Kanthapura: An Amazing Depiction of the Creation of National Identity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53103/cjlls.v3i1.86Keywords:
Decolonisation, Gandhi, Indianness, Indian English Fiction, Indian nationalism, Indian National CongressAbstract
The beginning of the 1930s, regarding Indian nationalism, marks an important benchmark because of the emergence of an actual, national, pan-Indian body called the Indian National Congress that, under Gandhi's stewardship, encompassed in its fold all the cross-sections of the society deprived of their entry in the mainstream politics. In unifying the masses and preparing to embrace a regional-to-national transition in their approach and attitude, the organisation built a vital sense of Indianness across the vast stretch of the land. At the heart of India's decolonisation project was a national urgency to prioritise a unified national concept. And Indian English fiction, during the same time, was also an important voice to reckon with. By tracing nationalism from its abstract foundation to its concrete expression through historical background, this paper seeks to explore the construction of national identity in detail. It also tries to examine the successful use of a novel as a literary aspect of nationalist ideology.
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