Amitav Ghosh’s The Glass Palace and Orhan Pamuk’s My Name is Red: A Comparison

Abstract

The paper aims to form a comprehensive and in-depth study of the theme of multiculturalism as portrayed within the selected novels of Orhan Pamuk and Amitav Ghosh. The reputed Indian novelist Amitav Ghosh has carved a distinct segment for himself within the world of fiction even as Orhan Pamuk who writes exquisite novels won the Nobel award. Pamuk’s work often touches on the deep rooted tensions of spiritual conflict between East and West, tradition and modernism or secularism. Loss of identity occurs in an alien land within the novel owing to the colonial impact within the postcolonial context. These are the ideas that involve relationship between individuals belonging to the identical or to different communities that sometimes transgress and transcend the shadow lines of political borders. Depicting meticulously the lives of Indian diaspora in Burma, this novel has taken a lot of time for Ghosh, travelling between the boundaries of south Asian countries as to incorporate the events of this novel. Ghosh tells the story of colonizer-colonized relationship through the temporal and spatial journeys of his characters. Pamuk and Ghosh talk
about the national identity, oppression, diaspora, exile and a host of such factors which influence the construction of a nation. Both as novelists deals with culture, nationality, tradition, the conflict between the east and the west, communication, defending individual’s rights of expression and belief and arguing against religious and nationalism.