Amitav Ghosh

Indian Writing in English has proliferated over the last few decades and has made a huge impact on English readers. Not only do the works of Indian authors writing in English find a place on the bestseller list, they are also receiving critical acclaim across the world. One of the most prolific postcolonial writers writing today, Amitav Ghosh has received many awards: The Circle of Reason winning the Prix Medici Etranger (one of France's top literary award), The Shadow Lines winning the Sahitya Akademi Award, and The Calcutta Chromosome bagging the Arthur C. Clarke Award for 1997. His later novels, Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke and Flood of Fire showcase his capacity for epic narration, with each of these texts in the Ibis series, exploring the layered dimensions of identity and cultural form. Now in its second edition, this book offers an anthology of critical essays, and deals with fictional as well as non-fictional works by Amitav Ghosh. It focuses on Ghosh's idea and theory of the novel, postcolonial rationality in The Circle of Reason, nationalism in the context of partition in The Shadow Lines, and the East-West encounter in The Calcutta Chromosome. Besides, it also discusses power structure operating within the narrative of The Glass Palace, and the question of space, identity and cultural difference in The Hungry Tide.