Vipul Solanki

Splitting Selves A Comparative Study of Indo Eastern and Indo Western Diaspora L Vipul Solanki

This work explores a kind of new in itself comparative study. So far, sufficient work has been done in Indian Diaspora literature. Specifically, a lot of work has been done in the area of Indian-Western Diaspora literature. Many writers have articulated the expatriate experiences of the Indians who have migrated to the Western countries. But, not much has been said about the expatriate experiences of those Indians who migrated to other Asian countries. Since centuries, particularly during the colonial period, many Indians have migrated to the countries which are on the Eastern side from India popularly known as Southeast Asian countries. There has been a lot of cultural exchange but least as been noted about it. There are only a few writers who have articulated these expatriate experiences. The book explores the way expatriate experiences have been articulated of those who have migrated to the West from India, particularly to America and those who have migrated to East from India, particularly to Malaysia. These two are the completely distinct expatriate traditions. The Indian Western Diaspora literature chiefly deals with the themes like cultural dislocation while the Indian Eastern Diaspora literature deals with an altogether different set of themes. This book essentially explores these two distinct Diaspora literary traditions through a comparative study of Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake and Preeta Samarasan's The Evening is the Whole Day.