EXPLORING THE MYTHICAL INNER LIFE OF A BROKEN METROPOLIS: A COMPARISON OF GYAN PRAKASH’S MUMBAI FABLES AND JEET THAYIL’S NARCOPOLIS

Abstract

Jeet Thayil is a versatile figure in Indian Literature whose contributions to world literature includes many poems, novels and music. His song collection include Gemini (1992), Apocalypso (1997), English (2004), These Errors Are Correct (2008). He also edited many books, which includes Divided Time: India and the End of Diaspora, The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets and 60 Indian Poets. He is famous for his first novel Narcopolis, which is set in Mumbai. This work is shortlisted for Man Booker Prize for fiction in 2012.Gyan Prakash is another important figure in modern historic India whose handouts lead India through a focus of wealth and secured life. He is also a professor of history and included as a member of subaltern studies. Prakash’s writings mainly focus on problems of post colonialism. His famous work is Mumbai Fables: A History of an Enchanted City. This paper tries to find out the history of Mumbai Metropolis with the comparison study of Jeet Thayil’s Narcopolis and Gyan Prakash’s Mumbai Fables. Both these works shows the hidden history of Mumbai with its both positive and negative structures.