Date of Award
2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
English (Ph.D.)
Department
English
First Advisor
Dr. Granville Ganter
Second Advisor
Dr. Steve Mentz
Third Advisor
Dr. Raj Chetty
Abstract
This dissertation is an examination of the conflicts between arranged marriage and companionate marriage in selected contemporary Anglo-Indian novels and novels about Orthodox Judaism. The project’s guiding focus is how modern ideals of independence and choice in marriage coexist simultaneously with older ideals of marriage as family or personal “alliance.” The dissertation has a historical chapter that shows that although ideals of companionate marriage have become norms of 20th century western society and literature, the term “companionate marriage” is a recent invention and convention, and that various degrees and forms of arranged marriage, or marriages of alliance, continue despite their unfashionability among English speakers. Contemporary Anglo Indian and orthodox Jewish novels show this tension clearly. In following chapters, the principal texts I study from Orthodox Judaism include Deborah Feldman’s, Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots (2012) as well as Abraham’s The Romance Reader (1996) and Eve Harris’ The Marrying of Chani Kaufman (2013). I will also be using Shoban Bantwal’s, The Dowry Bride (2007) and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s, Arranged Marriage Stories (1995) to illustrate how representations of arranged marriage are being exemplified within the Anglo-Indian novel. Finally, I analyze two modern day novels revolving around Jane Austen’s influence, such as, Eligible (2016) by Curtis Sittenfeld and Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart (2010) by Beth Pattillo. Both Pattillo and Sittenfeld’s novels suggest a nostalgia for a time when a comfortable arrangement could be harmonized with a satisfying companionate choice. The yield of this project is to enlarge our sense of the contemporary marriage plot, where a meeting of the minds is only one part of the significant social rituals that surround marriage.
Recommended Citation
Belluscio, Candice, "THE LONG SHADOW OF PRIDE AND PREJUDICE ON CONTEMPORARY FICTIONS OF ARRANGED MARRIAGE AND MARRIAGES OF ALLIANCE" (2025). Theses and Dissertations. 999.
https://scholar.stjohns.edu/theses_dissertations/999