Indian English Literature

Indian English Literature refers to the body of work by writers in India who write in the English language and whose native or co-native language could be one of the numerous languages of India. Its early history began with the works of various Indian writers who consolidated Indian literature. It is also associated with the works of members of the Indian Diaspora such as V. S. Naipaul, Kiran Desai, Jhumpa Lahiri, Agha Shahid Ali, Rohinton Mistry and Salman Rushdie, who are of Indian descent. It is frequently referred to as Indo-Anglian literature. As a category, this production comes in the broader realm of post-colonial literature- the production from previously colonized countries like India. Indian Literature refers to the literature produced on Indian sub-continent until 1947 and in the Republic of India thereafter. At the same time we must recognize the individual talents of the present age who, for reasons other than literary merits, are relegated to the periphery. It is full of revelations as we discovered poets and novelists of the 19th century from this region of India that is generally considered barren in Indian literature in English.