Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things

<p>On publication Arundhati Roy's first novel <em>The God of Small Things</em> (1997) rapidly became an international bestseller, winning the Booker Prize and creating a new space for Indian literature and culture within the arts, even as it courted controversy and divided critical opinion.</p><p>This guide to Roy’s ground-breaking novel offers:</p><ul> <li>an accessible introduction to the text and contexts of <em>The God of Small Things</em> </li> <li>a critical history, surveying the many interpretations of the text from publication to the present </li> <li>a selection of new essays and reprinted critical essays by Padmini Mongia, Aijaz Ahmad, Brinda Bose, Anna Clarke, Émilienne Baneth-Nouailhetas and Alex Tickell on <em>The God of Small Things</em>, providing a range of perspectives on the novel and extending the coverage of key critical approaches identified in the survey section </li> <li>cross-references between sections of the guide, in order to suggest links between texts, contexts and criticism </li> <li>suggestions for further reading. </li> </ul><p>Part of the <em>Routledge Guides to Literature</em> series, this volume is essential reading for all those beginning detailed study of <em>The God of Small Things</em> and seeking not only a guide to the novel, but a way through the wealth of contextual and critical material that surrounds Roy's text.</p> <p>Introduction <strong>Part 1: Text and Contexts</strong> The Text. The Author. Cultural Contexts. Literary and Cinematic Contexts.<strong> </strong>Chronology<strong> Part </strong><strong>2: Cr</strong><strong>itical History Part </strong><strong>3: Critical Readings </strong>Postcolonial Cultural Studies: <em>The Making and Marketing of Arundhati Roy</em> by Padmini Mongia. Marxist Criticism: <em>Reading Arundhati Roy Politically</em> by Aijaz Ahmad. Gender, Sexuality and Politics: <em>In Desire and in Death: Eroticism as Politics in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things</em> by Brinda Bose. Language: <em>Language, Hybridity and Dialogism in The God of Small Things</em> by Anna Clarke. Narrative and Structure: <em>The Structures of Memory</em> by Émilienne Baneth-Nouailhetas. Genre and Performance: <em>The Epic Side of Truth: Storytelling and Performance in The God of Small Things</em> Alex Tickell <strong>Part 4: Further Reading and Web Resources</strong></p>