R. K. Narayan, ecrivain postcolonial

• Auteur / Autrice : ANNE MARIE ANGIBAUD LAIDET
• Direction : RUT MORSE
• Type : Thèse de doctorat
• Discipline(s) : Etudes indiennes et extrême-orientales
• Date : Soutenance en 1998
• Etablissement(s) : Paris 7

Mots clés

Mots clés libres

Narayan, rasipuran krishnaswamm (1906-. . . . )

Résumé

Reconnaissant l'importance historique d'une oeuvre nee a la veille de l'independance de l'inde et poursuivie un demi-siecle apres, constatant que la critique n'a pas entierement rendu justice a r. K. Narayan, notre etude se propose de demontrer que son message qualifie de 'simple' cache complexite et sophistication. Le mode oblique et ironique ainsi que le non-dit font partie d'une pratique discursive qui s'inscrit dans le courant postcolonial. Tout en exposant clairement la forte identite culturelle de son pays et celebrant l'immense reservoir de sens qu'il represente, l'auteur toujours attentif au detail denonce les abus de pouvoir minant les membres de la petite communaute d'inde du sud imaginee a partir de ce qu'il observe au quotidien. Dans un premier temps nous presentons l'oeuvre comme produit du fait colonial et montrons comment elle s'insere dans les grands courants d'idees du debut du siecle, pourquoi l'auteur etablit un remarquable equilibre entre imitation et resistance aux structures de pensee dominantes. La chronologie de l'oeuvre donne son sens a l'evolution du discours : denonciation indirecte des abus de pouvoir dans une societe de colonises au debut de l'oeuvre puis resistance a l'emergence de nouvelles formes d'imperialisme et condamnation de tout rapport de domination. La derniere partie analyse la portee du paradoxe exprime dans la position feministe de narayan et a travers la richesse de ses portraits feminins, la determination de l'auteur a articuler les nouveaux enjeux crees par la prise de conscience de l'individualite des femmes indiennes.

Taking into account the historical importance of a literary work started just before the independence of india and continued fifty years after, our essay will attempt to show the complexity and sophistication of narayan's message often qualified as 'simple' by a kind of literary criticism which has overlooked the undertones of the author's writing. He makes a constant use of irony, oblique angles, and implicit statements, all of which are part of the discursive practice of postcolonial literature. While all along narayan clearly states the strong cultural identity of his country and celebrates its huge and significant potential, at the same time through meaningful but inconspicuous details he denounces the abusers of power oppressing the members of the small south indian community he imagined, based on his daily observations. In the first part of our study, we present narayan's work as an outcome of the colonial situation, show how it is linked to the main ideological concerns of the beginning of the century and why the writer remarkably balances mimicry and resistance to the prevaling currents of thought. The chronology of the novels especially gives its full meaning to the evolution of narayan's discourse : first, he obliquely condemns the strategies of power oppressing colonized people, then he opposes cultural resistance and subversion to the new forms of imperialism to finally condemn all aspects of domination, and this is the focus of our second part. In the third part we analyse the impact of the paradox expressed in narayan's feminism and through the diversification of his female portraits, the writer's dedication to articulate the values at stake in the newly acquired individual consciousness of indian women.