post-colonies? This book searches for an answer to this question, by keeping its focus on Indiafrom after Independence to the millennia. How does the urban space and the literature depicting it form a dialogue within? How have Indian cities grown in the past six decades, as well as the literature focused on it? How does the city-lit depart from organic realism to dissonant themes of reclamation? Most importantlywho does the city (and its narratives) belong to?

Through the juxtaposition of critical theories, sociological data, urban studies and variant literary works by a wide range of Indian authors, this book is divided into four temporal phases: the nation-building of the 5060s, the dictatorial 70s, the neoliberalization of the 8090s and the early 2000s. Each section covers the dominant socio-political thematics of the time and its effect on urbanism along with historical data from various resources, followed by an analysis of contemporaneously significant literary worksnovel, short stories, plays, poetry and graphilÃi