BIOREGIONAL IDENTITY AND DISPLACEMENT: A STUDY OF HOME, MEMORY AND SPATIAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN 'A HOUSE FOR MR. BISWAS’

Authors

  • Nandkumar Dewangan Research Scholar, Hemchand Yadav Vishwavidyalya Durg, and Assistant Professor, Govt. College Balrampur, Chhattisgarh, India
  • Dr. A.A. Khan Research Supervisor, Professor of English, Govt. Danveer Tularam PG College Utai, Durg, Chhattisgarh, India
  • Dr. Qamar Talat Research Co-Supervisor, Professor of English, Govt. VYT PG Autonomous PG College Durg, Chhattisgarh, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29121/shodhkosh.v5.i7.2024.1835

Keywords:

Bioregionalism, Postcolonial Literature, Spatial Consciousness, Displacement, V.S. Naipaul, Identity Formation

Abstract [English]

This paper examines V.S. Naipaul's 'A House for Mr. Biswas' through the lens of bioregionalism, focusing on the interplay between identity, displacement, and spatial consciousness. By analyzing the protagonist's quest for a home within the context of colonial Trinidad, this study explores how bioregional identity is shaped, challenged, and reimagined in the face of cultural and geographical displacement. The research employs close textual analysis and draws on theoretical frameworks from bioregional studies, postcolonial theory, and spatial theory to investigate the novel's portrayal of home, memory, and place-based identity. Findings suggest that Biswas's struggle for a house represents a broader search for bioregional belonging in a colonized space, highlighting the complex relationship between individual identity and place in postcolonial contexts. This paper contributes to the growing body of literature on bioregional approaches to postcolonial studies and offers new insights into Naipaul's seminal work.

References

Berg, P. ; Dasmann, R. Reinhabiting California. The Ecologist 1977, 7, 399-401.

McGinnis, M.V. Bioregionalism; Routledge: London, UK, 1999.

Sale, K. Dwellers in the Land: The Bioregional Vision; University of Georgia Press: Athens, GA, USA, 1985.

Lynch, T.; Glotfelty, C.; Armbruster, K. The Bioregional Imagination: Literature, Ecology, and Place; University of Georgia Press: Athens, GA, USA, 2012. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/book13888

Said, E.W. Orientalism; Pantheon Books: New York, NY, USA, 1978.

Bhabha, H.K. The Location of Culture; Routledge: London, UK, 1994.

Lefebvre, H. The Production of Space; Blackwell: Oxford, UK, 1991.

Massey, D. For Space; SAGE Publications: London, UK, 2005.

Upstone, S. Spatial Politics in the Postcolonial Novel; Ashgate: Farnham, UK, 2009.

Nixon, R. Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor; Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA, USA, 2011. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674061194

DeLoughrey, E.; Handley, G.B. Postcolonial Ecologies: Literatures of the Environment; Oxford University Press: New York, NY, USA, 2011. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780195394429.001.0001

DeLoughrey, E.M. Routes and Roots: Navigating Caribbean and Pacific Island Literatures; University of Hawaii Press: Honolulu, HI, USA, 2007.

Rohlehr, G. The Ironic Approach: The Novels of V.S. Naipaul. In Critical Perspectives on V.S. Naipaul; Hamner, R.D., Ed.; Three Continents Press: Washington, DC, USA, 1977; pp. 178-193.

Pillai, S. Manichean Aesthetics Revisited: V.S. Naipaul's A House for Mr. Biswas and the Poetics of Spatial Dialectics. SARE: Southeast Asian Review of English 2005, 46, 81-98.

Naipaul, V.S. A House for Mr. Biswas; Vintage International: New York, NY, USA, 2001.

Heidegger, M. Building Dwelling Thinking. In Poetry, Language, Thought; Harper & Row: New York, NY, USA, 1971; pp. 143-161.

Appadurai, A. Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization; University of Minnesota Press: Minneapolis, MN, USA, 1996.

Glissant, É. Poetics of Relation; University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor, MI, USA, 1997.

Buell, L. The Future of Environmental Criticism: Environmental Crisis and Literary Imagination; Blackwell Publishing: Malden, MA, USA, 2005.

Thomashow, M. Toward Cosmopolitan Bioregionalism. In Bioregionalism; McGinnis, M.V., Ed.; Routledge: London, UK, 1999; pp. 121-132.

Downloads

Published

2024-07-31

How to Cite

Dewangan, N., Khan, A., & Talat, Q. (2024). BIOREGIONAL IDENTITY AND DISPLACEMENT: A STUDY OF HOME, MEMORY AND SPATIAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN ’A HOUSE FOR MR. BISWAS’. ShodhKosh: Journal of Visual and Performing Arts, 5(7), 27–37. https://doi.org/10.29121/shodhkosh.v5.i7.2024.1835