Journal of European Economic History journal thumbnail
Volume:7, Issue: 3
Citations
8 Views
2 Downloads
Share this article
Useful Links
  • Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Journal of European Economic History
2026, Volume:7, Issue: 3 : 423-436 doi: 10.61336/JEEH/23-3-29
Research Article
History in the Guise of Narrative: Blurring Fact and Fiction in Amitav Ghosh’s In an Antique Land
1
Professor of English, Department of Humanities, O.P. Jindal University, Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, India.
Received
Aug. 13, 2026
Revised
Aug. 25, 2026
Accepted
Aug. 30, 2026
Published
Sept. 12, 2026
Abstract

The present study analyzes Amitav Ghosh's work, In an Antique Land (1992), as an alternative form of historiography narrative which questions the existing demarcations between historical facts, literary fiction, and ethnographic knowledge. The paper seeks to fill the gap in the literature on the need for a comprehensive analysis of the interplay between archival fragments, narrative construction, subaltern representation, ethnographic reflexivity, temporal hybridity, and cultural mediation in the selected text. Qualitative textual analysis is used in the study, especially in the reconstruction of Bomma's history through archival fragments, construction of medieval and contemporary narratives, Ghosh's ethnographic engagements, and representation of linguistic and cultural differences. Through this analysis, one can understand how Ghosh utilizes fragmentary evidence and narrative construction to make known the mediated nature of historical knowledge. The portrayal of Bomma shows not only what is possible but also what is problematic in trying to retrieve marginalized histories, with ethnographic reflexivity bringing into question any notion of culturally distant observation. In addition, temporal change and translation indicate the instability of history and culture. In conclusion, one can understand how the hybrid form of narration in In an Antique Land serves as a historiographical strategy by which Ghosh problematizes historical authority and archival silences.

 

License
Copyright (c) Journal of European Economic History
Creative Commons Attribution License Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
All papers should be submitted electronically. All submitted manuscripts must be original work that is not under submission at another journal or under consideration for publication in another form, such as a monograph or chapter of a book. Authors of submitted papers are obligated not to submit their paper for publication elsewhere until an editorial decision is rendered on their submission. Further, authors of accepted papers are prohibited from publishing the results in other publications that appear before the paper is published in the Journal unless they receive approval for doing so from the Editor-In-Chief.
J Euro Eco His open access articles are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. This license lets the audience to give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made and if they remix, transform, or build upon the material, they must distribute contributions under the same license as the original.
Recommended Articles
© Copyright @Banco di Roma, Unless it otherwise mention
Email: support@unicredit-capitalia.eu