Of sushis and samosas: the international English literature of Kazuo Ishiguro and Salman Rushdie

Abstract

This thesis seeks to examine the growing emergence and popularity of works of fiction written in English from various - often post-colonial - countries by writers who are increasingly multi-cultural and international. It proposes to distinguish the common features and characteristics of these new literatures, and to map out the common thread of decolonisation that runs through these works by writers raised in a tradition of multiple homes. To this end, the study focuses on the writings of Salman Rushdie and Kazuo Ishiguro, both paradigms of the polycultural order. Their novels incarnate the effects of post-imperialism, exhibit their mixed upbringing, and deal with their pluralistic identities while imbuing the English that they speak in with kaleidoscopic colours and sounds. The first two cha pters of this study introduces the historical and theoretical context of this international literature. The following two chapters look at the effects of exile and its representation in the writings of these writers, while chapter five examines the relationship between these novelists and the society they are in. Chapter six then considers the ways these New World authors use - and change - the English language to the purposes of their art. Chapters seven and eight then delves into the ways Rushdie and Ishiguro assimilate various literary traditions in their work, incorporating especially both the worlds of British English literature and the Indian and Japanese literary traditions respectively. The final chapter looks at the roles and responsibilities of these artists in the world that they live in today. The study concludes by highlighting the various celebrations and challenges that these international English authors will experience and face as they continue to write, providing the soil from which a New World literature and criticism will emerge for a new world.