Narrative Techniques and Colloquial Style in the Short Stories of Bama

Peer-Reviewed
The Criterion

The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN: 0976-8165

Open Access

Indian Literature

Narrative Techniques and Colloquial Style in the Short Stories of Bama

Dr. Y. Jaya
Volume / Issue
Vol. 17, Issue 1 · February 2026

Pages
368-383

Article ID
2026V17N1097

Abstract

Abstarct: This article examines the distinctive narrative techniques and the strategic use of colloquial language in the short stories of Bama, a prominent Dalit feminist writer in Tamil literature. Rooted in lived experience, Bama’s narratives depart from dominant literary conventions by foregrounding Dalit subjectivity, collective memory, and everyday resistance. The study analyses how oral storytelling modes, episodic structures, first-person narration, and community-centred voices function as narrative strategies to challenge upper-caste literary aesthetics. Particular attention is given to Bama’s use of colloquial Tamil, idiomatic expressions, and folk speech, which not only authenticate Dalit life but also serve as an act of cultural and linguistic assertion against hegemonic norms. Drawing on theoretical frameworks from Dalit aesthetics and Ambedkarite thought, the article argues that Bama’s narrative style embodies what Sharankumar Limbale terms “writing from lived experience” and what Gopal Guru identifies as the ethical urgency of Dalit discourse. Language in Bama’s short stories emerges as a political tool that resists sanitisation, disrupts literary elitism, and reclaims marginalized voices. By situating Bama’s storytelling practices within the larger context of Dalit literature, this study highlights how narrative form and colloquial language together become instruments of social critique, identity formation, and transformative resistance.

Keywords

Colloquial literary conventions Idiomatic express Colloquial languageliterary elitism Resistance Sanitisationation

Article History

Received
31-01-2026
Accepted
13 February 2026
Published Online
3 February 2026

How to Cite

Dr. Y. Jaya. “Narrative Techniques and Colloquial Style in the Short Stories of Bama.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 1, Feb. 2026, pp. 368-383. ISSN: 0976-8165. DOI: https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n1.27

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