Dichotomies of political and social consciousness in 'Such a Long Journey'

Abstract

The argument of this paper is that the text of Mistry’s novel goes beyond a descriptive rendering of consciousness of social and political level both. ‘Such a Long Journey is a critique of the Indian Society and political system of the 1970s, the infamous Emergency from June 25, 1975 to March 21, 1977. This novel of Mistry, like any other important work of art has been created not in vacuum, but is the work of an author who is acutely conscious of his social milieu and responds to its various social and political aspects in an artistic manner. The South–Asian Mistry places his community at the centre and weaves a tale that is both the history and fabulation. Mistry is quite aware of the political contemporareity and social anxiety of his community which is briefly discussed in this paper.