著者

加瀬 佳代子

出版者

日本比較文学会

雑誌

比較文学 (ISSN:04408039)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.59, pp.37-51, 2017-03-31 (Released:2020-04-01)

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This paper argues that Yann Martel's novel Life of Pi ascribes to India a spiritual paradigm formed in the colonial period and that the story renovates the aging paradigm for contemporary use. More than a few researchers have examined Life of Pi, some of whom focus on religious beliefs. In common, they all regard the novel as postmodern literature that seeks to deconstruct religious beliefs and replace God with a narrative. Therefore, they make a judgment about whether it can be “a story that makes you believe in God," as Martel writes in the novel's Author's Note. Though the story is based on India, and Pi, the protagonist, is an Indian, previous researchers have examined the novel's religious concepts within a Christian framework. This paper employs Homi K. Bhabha's view to discuss the relation between religious beliefs and narrative. Borrowing from Bhabha's concept, Martel found both religious “rapture" and the way of “negotiation" in India, and then, in Life of Pi, he utilized the latter to transmit the former. Nevertheless, this comes from his desire to present India as a spiritual paradigm. Not only does Martel rely on the paradigm but also adapts it by using its narrative, which he calls “bamboozlement." Besides, he attenuates native traits of Pondicherry. Pi is pan-Indianized and adapted to contemporary Western society.