REFLECTION OF CULTURAL CONFLICTS IN CONTEMPORARY INDIAN NOVELS

Abstract

This research finds how literature and culture shape each other and treating the contemporary Indian English novel not just as a reflection of mirror but as a battleground for ideas and insights, not just simply reflecting society, these novels push back, the unsettle state approved myths and take on the raw realities of caste, gender, and the everyday uncertainty people face. By illustrating New Historicism, Intersectionality, and Speculative Fiction Theory, this study examines at a broader range of authors such as Khair, Mistry, Bama, Pawar, Kandasamy, Basu, and Roy. By splitting their novels into four main areas, how stories make communal violence seem normal, how caste and patriarchy overlap and make supports each other, how imagined futures puts pressure who gets to hold power, and the constant dance between containing and undermining dominant narratives and also  argue the Indian English novel works as a living archives because it not just record voices pushed to the margins but also it fights with the nation’s contradictions, dreams of progress bent with deep-rooted inequalities and discrimination.