Cultural Rivalry: A Postcolonial Dialectic of Tradition and Modernity in Kamala Markandaya's Two Virgins, A Silence of Desire, and The Nowhere Man

Abstract

This chapter studies how tradition and modernity are in constant conflict and negotiating with each other within three Kamala Markandaya novels (1973) "Two Virgins", 1960 "A Silence of Desire" and 1972 "The Nowhere Man" viewed through post-colonial theories of Frantz Fanon, Homi K. Bhabha, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, and Chandra Talpade Mohanty portray the transformation of culture not as linear progression but rather an ongoing transformation of civilizations where opposing forces continually engage in a struggle for supremacy over the other. As demonstrated by Lalitha's aspiration for rural living but having her dreams shattered via urban living in "Two Virgins," the clash of epistemologies of spiritual religion vs the epistemology of science represented by the consciousness of the “A Silence of Desire" and the experience of alienation from the Motherland of Srinivas in “The Nowhere Man” represent three distinct locations post-colonial subjects experience the real-life consequences of cultural transformation. As such, the collective examination of the three novels indicates that they comprise an extended literary criticism of post-colonial modernity, which is cognizant of the intersectionality of gender, class, spirituality and race in post-colonial modernity