Water, White Tigers and Corrupt Neoliberalism: Controversial Entrepreneurs in Recent Fiction from the Subcontinent

Water has traditionally held a variety of metaphorical meanings in literature. Mostly, however, it has been deployed as a purifying element, endowed with the virtues of cleansing and renewing both persons and situations. Such perception of the substantiating role of water finds an echo in the main I...

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Autor principal:	Isabel Alonso Breto
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN ES
Publicado:	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona 2015
Materias:	keywords: aravind adiga, chetan baghat, moshin hamid, water, corruption, neoliberalism, corruption General Works A
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/ea7bf4d277154699b9630b84db4f2fd4
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:ea7bf4d277154699b9630b84db4f2fd42021-12-02T15:42:12ZWater, White Tigers and Corrupt Neoliberalism: Controversial Entrepreneurs in Recent Fiction from the Subcontinent2339-852310.5565/rev/indialogs.21https://doaj.org/article/ea7bf4d277154699b9630b84db4f2fd42015-04-01T00:00:00Zhttps://revistes.uab.cat/indialogs/article/view/21https://doaj.org/toc/2339-8523Water has traditionally held a variety of metaphorical meanings in literature. Mostly, however, it has been deployed as a purifying element, endowed with the virtues of cleansing and renewing both persons and situations. Such perception of the substantiating role of water finds an echo in the main Indian cultures, both Hinduism and Islam. This article argues that the traditional metaphorical use of water as connected to renovation is very present in contemporary fiction of South Asian origin, yet its main argument is that this idea of renovation, which has traditionally been perceived as positive, is not necessarily ridden with celebratory aspects in the novels under discussion. Rather, water plays in these works controversial if not highly problematic roles. The works discussed are Aravind Adiga’s <em>The White Tiger</em> (2008), Chetan Baghat’s <em>Revolution 2020</em> (2011)<em>, </em>and<em> </em> Moshin Hamid’s <em>How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia</em> (2013), novels whose main characters are fictional representations of the pioneers of their generation, in all cases moving from rags to riches at the expense of surrendering to immorality or corruption. Besides entailing a sharp criticism of the indiscriminate neoliberal practices which are enriching certain sectors of Asian societies, these novels denounce the severe misuse of water sources, essential for the daily routines of millions of people who, with the changes brought about by rather abrupt processes of modernization, are deprived of access to their traditional means of subsistence.Isabel Alonso BretoUniversitat Autònoma de Barcelonaarticlekeywords: aravind adiga, chetan baghat, moshin hamid, water, corruption, neoliberalism, corruptionGeneral WorksAENESIndialogs: Spanish Journal of India Studies, Vol 2, Iss 0, Pp 5-22 (2015)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN ES
topic	keywords: aravind adiga, chetan baghat, moshin hamid, water, corruption, neoliberalism, corruption General Works A
spellingShingle	keywords: aravind adiga, chetan baghat, moshin hamid, water, corruption, neoliberalism, corruption General Works A Isabel Alonso Breto Water, White Tigers and Corrupt Neoliberalism: Controversial Entrepreneurs in Recent Fiction from the Subcontinent
description	Water has traditionally held a variety of metaphorical meanings in literature. Mostly, however, it has been deployed as a purifying element, endowed with the virtues of cleansing and renewing both persons and situations. Such perception of the substantiating role of water finds an echo in the main Indian cultures, both Hinduism and Islam. This article argues that the traditional metaphorical use of water as connected to renovation is very present in contemporary fiction of South Asian origin, yet its main argument is that this idea of renovation, which has traditionally been perceived as positive, is not necessarily ridden with celebratory aspects in the novels under discussion. Rather, water plays in these works controversial if not highly problematic roles. The works discussed are Aravind Adiga’s <em>The White Tiger</em> (2008), Chetan Baghat’s <em>Revolution 2020</em> (2011)<em>, </em>and<em> </em> Moshin Hamid’s <em>How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia</em> (2013), novels whose main characters are fictional representations of the pioneers of their generation, in all cases moving from rags to riches at the expense of surrendering to immorality or corruption. Besides entailing a sharp criticism of the indiscriminate neoliberal practices which are enriching certain sectors of Asian societies, these novels denounce the severe misuse of water sources, essential for the daily routines of millions of people who, with the changes brought about by rather abrupt processes of modernization, are deprived of access to their traditional means of subsistence.
format	article
author	Isabel Alonso Breto
author_facet	Isabel Alonso Breto
author_sort	Isabel Alonso Breto
title	Water, White Tigers and Corrupt Neoliberalism: Controversial Entrepreneurs in Recent Fiction from the Subcontinent
title_short	Water, White Tigers and Corrupt Neoliberalism: Controversial Entrepreneurs in Recent Fiction from the Subcontinent
title_full	Water, White Tigers and Corrupt Neoliberalism: Controversial Entrepreneurs in Recent Fiction from the Subcontinent
title_fullStr	Water, White Tigers and Corrupt Neoliberalism: Controversial Entrepreneurs in Recent Fiction from the Subcontinent
title_full_unstemmed	Water, White Tigers and Corrupt Neoliberalism: Controversial Entrepreneurs in Recent Fiction from the Subcontinent
title_sort	water, white tigers and corrupt neoliberalism: controversial entrepreneurs in recent fiction from the subcontinent
publisher	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
publishDate	2015
url	https://doaj.org/article/ea7bf4d277154699b9630b84db4f2fd4
work_keys_str_mv	AT isabelalonsobreto waterwhitetigersandcorruptneoliberalismcontroversialentrepreneursinrecentfictionfromthesubcontinent
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Water, White Tigers and Corrupt Neoliberalism: Controversial Entrepreneurs in Recent Fiction from the Subcontinent

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