Modern contemporary literature and culture: critical analysis

English writing has taken a new evolutionary path in its development since Independence. India was observed post-colonially by English writers of Indian origin. While new ideas were being developed, emphasis was placed on religious, socio-economic, filial, and political problems as talking points; these issues captured the national movement sensation and attracted the attention of creative writers. Events like the partition and the resulting communal riots following it, coupled with the problems of caste discrimination, misogyny and the squalor in which the proletariat lived, were the major issues of the time. The clamour raised over these issues is massive, with many budding writers boosting the perception of literature as time passes. This paper seeks to evaluate and provide insight into the progress of English writing over a time period ranging from the post- independence period till the present time. Writing veterans who displayed the fifties' realism in their works are also compared with the burgeoning present day writers who bring their modern perspective to bear in appraising past ideas. Readers' attention is also drawn to the evolving language use patterns (Sharma, 2016, p. 60).

At the twilight of the 1960s and the dawn of the 1970s, the cultural, political, and societal changes that characterized this period were accompanied by a drastic transformation of theoretical discourse, which led to fresh possible approaches to literature. Significant changes in the quality and role played by academic disciplines occurred in the 1970s, coupled with similar changes in the structure and functions of universities, which had to accommodate newly-emergent political discourse in the wake of the initial momentum of leftist, feminist and civil rights movements, thus creating an unusual direction for academic discussions. The successive emphasis on pervasive textuality after the structuralist period (although this emphasis suffered a slow decline towards the end of the twentieth century), resulted in a combination of obliterating the boundaries between initially separate discourses and triggering a reversal in the conjectural and epistemological standing of the theoretical dialogue, giving rise to many speculative outlooks, an example of which is 'culture studies' and the creation of some basic terminologies utilized by philosophers, writers, critics, readers, and theoreticians inclusive (Adamczewski, 2013, p. 12).

Following the attainment of independence by India during the turbulent mid-1947 period, the consequentially abrupt changes in administrative and governmental policies led to negative effects on the freshly re-christened 'Indian citizens'. Indian literature clearly depicted the country's then recent partition and her stagnant economy, this was a nation that was plunged from a colonial ruling system of over 200 years into a locally-run and nearly-unfamiliar system of governance. This situation led to self-evident genres in Indian literature, with only few authors and writers shouldering the responsibility of retaining consciousness of societal norms. The Indian diaspora was also created by the postcolonial Indian literature, with groups refusing to be associated with the local administrative set-up, and moving to the lands occupied by ex-masters who derided Indians as slaves. Themes indicating a lack of touch with nature and veneration started to surface in Indian literature, while the nascent communities of tribal literature voiced their vulnerability, dissatisfaction and protests (Sharma, pp. 62-63).

The morals, beliefs, and values of classical Indian literature that originated during the initially departed Vedic Period have been resuscitated by Indian English literature. A vast response of modernism in Indian literature has been birthed by this category of postcolonial Indian English or regional literature. It should be noted, however, that a restricted sense of ubiquity in the 20th and 21st centuries only is not the only definition of modernism. Modernism in Indian literature can also not be confined strictly to only English authors. Ancient Indian literature also displayed proclivities and tendencies of taking a modernistic approach; Tagore was for example described as a man 'much ahead of his times' (Sharma, p. 63).

Initially, the colonial period was discussed humorously, craftily, and quite cunningly in Indian literature, however, a crucial and critical approach with extreme dimensions was taken in discussing this period due to the brutal domination of the British Raj (Sharma, pp. 63-64). Hestetun correctly cautions against a generalized perception in which "the literatures of settler populations are put into the same category as the literatures of colonized peoples" (cited in Shands, 2008, p. 9). The arrival of Europeans in Indian territory was one of such features which had started since the reign of Mughal emperor Jehangir. Yet, the greatest influence on Indian literature remains the British domination -- starting with the east India Company- which lasted for about 200 years, and was characterized by cruel rulership. Indian literature was irreversibly altered by these influences- either the company or the British Empire. Regions within India were converted to provinces, and presidency administrations were established in the foremost port cities. The whole administrative system was restructured, slowly but significantly affecting the masses and the elite alike (Sharma, p. 63).

India's cultural uniqueness, evidenced in her moral systems and beliefs, were totally crushed by English supremacy and domination. Attempts to preserve this uniqueness and revolt the foreign supremacy was a hallmark of regional Indian Literature, and seen as a social responsibility for any Indian author. A benevolent perception of cultural influence on Indian literature was held generally; some writers made efforts to support nationalists, while others spearheaded the depiction of Englishmen as vicious. At any rate, Indian literature was enormously impacted from each and every outlook of its progress (Sharma, pp. 63-64).

The arrival, permeation and acceptance of the English language as the primary and foremost manner of communication was yet another trail blazing aspect; initially for the elite and their associates, then subsequently for the common people; the masses. The 'benevolent' Englishmen who put the onus on themselves and took up the responsibility of dispensing justice to the natives had plans to establish an exceptional image in the minds of the local populace by placing English literature and English language in the knowledge and consciousness of each and every Indian citizen. English language therefore stands as one of the most significant factors influencing the Indian literature. Indian literature was so severely under the colonial influence that it had become a familiar and trivial issue for both the Indians who were being ruled, and the Britons who ruled them; neither of them saw it as anything strange. It had become quite evident that if India were ever to become one of the colonies of the British Empire, any kind of literary creation from Indian nationals would be eternally and indelibly influenced by the colonial masters, either done in English or any local Indian languages. A vague distinction was however still retained in these' colonial master-colonized people's relationships; consistent efforts were being made by the Indians to get rid of their colonial masters. This aim was eventually achieved in the year 1947 when India gained independence following 200 years of servitude, oppression, and being dominated (Sharma, p. 64).

Following the division of India, and the accompanying gloom, obscurity and darkness, which enormously affected every contemporary Indian of the time, was quite evidently reflected in the appellation 'Indian diaspora' with the agglomeration of writers and authors who belonged to this niche. These form the basic and fundamental bedrock of postcolonial influences on Indian literature, including the intermittent regional literature produced in the 21st century. At the cradle of Indian literature, there still exist- in a very intact form- the conceptual notions of helpless anxiety, restlessly angry young men, and the veiled attributes of autonomous, uniquely Indian human psychology, these have however been channelled in new directions based on the slow advent of globalization and its impact on Indian literature (Sharma, p. 64).

Surprising variations in form and region of production are characteristic attributes of contemporary Indian literature, which has been around for about a hundred and fifty years (Sharma, p. 64).

An in-depth comprehension of the similar terms: 'modern', 'modernity', and 'modernisation' in an Indian contextual framework is highly necessary before plunging deeply into the highly-varied genre of contemporary Indian literature. These three terms are highly important and complexly interrelated in the context of modernism which is being considered. If a chronological classification is adhered to, the nineteenth century will definitely be considered less modern than the twentieth century; this however does not imply that literature from the 19th century is not included in the Indian contemporary genre. A simplistic guideline or benchmark is chosen in this case rather than a qualitative one. It should also be noted that, desirability is immaterial in modernism because anything considered fashionable in the present is seen as modern; either it is found desirable or not (Sharma, pp. 64-65).

Classifications of modernist cultural forms are highly dependent on differentiation process; from realist painting and literature to high modernism art works with 'autonomy', differentiation of the social from the cultural, the theoretical from the aesthetic and the secular from the sacred (Kumar, 1995, 138). Modernity, however, possesses a significant aspect, which is a value-based approach. Specific ideas and attitudes which are perceived to be more progressive are naturally prone to being considered as modern compared to previous ideas and attitudes. This concept seems to imply the chronological sense in a way. A fundamental relationship can be found between contemporary literature in the Indian context and the country's socio-political history in the middle of the 19th century when a breakthrough could indeed be said to have been achieved. The pervasiveness of English education in India increased gradually in the first half of the 19th century; its effect however didn't become evident in Indian literary works until the second half of the century. The major Indian languages had experienced a renewed approach towards literature. An obvious novelty had existed in the form and content of both literatures due to the cohesiveness of form and content (Sharma, p. 65).

Modern Indian writers reflected a slightly modified version of English due to the influence of the Indian language on English; their works exhibited this distinct Indian flavour. The slight alteration was quite obvious for various writers such as Shabshi Tharoor, Amitay Ghosh, or Salman Rushdie. The traditional and conventional narrative patterns were also adjusted, varied and reformed, with the regional languages being used liberally in their works. Writers from various local language backgrounds like Hindi, Telugu, Kannad, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil and Bengali kept to the 'post-modern' and 'modern' writing styles. Examples can be seen in Mulk Raj Anand's work, which contains many Hindi and Punjabi words, and Arundhati Roy's ground breaking works in which he used untranslated Malyalam words in routine conversations in the book- The God of Small Things (Sharma, p. 65).

Rhyme was not a necessary requirement in poetry; rhyme was rather consciously discarded in order to cause disharmony in the modern man's life. The deliberate absence of rhythm is a common occurrence in both Indian English and regional poems (Sharma, p. 66).

India experienced some economic and socio-political crises after independence with the state going through constant changes and instability. Writers no longer wrote to extol the nation, because they had the new responsibility of pointing out the reality of pertinent issues using their works as an instrument to achieve this. Emphasis was laid on the prevalent crises in both poems and prose. Contemporary writers had to depart from the colonial mind-set and develop new patterns of narrative in order to communicate their ideas, views, and opinions. (Sharma, p. 66).

Contemporary Indian writers have remained highly conscious of their backgrounds, culture and traditions while switching from the 18th and 19th century, which had been the foundation or roots of what was then known as contemporary Indian literature. This has led to an enormous presence of vernacular language within the literature. Although some authors create works in English, a larger percentage of them have stuck to their colloquial languages and write in those languages. Their works are however still philosophically and theoretically influenced by western thought patterns and notions. Contemporary Indian literature has a wide literary genre. Modern Indian readers have a pool of literary work to choose from which include: novels, literary criticism, short stories, poetry, and science fiction (Sharma, p. 66).

Changes have not been restricted to Indian English literature; the sub-continental Indian regional literature has also been affected by marked changes. Taking a case study of Marathi literature, after the year 1800, which had been the era of intellectual excitement and reformist moralism, changes began to creep in. Marathi translations were made for a number of English books. Ganesh Gadkari and Ram Prahlad Keshav were popular alongside authors like Kashinath Ghanekar, Sriram Lagoo, Mohan Agashe, and Prabhakar Panshikar. They began playing a number of immortal fictional characters classified by geniuses like Vasant Kanetkar, Vijay Tendulkar along with Kusumag Raj. This drama movement was amiably backed via Marathi films, although, they did not develop into instant successes. There had been pioneers in the likes of Phalke and Shantaram; and Marathi cinema had a great influence on the modern film business (Sharma, pp. 66-67).

Modern Marathi poetry was flagged off with the works of Jyotibha Phule, but subsequent poets like Keshuta Balakavi, and Ravi Kiran Mandal drew on romantic inspirations and Victorian English tradition for their works. But the overwhelming archetypical shift occurred in the mid-forties with the poetry of Mardhekar, and in the nineties, in the hands of Abhidhanantar and Shabadavedh. The Little Magazine movement, which became popular in the 1950s due to radical writings, gathered impetus in the 1990s with the works of Manya Joshi, Hemant Divate and Sachin Ketkar (Sharma, p. 67).

South Indian literature also experienced similar developments in the 19th century. South Indian literature drew inspiration from European genres, but towards the close of the century, changes occurred as evidenced in the works of modern writers like Subhramania Bharati and VVS Aiyar who made efforts to establish new forms. Numerous writers abound in south Indian literature who have made favourable impressions on readers' minds all around the world (Sharma, p. 67).