Adopting the concept of diaspora--literally dispersal, or the scattering of a people--to the historical and contemporary presence of people of Indian subcontinental origin in other areas of the world, Emmanuel Nelson uses this paradigm to analyze Indian expatriate writing. In Reworlding, Nelson has commissioned fourteen critical essays by as many scholars to examine major areas of the diaspora--among them Britain, the United States, Canada, Trinidad, Fiji, Singapore, East and South Africa--and prominent literary figures, including Salman Rushdie, V. S. Naipaul, Kamala Markandaya, Bharati Mukherjee, and Raja Rao.
Collectively, the essays demonstrate that the various literary traditions within the Indian diaspora share certain common resonances engendered by historical connections, spiritual affinities, and racial memories. Individually, they provide challenging insights into the particular experiences and writers. At the core of the diasporic writing is the haunting presence of India and the shared anguish of personal loss that generate the aesthetics of reworlding underlying and unifying this body of literature. This collection will be of value to scholars and students of Indian writing in English, postcolonial writing in general, and the literature of exile and immigration.