Global Languages in the Time of the Opium Wars: The Lost Idioms of Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies

Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies (2008) embarks the reader on a linguistic adventure to explore the languages and idioms which were in use at the time of the First Opium War in South Asia (1839-1842). The novel revives two idiolects which are now extinct, Laskari and the Anglo-Indian idiom, to show tha...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Publicado no:URI:https://journals.openedition.org/ces,
Autor principal: Guilhamon, Lise
Formato: Article ou chapitre numérique
Idioma:Anglais
Publicado em: Commonwealth Essays and Studies 2021
Acesso em linha:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Descrição
Resumo:Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies (2008) embarks the reader on a linguistic adventure to explore the languages and idioms which were in use at the time of the First Opium War in South Asia (1839-1842). The novel revives two idiolects which are now extinct, Laskari and the Anglo-Indian idiom, to show that the process of deterritorialization of English, which we tend to think of as an essentially contemporary phenomenon, actually has its roots in the past. This paper will attempt to disentangle these roots and situate these global idioms within the poetics of the novel and its paratextual apparatus.