The Idea of Nation and Nationalism-A Postmodern Literary Critique

Abstract

The idea of Nationalism is a widely disputed and elusive concept in the genre of literary criticism. In the postmodern era of globalization, the nation-space across boundaries has offered an alternative crescendo of interaction and exchange. The notion of nation and nationalism and its constituents are varied and diverse as per the different perspectives in literary criticism. Thus, it has stipulated the idea that the existence of a single or universal theory of nationalism is not possible in the everchanging international world order. As a result, there is an increasing need to reconceptualize the nation as a hybrid space characterized by the peripheral and internal kinesis of its constituents with the possibility of posing differences. In the era of globalization with its pluralist cultural connotations, the idea of a nation, thus, upholds the image of a fluid space of confluence and convergence opening up to a more inclusive world order. Hence, the postmodern literary critiques present an alternate view of the ideas of nation and nationalism and tend to present a deconstructive notion of the nation.