Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Conversations in Bloomsbury
- 3 Comrade Kirillov
- 4 ‘A Horse and Two Goats’
- 5 The Tale of an Indian Education
- 6 ‘Clip Joint’
- 7 Cultural and Political Allegory in Rich Like Us
- 8 Towards Redefining Boundaries
- 9 The Golden Gate and the Quest for Self-Realization
- 10 Journey to Ithaca An Epistle on the Fiction of the 1980s and 1990s
- 11 Cuckold in Indian English Fiction
- 12 Stephanians and Others
- Works Cited
- Index
12 - Stephanians and Others
The Tale of Two Novelists
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Conversations in Bloomsbury
- 3 Comrade Kirillov
- 4 ‘A Horse and Two Goats’
- 5 The Tale of an Indian Education
- 6 ‘Clip Joint’
- 7 Cultural and Political Allegory in Rich Like Us
- 8 Towards Redefining Boundaries
- 9 The Golden Gate and the Quest for Self-Realization
- 10 Journey to Ithaca An Epistle on the Fiction of the 1980s and 1990s
- 11 Cuckold in Indian English Fiction
- 12 Stephanians and Others
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
Though this is a nation of more than one billion, with reputedly very large numbers of English speakers and users, the catchment area of Indian English novelists seems to be very narrow. A few dozen schools and less than a handful of colleges seem to have produced most of these writers. Of all these institutions, none is as famous or important as St Stephen's College, Delhi, which has been the alma mater of more notable Indian English writers than any other single institution. So much that there has been talk of a Stephanian school of literature. I think this issue needs to be addressed because it goes into the heart of this literature, particularly in helping us understand the kind of elitism that fashions and determines it. As an alumnus of this College myself and a contemporary to some of those who went on to be important writers I might have an insider's view, if not a personal stake, on this question.
The first part of this chapter will address whether or not there is a Stephanian school of literature. In order to do this I shall try to describe, in a necessarily personal way, what it was like being a Stephanian in the late 1970s. More specifically, I shall attempt to try to understand the relationship between the cultural ethos of the college and its effect on the personalities of those who studied there.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Another CanonIndian Texts and Traditions in English, pp. 148 - 167Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2009