This paper examines the treatment of history in I. Allan Sealy’s famous novel The Trotter-Nama. I... more This paper examines the treatment of history in I. Allan Sealy’s famous novel The Trotter-Nama. It is argued that Sealy’s subversive and fabulative novel utilizes the mode of cultural memory in the re-telling of the history of the Anglo-Indian people from the colonial times to the present. Through a revisionary narrativization and memorialization of history, the novel not only addresses the gaps and distortions of traditional histories but also effectively charts the cultural and historical life-scapes of the Anglo-Indians. As a product of cultural memory, Sealy’s novel is engaged in an active communication of historical memories which he had inherited as a member of the Anglo-Indian community. It becomes clear that Sealy intends to address the abuse and historical injustice suffered by these people at the hands of the colonial British, and also the native Indians. He writes them into almost all the major events of Indian history. This gives the Anglo-Indians a chance to see them in new historical perspective.
This paper examines the treatment of history in I. Allan Sealy’s famous novel The Trotter-Nama. I... more This paper examines the treatment of history in I. Allan Sealy’s famous novel The Trotter-Nama. It is argued that Sealy’s subversive and fabulative novel utilizes the mode of cultural memory in the re-telling of the history of the Anglo-Indian people from the colonial times to the present. Through a revisionary narrativization and memorialization of history, the novel not only addresses the gaps and distortions of traditional histories but also effectively charts the cultural and historical life-scapes of the Anglo-Indians. As a product of cultural memory, Sealy’s novel is engaged in an active communication of historical memories which he had inherited as a member of the Anglo-Indian community. It becomes clear that Sealy intends to address the abuse and historical injustice suffered by these people at the hands of the colonial British, and also the native Indians. He writes them into almost all the major events of Indian history. This gives the Anglo-Indians a chance to see them in new historical perspective.
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