Cover Postcolonial Oceans. Contradictions, Heterogeneities, Knowledges, Materialities

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Sinha, Arnab Kumar: Mapping the Relationship between the Sea and the Humans: The Symbolic Sea in Mallika Krishnamurthy’s “Six Yards of Silk”, in Chatterjee, Sukla et al. (Eds.): Postcolonial Oceans: Contradictions, Heterogeneities, Knowledges, Materialities, Heidelberg: Heidelberg University Publishing, 2023 (Anglophone Postcolonial Studies, Volume 1), p. 269–283. https://doi.org/10.17885/heiup.1046.c17314

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https://doi.org/10.17885/heiup.1046
ISBN 978-3-96822-158-8 (PDF)
ISBN 978-3-96822-159-5 (Hardcover)

Published

11/09/2023

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Authors

Arnab Kumar Sinha

Mapping the Relationship between the Sea and the Humans

The Symbolic Sea in Mallika Krishnamurthy’s “Six Yards of Silk”

ABSTRACT This article analyses the various facets of the relationship between the sea and human characters in Mallika Krishnamurthy’s diasporic novel, Six Yards of Silk (2011). Focusing on the anxieties about assimilating into the New Zealand mainstream community, this novel portrays the life of two Indian immigrants, Ramesh and Sharmila, who are settled in New Zealand and are unable to adjust to the cultural lifestyle of the adopted nation. A strong sense of alienation from the hostland culture turns Ramesh into a neurotic patient, and in a state of neurosis, he develops an affective bonding with the sea. This connection between the sea and the diasporic characters has been critically examined using Lisa Samuels’s concept of “wet contact” and Keren Chiaroni’s theoretical paradigm of “fluid philosophy.” While exploring Ramesh’s deep connection with the sea, this article also offers a psychoanalytical reading of Ramesh’s neurotic condition.

KEYWORDS neurosis, wet contact, fluid philosophy, sea