ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the linguistic and stylistic manifestations of Otherness in Indian English fiction by focusing on the narrative work of Jeet Thayil, an innovative author who experiments with various genres, in particular focusing on the novels Narcopolis (2012) and The Book of Chocolate Saints (2017). Following an interdisciplinary approach that draws on and integrates postcolonial studies, narratology, and stylistics, the chapter argues that the writer does not merely construct an assortment of bohemian characters, but rather appropriates and reinvents the disturbing idea of drug discourse and the notion of postcolonial decadence to unearth and chart some of the hybrid territories of the human condition, thus going beyond the boundaries of the postcolonial world. The analysis examines the forms and effects emerging from Thayil’s linguistic and rhetorical strategies such as the cognitive complexity of discourse presentation, the paradigm of heteroglossia as a meaning-making tool, and the unfolding of lists and aphorisms, which demonstrate the expressive potential of Indian English as a literary code.
