Dr. Ramlal Agarwal shares a literary essay examining the growth of the Indo-English novel from its origins in adversarial circumstances to the era of postmodernism.
In its early stages, Indian writing in English met disapproval and disbelief. It was argued that no alien language could express the Indian ethos. As such, Madhusudan Datta and Bankimchandra Chatterjee, the earliest practitioners of Indian writing in English, gave up their pursuit and turned to their mother tongue. Some Indian writers doggedly used English in their creative endeavours, but they were few and far between.
Fortunately, Indian writing in English got a shot in the arm with the arrival of Raja Rao, Mulk Raj Anand, and R. K. Narayan, the stalwarts of this initiative. They encouraged other talents to shed their nervousness and continue their efforts, and Indian writing in English began to take shape.