A Comparative Analytical Approach on Amitav Ghosh's The Shadow Lines in the National Contexts of India and Overseas

Amitav Ghosh’s much-acclaimed novel The Shadow Lines generally explores the history of traumatic memories of cultural dislocations, and the Partition between India and Pakistan in 1947. Since it was published in 1988, the text has been widely studied and explored by numerous critics from diverse geographical and cultural backdrops particularly in India, the UK, the US, and Australia. It is amazing that the book has received multifaceted evaluations and assessments across the globe that have rendered a fascinating impact on its critics and readers who have admired the book as both contemporary and classic. It is important to note that “national context” remains a vital and influential criterion in evaluating any scholarly work that has the potential to become a part of world literature. Besides, analysing Ghosh’s reception from India and three major western countries can significantly foreground different or alternative patterns of literary criticism that can refrain a popular author from being misjudged. Often a general analysis of significant works of a transcontinental author can be partial or restricted in an increasingly globalised literary scenario of the world. Thus, this paper aims to examine the influence of prominent national institutions based in India, the U.K., the U.S., and Australia in shaping the critical reception of this contemporary postcolonial author.