Abstract
This essay takes the argument of ‘Memory and Reflection’ further, as it turns from aesthetics to the creative process itself and focuses on the difference between the writing in English and the writing in the mother tongue. Does the immigrant writer’s writing in his/her mother tongue indicate an existential search or is it an act of preservation of self and culture? Is it more authentic than the writing in English in its representation of the realities of their homeland? There is, at some level, also the aspect of their relatedness to the stay-at-home writers, which demands attention. In order to address some of these issues, the work of several writers is taken up for discussion: writers living abroad and writing in English and writers at home writing in English; diaspora writers who write in their mother tongue and the writing in the various languages being written in the homeland. The essay also takes up the writing of another category of people who have migrated from their countries but live in lands which share languages and cultures with the homeland but have different political realities: how do these writers write the homeland and how their memories project themselves? Towards this end, the writings of Intizar Husain who writes in Urdu, a writer of Indian origin living in Pakistan—Farhana Sheikh and Meera Syal, both in England and writing in English, and some Punjabi writers living abroad is explored. While it may not be possible to define the difference in definitive terms, the comparisons open out various significant aspects of the act of writing.
Keywords
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- 1.
Intizar Husain, ‘Letter From India’ trans. Vishwamitter Adil and Alok Bhalla. Stories About the Partition of India. Ed. Alok Bhalla (New Delhi: Harper Collins 1994), 96–110.
- 2.
The word patria has multiple applications: Patria: Native country; patriarchal ruler of the family, clan; patrimony: inherited from one’s ancestors; patriot: one who exerts himself to promote the well-being of his country (O.E.D.). Also refer. G.K. Subbaryudi, ‘Patria, Expatriacy and the Question of Value’, The Commonwealth Review. Vol. IV. No. 2 where he says that expatriate is a temporary condition.
- 3.
Vijay Mishra, ‘Diasporas and the Art of Impossible Mourning,’ In Diaspora. Ed. Makarand Paranjpe (New Delhi: Indialog Publication), 2001, 24–51.
- 4.
Edward Said, ‘Intellectual Exile: Expatriates and Marginals’, 1993 Reith Lecture. The Edward Said Reader. Eds Moustafa Bayouiviet et al. (New York: Vintage Books, 2000).
- 5.
Refer my essay ‘Rethinking Diaspora: Of Hyphen, Hybridity and Translated Men’ in The Expatriate Indian Writing in English. Eds. T. Vinoda and P. Shailaja. (New Delhi: Prestige Publishing House 2006), 23–37.
- 6.
See Gayatri Spivak, ‘Marginality in the Teaching Machine’ where she states that a cultural identity is through language and ‘In that sense I am a Bengali’ Outside in The Teaching Machine (New York: Routledge, 1996), 55. Much before this when she in her Introduction to her translation of Mahasweta Devi’s translation of ‘Draupadi’ had written: ‘Any sense of Bengal as a nation is governed by the putative identity of the Bengali language’. In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics (New York: Routledge, 1998), 181. I am, however, not in agreement with this.
- 7.
Salman Rushdie, ‘Imaginary Homelands’ in Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981–1991 (London: Granta and Penguin India, 1992). 9–21.
- 8.
Lionel Trilling, Sincerity and Authenticity (Cambridge, Massachusetts M: Harvard University Press, 1972).
- 9.
Cultural and behavioural patterns are part of a living culture, hence to grow and change is part of their nature. Behaviour besides being a result of culture and upbringing is also a part of response to social and political environment. It cannot be and should not be frozen.
- 10.
See Bakhtin ‘Discourse and the Novel,’ The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. Ed. Michael Holquist. Translated by Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist (Austin: University of Texas Press). 1981. 259–422. Dialogue is discussed more specifically 278–285.
- 11.
Meera Syal, Anita and Me (London: New Press, 1997).
- 12.
Bhaji on the Beach, is the story of a picnic outside the city, by a busload of women of two generations, actually three the elderly, the middle and the young. The cultural shifts and awareness of emotions is abundantly dear. A film/telefilm: Directed by Gurinder Chadha and story and screenplay by Meera Syal, 1993. The film was done in three languages: English, Punjabi, Hindi.
- 13.
Farhana Sheikh, The Red Box (New Delhi: Rupa & Co, 1991), and Ravinder Randhawa’s A Wicked Old Woman (London: The Women’s Press, 1993) is the story of a girl who pretends to be old and poor—what she is not.
- 14.
The reference is to Chitra Divakaruni’s two novels which represent isolated narratives, self-inclusive cultures. Mistress of Spices (London: Black Swan, 1997) and The Palace of Illusion (London: Picador, 2009).
- 15.
Jarnail Singh, ‘Towers’ in Towers (Punjabi). (Ludhiana: Chetna Prakashan, 2005).
- 16.
Dr. Gurmel, Shabdan da Safar (The Travels of Words) Punjabi (Ludhiana: Chetna Prakashan, 2004).
- 17.
‘Suneha’ The original in Punjabi is full of resonances of cultural meaning and reads: ‘Aaje vi saj-vihahiyan naran/Ausiyan paoindiyan haungiyan?/Ghar murhde dhole de rahi/nain vichandiyan hongaungiyan? Nan koi ausiyan paonda hai,/Nan koi nain vichandha hai/virla, virla karmawala/murh ke ghar nu aonda hai.’
- 18.
Balbir Kaur Sanghera, Thandi Hawa (Cold Wind). Punjabi (Ludhiana: Chetna Prakashan, 2005).
- 19.
Uma Parameswaran, Dispelling the Spells of Memory: Another Approach to Reading Our Yesterdays,’ North Dakota State University, Fargo, Vol. 2. 2000. http://www.ndsu.edu/RRCWL/ V2hema. Accessed 4 December 2013. Paraweswaran writes, ‘Both exile and home are here’ (6).
- 20.
Avtar Brah, Cartographies of the Diaspora: Contesting Identities (London: Routledge, 1996). Brah is of the view that this intersection between different communities is a discourse of home, nation, location and culture of borders. Here, there is a confrontation and a meeting point. Borders are ‘social, cultural and psychic’ and they are face to face (198–200).
- 21.
Trilling, ‘The energies and intentions of the id are instinctual and libidinal … . The primary concern of the ego is with the survival of the human organism …’. Also see 148.
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Jain, J. (2017). Writing in One’s Own Language and the Grounds of Being . In: The Diaspora Writes Home. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4846-3_6
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