Part of the "Routledge Guides to Literature" series, this guide to Roy's novel offers an introduction to the text and contexts of "The God of Small Things". It also presents a critical history, surveying the many interpretations of the text. It is aimed at those beginning detailed study of "The God of Small Things".

Alex Tickell is a Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Portsmouth. He has published widely on South-Asian fiction, and is the editor of Selections from Bengaliana (2005), and co-editor of Alternative Indias: Writing, Nation and Communalism (2005).

Introduction Part 1: Text and Contexts The Text. The Author. Cultural Contexts. Literary and Cinematic Contexts. Chronology Part 2: Critical History Part 3: Critical Readings Postcolonial Cultural Studies: The Making and Marketing of Arundhati Roy by Padmini Mongia. Marxist Criticism: Reading Arundhati Roy Politically by Aijaz Ahmad. Gender, Sexuality and Politics: In Desire and in Death: Eroticism as Politics in Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things by Brinda Bose. Language: Language, Hybridity and Dialogism in The God of Small Things by Anna Clarke. Narrative and Structure: The Structures of Memory by Émilienne Baneth-Nouailhetas. Genre and Performance: The Epic Side of Truth: Storytelling and Performance in The God of Small Things Alex Tickell Part 4: Further Reading and Web Resources