Displacements: Framing (and) Ruins in John Berger’s King and Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People

Abstract

This essay brings John Berger’s King (1999) together with Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People (2007) to think through displacements with/in ruins. I interpret the settings of the novels, consider the narrative voices used to articulate the stories, and contemplate the contexts provided by various paratextual devices, in order to address this primary concern. The lives depicted in King and Animal’s People are precarious, disenfranchised, exposed to (toxic) waste. They are structured by, through, and with, ruin.