The contested city: Speculative fiction and metropolitan imagination in colonial Bengal. Issue 6 (2nd November 2022)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- The contested city: Speculative fiction and metropolitan imagination in colonial Bengal. Issue 6 (2nd November 2022)
- Main Title:
- The contested city: Speculative fiction and metropolitan imagination in colonial Bengal
- Authors:
- Bhattacharya, Atanu
Hiradhar, Preet - Abstract:
- ABSTRACT: Speculative fiction emerged in 19th-century Bengal as a mode of narrative engagement with the city's colonial modernity during its contact with British colonialism. This fiction, however, was essentially a city-based enterprise interacting with, and moulding, the imperial city of Kolkata in myriad ways. The interaction gave rise to dissenting voices within the gradually emerging educated class of Kolkata. This article explores such intersections of the city and speculative fiction with the aid of two conceptual arcs – morality and corporeality – and argues that, located within divergent imaginaries of representing the city, they construct a contested cityscape. These arcs produce an alternative metropolitan imagination that subverts the colonial imaginary of the city. The article examines two early speculative texts written by Kylas Chunder Dutt and Shoshee Chunder Dutt to explore the nature of this imagination. The colonial imaginary of Kolkata within this speculative textual space offers a locus distinct from the colonizers.
- Is Part Of:
- Journal of postcolonial writing. Volume 58:Issue 6(2022)
- Journal:
- Journal of postcolonial writing
- Issue:
- Volume 58:Issue 6(2022)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 58, Issue 6 (2022)
- Year:
- 2022
- Volume:
- 58
- Issue:
- 6
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2022-0058-0006-0000
- Page Start:
- 824
- Page End:
- 838
- Publication Date:
- 2022-11-02
- Subjects:
- Indian speculative fiction -- colonial urban literature -- Indian writing in English -- metropolitan imagination -- Kylas Chunder Dutt -- Shoshee Chunder Dutt
English literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals
Literature, Modern -- History and criticism -- Periodicals
Postcolonialism in literature -- Periodicals
820.9 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjpw20 ↗
http://www.tandfonline.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1080/17449855.2022.2109848 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 1744-9855
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 5041.149150
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 25548.xml