Anthologizing the nation: Literature anthologies and the idea of India

Abstract

This essay examines the characteristics of the anthology as a literary “meta‐genre”. It looks at a range of English‐language anthologies of South Asian writing published after independence, and discusses how they have shaped an idea of the subcontinent and its literature for national and transnational audiences. By examining these diverse anthologies, the essay aims to expand prevailing notions of a South Asian literary canon beyond the dominance of the Indian English novel and the nation as a unifying factor for literary production. In the process, the essay explores the relationship between literary value and socio‐political engagement in our reading of South Asian writing, with specific reference to the role of the anthology.

Keywords:

• anthology
• South Asian literature
• postcolonial literature
• literary canon
• Indian writing in English
• nation

Notes

1. Jeffrey Di Leo has recently published a pioneering collection of essays on the anthology form, On Anthologies: Politics and Pedagogy, which focus on important aspects of the genre.