Synopsis Explicating the meaning of the word 'subaltern', the present volume offers a theoretical framework which encompasses various postcolonial literatures and a wide range of literary topics. It takes up important issues like postcolonial identity, multiethnic identity, relationship between literature and culture, transcultural dialogue, diaspora and indigenous writing, with reference to writers as varied as Rabindranath Tagore and Paulo Coelho, E.M. Forster and Nirad Chaudhuri, Arundhati Roy and Michael Ondaatje, William Wordsworth and John Steinbeck. The volume makes a rich contribution to the fields of subaltern studies, comparative literature and contemporary postcolonial theory.