The temptation of the boundaryless in literature and criticism

Abstract

The idea of the boundaryless was inspired by Ranjan Ghosh and J. Hillis Miller's Thinking Literature Across Continents (2016), and by how, the notion of frontiers, limits, edges and boundaries is [so] relevant to a postcolonial discourse which constantly interrogates definitions of territories and identities, and proposes to reconsider notions of the centre and the margin ...‟. Interrogating the relevance and the consequences of physical and mental borders is what this study broaches, to come up with some form of answer towards their need and affect in our lives, as well as towards the temptation of making the boundaryless a reality. This implies looking at in-between states of being, that is, living on the border line, which will be brought out most especially in the writing of V.S. Naipaul and Salman Rushdie, with reference also to Hélène Cixous and Joseph Campbell. To introduce these authors there will be two preliminary chapters introducing the main ideas of the texts, anchored in reference to the work of David Damrosch and Annabel Patterson. Finally there will be some concluding thoughts and reflections on how important it is to know how to work on our dreams, imagination and culture through literature. Art is thus recognised as an expression of our inner beings. It is the art of the author that is most often the very balm that soothes their wounds of experience; their writing is also the realisation that we are all connected.