Arundhati Roy as a Transmodern Intellectual
Gender Troubles, Ethnic Conflicts and Vulnerable Ecology
Abstract
This article adopts a transmodern approach to Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness and it contends that Roy’s fusion of anti-global activism, typical of her non-fiction writings, and literary imagination, reminiscent of Indian epic texts, can provide an interesting instance of a transmodern intellectual perspective. In particular, by examining gender troubles, ethnic conflicts and vulnerable ecology, my article argues that Roy’s second novel refracts the decolonial/postcolonial debate by means of a hybrid narrative form. This interplay between creative writing and intellectual activism can be said to chime with transmodern ethics in that it promotes attentiveness to the perspective of the most marginalised.