The Indian Historical Writing Of Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis Trilogy

Amitav Ghosh(1956-)is now one of the most influential Indo-Anglian novelist.His abundant historical knowledge provides him lots of inspiration and helps him build a unique literary style which is especially seen in his Ibis Trilogy.The Ibis Trilogy includes three novels: Sea of Poppies(2008),River of Smoke(2011)and Flood of Fire(2015).This series focuses on the opium trade between India and China as well as the outbreak of the opium war in 1830 s and 1840 s.Through different stories of Indian,English and Chinese characters,these novels depict the spirit of the time and reflect the historical root Ghosh considers that “makes India become India” double impacts of western colonization and the reaction of Indian.Except for the introduction and the conclusion,this thesis is divided into four chapters.Through focusing on the western colonial ruling,the first chapter aims to analyze Ghosh’s criticism of the western economic system,political system and discourse rhetoric,which the Indian continent is forced to accept.By tracing three reaction Indian have(the pro-western sentiment,the supremacy of nation’s interests and the vernacular cosmopolitanism)when they encounter the western colonial ruling,the second chapter shows Ghosh’s hope of uniting Indian even the whole world as a community.Based on the realistic significance brought by the historical writing in the former two chapters,the third chapter analyzes the Ghosh’s writing strategy of connecting the past to the present fiction based on historical facts,essence of events prioritized before detail of events and the resonance of humanity which recreates unfamiliar culture.All these reinforce Ibis Trilogy’s concern for the reality.The fourth chapter starts from the background of Indo-Anglian novel to discuss the fusion of the “local” and the “diaspora” in Ibis Trilogy’s historical writing.The studying on Ibis Trilogy can help Chinese literature understand the view of history of Indian intellectuals represented by Ghosh as well as build a foundation for the communication of national literature.