FICTION FROM BELOW: SUBVERSIVE HISTORIES IN VIKRAM CHANDRAS RED EARTH AND POURING RAIN AND P. SACHIDANANDANS GOVARDHANS TRAVELS

This paper attempts to understand marginality and its implications on the construction of the gendered subject within postcolonial texts. The paper tries to probe whether the representation of the gendered subject within postcolonial texts offers them the agency of speech, which would enable it resist the implicit undercurrents of patriarchy in the texts.The paper through the textual analysis of two postcolonial texts :Vikram Chandras Red Earth and Pouring Rain (1995) and P Sachidanandan ( Anand) s Govardhans Travels ( originally written as Govardhante Yatrakal in 1995 and translated as Govardhans Travels in 2006)focuses on how the texts through the portrayal of two marginal characters: Begum Sumroo and Umrao Jan respectively voice the issues faced by the gendered subject. The paper argues that it is the marginalized position of the characters (both through gender and society), which enable them to voice and analyze their marginalized position in the dominant patriarchal society, that they live in.