Author(s): Smiruthi A.

Abstract: George Lamming is an ardent West Indian writer who has authored about six novels and numerous texts of non-fiction. His debut novel, In the Castle of My Skin (1953) became a highly popular critically acclaimed novel in the post-colonial literature. Lamming plays a crucial role in the positioning of the West-Indian writers in English literature. His astoundingly brilliant and widely controversial collection of essays, The Pleasures of Exile (1960) features the post-colonial issues faced by the West-Indians including migration, exile, identity crisis, hunger for recognition and the mixed cultural affiliations exhibited by the post-colonies. This paper tries to trace the postcolonial traits in Lamming’s essay, The Occasion for Speaking and thus, acquire a refined understanding of the thoughts and ideals of the colonized West-Indian who is in exile.

Keywords: Post-colonial, migration, exile, identity, recognition.

Article Info: Received: 17 Jan 2021; Received in revised form: 09 Mar 2021; Accepted: 19 Mar 2021; Available online: 21 Apr 2021

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.62.43