Citation :

Abirami, Swasti Karna, 2025. "Comparative Study of British vs. Indian Short Stories: Themes of Identity and Diaspora" ESP-International Journal of English Literature and Linguistics Research (ESP- IJELLR)  Volume 3, Issue 1: 28-34.

Abstract :

The essay undertakes a comparative analysis of selected short stories from India and Britain and focuses on the motifs of diaspora and identity. Short stories have always been a powerful medium with which to dissect the complexities of life, in a succinct and often stark manner; most especially when related to cultural dislocation and self-negotiation. Short stories frequently picture the interaction between individual and society's imperatives in both Indian and British writing, yet they address diaspora and cultural hybridity quite differently.Difficulties of assimilation, cultural negotiation and marginalisation are often foregrounded in British short stories, particularly those written by writers from a multicultural society or post-colonial background. In these tales, the protagonists commonly face challenges around cultural identity negotiation, a sense of belonging and how to respond to racism or alienation from society. These narratives incorporate stories of migration, cultural fragmentation and the legacy of colonial history as well as exploring the nature and source of a diasporic community’s identity formed in living among Britain. Diaspora as a thematic concern in Indian short stories, both written by diasporic and native writers, is seen with the shades of cultural negotiation, dislocation and nostalgia. Authors like Jhumpa Lahiri, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni depict the plights of men and women torn between two or more cultures, as they struggle to adapt to familial expectations, cultural appropriation, and also acceptance in a new society. Indian short fiction highlights existential and emotive dimensions of diaspora that involve internal psychological conflicts and struggle to find a middle ground between traditional ethnicity and global cosmopolitism.By closely reading both Indian and British short tales this book demonstrates that the themes in Indian short stories centre on internal politics, memory and personal displacement while those of British stories concern relationships between people within society, multicultural relations, post-imperial realities. But the manner in which both traditions portray identity as fluid, challenged and constantly shifting in response to migration, globalisation and cross-cultural relations are parallel. This work reveals the striking similarities and differences in how literature serves as a means of mediation between life-in-diaspora and identity through an exploration of narrative strategies, character development, and thematic concerns with representative works from both traditions. The contrastive approach demonstrates short fiction as a literary form that reflects the nuances of identity and diaspora, providing reader a lens through which to examine challenges of selfhood, cultural negotiation and belonging in an increasingly interconnected world.

References :

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[17] Kapugeekiyana, P. (2025). The Original Is Not Here. 4thWrite Prize Shortlist. Retrieved from The Guardian

[18] Lahiri, J. (2008). Unaccustomed Earth. Vintage Contemporaries.

[19] Divakaruni, C. B. (1995). Arranged Marriage. Doubleday.

[20] Mason, J. A. (2023). The Diasporic Mindset and Narrative Intersections of British and Indian Short Stories. UMass ScholarWorks. Retrieved from UMass ScholarWorks

Keywords :

Post-Colonial Literature – Multiculturalism – Selfhood – Displacement – Identity --- Diaspora– Cultural Hybridity---Immigration- British and Indian Short Tales.