/pdf/critical-distance-the-postcolonial-novel-and-the-dilemma-of-4l2cw1x3ue.pdf

Critical Distance: The Postcolonial Novel and the Dilemma of Exile

This paper will consider the way in which Homi Bhabha`s idea of hybridity is represented in E. M. Forster`s A Passage to India. What Bhabha suggests through the idea of hybridity is the Third Space where, according to him, two or more different cultures clash in an amicable way recognising each voice and moving on from there. Seemingly Bhabha`s intention is to get over the dichotomy of black and white, or West and East, and see any feasible ways of cultural exchange and of creating independent identities embedded in in-depth understanding of the Other. This paper uses A Passage to India to see how his idea can be applicable and how the characters in the novel try to work out the polarity of their views which is derived from their emotionally and physically out-of-contact cultural hermitage. This paper analyses some characters in the novel such as Aziz, Godbole, Mrs Moor and Adela who, with their unique understanding and interest in each other, try to acquire an enhanced understanding of different ways of life. All of them are typically nurtured in a totally different culture to each other, Even though they end up with having some forms of fragmented understanding on other culture, and find it difficult to piece them together in a fresh plance of understanding, they open up a space of hybrid and provide a way forward from it. As this paper argues, `the Third Space`, which Bhabha suggests, is where they are meant to get at and start from.

A Passage to India: Cultural Hybridity

In his non-fiction, Naipaul repeatedly affirms his faith in what he sees as the attributes of a Western intellectual tradition rationalism, historical analysis, social inquiry whilst condemning what he calls &dquo;the instinctive life&dquo; .2 This is Naipaul’s inclusive term for all ritualistic and myth-oriented belief systems and modes of life. Having begun his career by distancing himself from, and energetically satirizing, the Hindu life of Trinidad, Naipaul goes on to develop a worldview in which the contradictions and inconsistencies of his own

Phillip Langran

Papers

V . S . Naipaul : A Question of Detachment