The Present Tense in Modern Hindi Fiction

Book excerpt: The Present Tense in Modern Hindi Fiction contributes to the interpretation of Hindi prose by analysing the use of the present tense in over 250 texts. While sketching the history of the present tense in Hindi fiction, the book focuses primarily on the narrative techniques that invite its use, such as interior monologue, free indirect discourse, consonant psycho-narration, and camera eye. Moreover, it offers a fresh interpretation of the two types of present tense found in Hindi. The indexes of authors, titles, and analytical concepts provide easy access to the analyses. The book will also be of interest to scholars studying the use of the present tense in modern fiction worldwide. The present tense is used more widely in Hindi than in languages such as English, and some trends that are also found in the literatures of other languages (such as the occurrence of the present tense in internal sensory focalisation) are more clearly visible in Hindi fiction. More importantly, a new explanation of present-tense passages is proposed which can also be applied elsewhere. Insight into this technique, referred to as Internal Focalisation of Awareness, leads to a better understanding of present-tense texts.