Reconstructing the Self Through Narrative: Divakaruni’s The Mistress of Spices

Authors

  • Arghya Chakraborty Lecturer, Department of Mathematics, Science & Humanities, UPL University of Sustainable Technology, Ankleshwar
  • Charul Jain Associate Professor, Department of English, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara

Keywords:

Building blocks, Temporal reading, shifting locale, Narrative Structure, Divakaruni, The Mistress of Spices

Abstract

Time and Space are the two building blocks that create the layers of any narrative work. Andre Lefebvre while talking about the ‘Historical Notions of Space’ deals with the idea of ‘Lived Space’ and the ‘Third Space’ in reconstructing the self in imagination that has been kept alive and accessible by the narrative art. Space, along with time, is inherently embedded in the narrative structure of a text and both cannot be dissociated from each other. Space has the power to prefigure the balance between the different layers that create the narrative of any literary work. This paper will explore the idea of Time and Space that compose the narrative in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Mistress of Spices. This paper will also deal with the idea of time as the shifting construct and space as a locale in the structure that has been redefined through narrative in The Mistress of Spices by Divakaruni.

Author Biographies

Arghya Chakraborty, Lecturer, Department of Mathematics, Science & Humanities, UPL University of Sustainable Technology, Ankleshwar

Mr. Arghya Chakraborty, Lecturer of English is presently working with UPL University of Sustainable Technology. He has been teaching for the past 3 years at the Diploma and the Undergraduate levels. Hehas cleared the National Eligibility Test (UGC NET) and is currently pursuing Ph.D at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. He has published various articles in journals of national and international repute.

Charul Jain, Associate Professor, Department of English, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara

Dr. Charul Jain is an Associate Professor in the Department of English, Faculty of Arts, the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara. She has 28 years of teaching experience. Her areas of specialization are English Language Teaching, English for Specific Purposes, Indian Writing in English and Drama. Many of her articles have been published in journals of national and International repute. Dr. Jain has authored seven books, some being used as textbooks in universities across the country. She has been developing MOOC courses for MHRD’s e-PG pathshala and for SWAYAM. Dr. Jain regularly trains teachers of schools and colleges in best practices of Teaching English.

References

Banerjee, Divakraruni Chitra. The Mistress of Spices. Anchor, 1998.

Buccholz, M. Jahn. Some Thoughts on the Spatial Forms. https://www.degruyter.com. Accessed on 7th March, 2021.

Blake. Randolphe, Yang. Yuede. Spatial and Temporal Coherence in Perceptual Binding.

Lefebvre, Henri. The Production of Space. Blackwell, 1991.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 1997. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42288. Accessed on April, 2021.

Panasenko, Natalie. Interrelations between Literary Time and Space in Prosaic Texts. https://www.pulib.sk. Accessed on 13th April, 2021.

Turayeva, Jose. Identification of Narrative Time and Space. https://www.frontiersin.org. Accessed on 14th May, 2021.

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Published

01.04.2021

How to Cite

Arghya Chakraborty, & Charul Jain. (2021). Reconstructing the Self Through Narrative: Divakaruni’s The Mistress of Spices. Journal of Teaching and Research in English Literature, 12(2), 21–25. Retrieved from https://journals.eltai.in/index.php/jtrel/article/view/JTREL120205

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Section

Research Articles