Parallel Horizons: A Comparative Voyage through Modernist and Postmodernist Waves in Australian and Indian Writing

This paper undertakes a comparative exploration of modernist and postmodernist movements in Australian and Indian literature, examining their transformative influence on the global literary landscape of the 20th century. Modernists introduced subjective expressions and disruptive narrative techniques, exploring psychic fragmentation, while postmodernists playfully challenged conventional literary representations. In Australian modernism, Patrick White's "Voss" (1957) critiques imperialism through surreal characterization, and Christina Stead's "The Man Who Loved Children" (1940) employs expressionistic symbolism to highlight marital oppression. Indian modernists, including Tagore and Anand, fused indigenous and Western influences in socially-conscious works addressing colonialism. Transitioning to postmodernism, Peter Carey's "Bliss" (1981) and Salman Rushdie's "Midnight's Children" (1981) utilize intertextual pastiche to interrogate post-Independence national identities. Modernists disrupt narrative continuity to unveil alienation, while postmodernists expose storytelling's artifice through self-referentiality. The paper argues that narrative shifts between movements reflect changing assumptions about identity and power relations during anti/post-colonial transitions. Australian postmodernists, like Carey, reframe national myths from marginalized perspectives. In Indian postmodernism, Rushdie's carnivalesque narration destabilizes post-Independence identity constructions. In conclusion, modern and postmodern literature document the reconstitution of identity amidst profound societal change. Cross-cultural analysis enriches understanding of how global aesthetic movements intersect with localized interpretations. This study contributes to the discourse on evolving identity in literature, underscoring the significance of narrative transformations across distinct cultural and historical contexts.