<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This article focuses on the complexity of the encounter between two Western male writers and the East as represented by the metropolis of Calcutta and Kali, its patron goddess. The novels under discussion are Dan Simmons’ <italic>Song of Kali</italic> and Paul Theroux’s <italic>A Dead Hand: A Crime in Calcutta</italic>. The theoretical framework of the comparative analysis argues for the conceptual blurring of boundaries between ‘flâneur’ and ‘badaud’, elusive hypostases of the male writer protagonists in the Eastern urban context.</p></abstract>

This article focuses on the complexity of the encounter between two Western male writers and the East as represented by the metropolis of Calcutta and Kali, its patron goddess. The novels under discussion are Dan Simmons’ Song of Kali and Paul Theroux’s A Dead Hand: A Crime in Calcutta. The theoretical framework of the comparative analysis argues for the conceptual blurring of boundaries between ‘flâneur’ and ‘badaud’, elusive hypostases of the male writer protagonists in the Eastern urban context.

Interrogating Urban Spaces: Kali and the Intellectual in two Contemporary Novels

Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey, 26 Agustos Yerlesimi, Kayisdagi Cad. 34755, Atasehir/Istanbul, Turkey

Gender Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Interrogating Urban Spaces: Kali and the Intellectual in two Contemporary Novels"}

This article focuses on the complexity of the encounter between two Western male writers and the East as represented by the metropolis of Calcutta and Kali,...

Interrogating Urban Spaces: Kali and the Intellectual in two Contemporary Novels

Published Online: Feb 29, 2016

Page range: 95 - 118

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/genst-2016-0007

Keywords
badaud, Calcutta, flâneur, Kali, urban, writer

© 2015 Adriana Raducanu, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Interrogating Urban Spaces: Kali and the Intellectual in two Contemporary Novels

Published Online: Feb 29, 2016

Page range: 95 - 118

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/genst-2016-0007

Keywordsbadaud, Calcutta, flâneur, Kali, urban, writer

© 2015 Adriana Raducanu, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
badaud, Calcutta, flâneur, Kali, urban, writer