Upamanyu Chatterjee

Upamanyu Chatterjee: Comic Vision, Dark Realities explores the complex interplay of humour and social critique in the fiction of one of India's most distinctive contemporary novelists. The book argues that Chatterjee's comic vision extends beyond entertainment, serving as a powerful literary strategy to expose the contradictions, absurdities, and moral ambiguities of postcolonial Indian society. Through close readings of his major novels, the study examines how satire, irony, parody, and black humour illuminate themes of bureaucracy, alienation, identity, power, and existential anxiety. Drawing upon theories of comedy alongside postcolonial and cultural criticism, the book demonstrates how laughter in Chatterjee's works often conceals deeper realities of disillusionment and human vulnerability. By offering a comprehensive and original interpretation of his comic imagination, this volume contributes significantly to the study of Indian English literature and humour studies, presenting Chatterjee as a writer whose humour reveals the profound complexities of contemporary life.