Representations Juxtaposed: A Home Author and a Diasporic Author Depict Coorg

Lau, Lisa

Abstract

This article compares and juxtaposes the handling of Coorg, the representation of its community, the depiction of the land and people, its rituals, festivals, customs and culture, through two novels written in English, both set in Coorg. Novels set in Coorg are something of an exception in Indian Writing in English (IWE), and these two novels were chosen because they are the only widely known, well circulated novels (written in English) to date which depict Coorg and are wholly embedded in this locale and community. Both authors – both women - also claim Coorg as their ancestral land, or land of origin. This paper intends to closely examine the manner in which the depiction of Coorg is handled and the differences in representations, by a home author - Kavery Nambisan, in The Scent of Pepper (1996) - and by a diasporic author – Sarita Mandanna in Tiger Hills (2010).

Citation

Lau, L. (2014). Representations Juxtaposed: A Home Author and a Diasporic Author Depict Coorg. In Tracing the New Indian Diaspora (191-217). New York: Brill Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789401211710_012

• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2014
• Deposit Date: May 31, 2023
• Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
• Pages: 191-217
• Book Title: Tracing the New Indian Diaspora
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789401211710_012