Magical Realism, Regionalism, and Liminal Spaces: A Chronotope of Indian Postcolonial Village in Vinod Kumar Shukla’s A Window Lived in a Wall

Abstract

Despite the extensive availability of Indian regional novels, scholarly research in this field has been remarkably limited. Regional narratives from India vividly depict the contradictions of regional social dynamics and global capitalist modernity, culminating in a stylistically complex aesthetic akin to the formalism often associated with Magical Realism. Shukla's narrative, in A Window Lived in a Wall, deviates greatly from the prevalent tradition of social realism in modern Hindi literature, demonstrating a bold transition marked by novel’s storytelling approaches and a wilful defiance of conventional literary rules. This study examines Vinod Kumar Shukla's regionalist approach and how it intersects with modes of magical realism. By closely analysing the novel's intricate narrative framework, particularly the author's juxtaposition of the tradition versus modernity via an unconventional mode of magical realism, it will be argued that Shukla creates a spatial-temporal liminality within his narrative. This liminality transforms the novel into a chronotope of the Indian Postcolonial Village, reflecting complex layers of socio-cultural change and continuity. This analysis seeks to contribute to a deeper understanding of Shukla’s narrative innovation and its broader implications within contemporary Indian literature.

Keywords: Magical Realism, regionalism, capitalist modernity, social realism, chronotope, liminal spaces.