A Portrait of the Orient through the Occidental Gaze: Resuming the Journey of Dark India with Gregory David Roberts

Dipanwita Pal ()
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Dipanwita Pal: Department of English, Galsi Mahavidyalaya, WestBengal, India

Proceedings of the 20th International RAIS Conference, December 6-7, 2020 from Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies

Abstract: Shantaram is a book about a man who breaks out of a gaol in Australia and ends up in Bambay (now Mumbai). Eventually, he becomes engaged with Mumbai underworld. He falls in love with Karla, a beautiful and mysterious woman. The novel uses lots of Marathi and Hindi words that add up to the local essence of the novel. The novel is set up in Bambay in the 80s. It becomes all the more interesting as the narrator gets involved into a gun-running mission in Afghanistan and gives a vivid picture of the whole trade. Significantly, the novel has Bombay as a very important character; rather Bombay becomes an integral part of the novel. It has beautifully projected India and her people seen through the eyes of an Australian. Hence, this paper will try to bring out what are the facts that have gained more attention from the narrator and which aspects have been ignored. And while doing so, this paper would further try to analyze the factors behind such inclusions and exclusions and the politics, if any, involved in it.

Keywords: Orient; Occidental gaze; Shantaram; Bombay; Slave market (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 5 pages
Date: 2020-12
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Published in Proceedings of the 20th International RAIS Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities, December 6-7, 2020, pages 53-59

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