A Study Of Marginal Narrative In Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis Trilogy

Amitav Ghosh(1956-)is an Indian English novelist,who is very famous in the contemporary circles of the international literature.Unlike Indian diaspora writers such as Naipaul and Rushdie,Ghosh is more concerned about India in his novels.He has a good academic background in history and anthropology,so his novels are often based on real history.The Ibis Trilogy is his newly completed work,which reflects a good continuation of his previous writing style that combines archives with imagination.The trilogy includes three novels: Sea of Poppies,River of Smoke and Flood of Fire.Ghosh retold the Opium War from the perspective of India but meanwhile he also delved into the internal relations of many historical events by these three historical novels.This thesis is divided into four chapters,excluding the introduction and the conclusion.The first chapter aims to analyze the creation background and the practical significance of the trilogy.In view of the fact that India’s historiography is mostly controlled by elites and the Indian people relatively lack historical consciousness,Ghosh used the bottom-up historical narrative to retell the Opium War which has been forgotten by the Indian public.The second chapter focuses on the impact of poppy cultivation on India.From the perspective of India,Ghosh showed the internal relations of historical events by meshing multiple historical events which happened in different spaces.The third chapter discusses the fate of the Subaltern in these three novels.Ghosh shaped a series of India characters who have changed their status due to opium,and paid more attention to their historical choices under the background of globalization.In Ghosh’ view,to some extent,the individual’s choice represented the development direction of India.The last chapter analyzes the deconstruction of the colonial discourse.Ghosh revealed the hypocrisy of the colonial discourses such as “God” and “Free Trade” during the Opium War by means of “Voyage In”.In addition,Ghosh paid attention to the relations between the victimized countries.He delved into the contacts between China and colonial India through the Indian individuals during the war.The trilogy is developed in the form of Marginal Narrative,challenging the hegemonic writing of colonial history which centered on the British Empire,not only restoring the suppressed the Subaltern’s voice,but also providing a more objective perspective to study the Opium War.As a scholarly writer,Ghosh ‘s cosmopolitan view of history also represents some Indian intellectuals’ attitude toward the the history of the Opium War.Therefore,this trilogy has research value of national literature,and it deserves a further study on its special cultural significance.