Define Indian Writing in English as
a distinctive field of study. Critically discuss the different nomenclatures
applied to it during the period of its development.
Answer: English is a foreign language but since the British came to India the language has had an impact on several fields—in education, literary effort and as a medium of communication. Indian English Literature refers to that body of work by writers from India, who writes in the English language and whose native or co-native language could be one of the numerous regional and indigenous languages of India. English literature in India is also linked with the works of writers of the Indian diaspora born in India but residing elsewhere.
A pioneer of this literature was Raja Rammohan Roy whose prose works is noteworthy. There were poets who are considered the first of the Indian English poets: Henry Vivian Derozio, Madhusudan Dutt, Aru and Toru Dutt, and Manmohan Ghose. Indian literature in English actually dates back to the 1830s to Kashiprasad Ghosh, who is considered the first Indian poet write in English.
Sochee Chunder Dutt was the first writer of fiction. In the beginning, however, political writing in the novel or essay format was dominant, as can be seen in Raja Rammohan Roy’ works. An outstanding Indo-Anglian writer was Aurobindo Ghose whose poetic magnum opus is Savitri an epic.
