Family, Sexuality, and Alienation in Upamanyu Chatterjees Fiction

This paper examines the themes of family, sexuality, and alienation in the fiction of Upamanyu Chatterjee, situating his work within the sociocultural and psychological transformations of post-independence India. It explores how Chatterjee portrays the breakdown of the joint family system, the erosion of moral values, and the psychological fragmentation of the urban middle class. His characters—often antiheroes such as Agastya, Jamun, and Bhola—embody alienation, rootlessness, and existential drift while reflecting generational, cultural, and gender conflicts. Through satire, dark humour, and a raw representation of sexuality, Chatterjee critiques the hypocrisy of Indian middle-class morality, the dysfunction of bureaucratic structures, and the complexities of masculine identity. This study argues that Chatterjee’s fiction not only documents the sociopolitical and cultural disarray of contemporary India but also engages with universal questions of identity, belonging, and the search for meaning in an era of fragmentation.