The international literary scene has, in the last two decades, witnessed the emergence of strong subcontinental literary voices. Rohinton Mistry is one Indian author who has received acclaim worldwide. His fiction interestingly subverts all the conscious/unconscious cultural categorizations associated with the form of the novel. Whereas many authors from the ‘Third World’ disrupt the very form of the novel as a means of reasserting the central relevance of their experience, Mistry chooses to do otherwise. He does not challenge the classical form of the novel, but reasserts its predominance in the telling of tales. Realism is his preferred style. He chooses to alter narrative perspectives and to introduce a multiplicity of perspectives within an overall omniscient realist narrative. He focuses on the human condition, located in time and space: the Parsi middle class in suburban Bombay and rural migrants. The humanism of his narration and the grandness of his narrative tapestry give a universal dimension to his characters, who, therefore, become embodiments of a universal human condition.

A Literary-biographical Sketch

Rohinton Mistry is an Indian of Parsi origin residing in Canada. He migrated to Canada in his early twenties because he wanted to become a popsinger. He has said in an interview that he migrated because it seemed to be the trend then (Shaikh). He also stated in the same interview that the shift from music to literature “probably has something to do with the act of emigrating”.