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- Title
Travel, Hybridity and Counter-Memory in William Dalrymple's In Xanadu: A Quest.
- Authors
Mohanty, Sachidananda
- Abstract
Why does the Ian Fleming hero's exotic travel adventure continue to evoke such passion in India and other non-Western societies? The post-Fleming cinematic avatars such as "Octapussy" seem to typify the classic hero's tryst with the Orient. In In Xanadu: A QuestWilliam Dalrymple positions himself on the recognizable terrain of the Wes terntravel text. However, despite the self parody, the book seems to betrapped by the overall colonial grid and tapestry. The powerful sweep of the Western male gaze and the subservience of the colonized subject seem to be part of the larger hermeneutic. Dalrymple's quest for retracing the footsteps of the Venetian brothers, Marco and Nicolo Polo, replicates the journey of Alexander the Great and other adventurers/buccaneers/travelers. Although he pushes for a monolithic West and Christianity, the landscape he goes through affirms a hybrid and heterogeneous world and multiple world views which uphold at once faith and secular modernity. In the process, despite Dalrymple, In Xanadu becomes a unique contemporary travel text with a lasting appeal.
- Subjects
DALRYMPLE, William; TRAVEL writers; IN Xanadu: A Quest (Book); TRAVEL in literature; CHRISTIANITY in literature; ECCENTRICS in literature
- Publication
IUP Journal of English Studies, 2011, Vol 6, Issue 1, p51
- ISSN
0973-3728
- Publication type
Literary Criticism