The Bombay of Rohinton Mistry

Mapping the cityscape in A Fine Balance and Such a Long Journey

Authors

  • Sarbani Mohapatra Jadavpur University
  • Tirtha Pratim Deb Jadavpur University

Keywords:

Bombay, Emergency, urban space, Parsi, cosmopolitics

Abstract

The metropolis of Bombay is rendered a sentient entity with its physical and mental existences in the entire oeuvre of Rohinton Mistry. This paper is aimed at studying the contours of this cityscape as undergoing constant frisson between the forces of change and the pro-status quo forces of resistance against the socio-economic and religious landscape of the city, as traversed by Mistry in Such a Long Journey and A Fine Balance. The implications of the authorial position of Mistry as a diasporic writer belonging to an ethnic minority community in India as well as the Parsi perspective on the depiction of Bombay will also be examined. Additionally, the paper will investigate the engagement of the city of Bombay as portrayed in the novels with the Derridean idea of 'new cosmopolitics',and “cities of refuge” and the concept of space and the State as analyzed by Henri Lefebvre.

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Author Biographies

Sarbani Mohapatra, Jadavpur University

Sarbani Mohapatra is pursuing her Masters in English from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. She completed her Bachelors in English from Presidency University, Kolkata in 2015. Her interests include postcolonial studies, diaspora literatures, international relations and linguistic cross-culturalisms.

Tirtha Pratim Deb, Jadavpur University

Tirtha Pratim Deb is pursuing his Masters in English from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. He completed his Bachelors in English from Ramakrishna Mission Residential College, Narendrapur, Kolkata in 2015. His academic interests include diasporic literatures, cultural studies, urban studies and convict literatures of Australia.

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Published

2017-12-01

How to Cite

Mohapatra, S., & Deb, T. P. (2017). The Bombay of Rohinton Mistry: Mapping the cityscape in A Fine Balance and Such a Long Journey. Sanglap: Journal of Literary and Cultural Inquiry, 3(2), 204–239. Retrieved from https://sanglap-journal.in/index.php/sanglap/article/view/220

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 2 (2017): City, Space and Literature

Section

Articles