Mapping Disability: Literary and Cultural Representations Across the Twentieth Century

Covering texts from Kafka and Faulkner to Odia fiction and Indian partition narratives, it spans early modernism, interwar poetics, post–World War II trauma narratives, and late-century cultural media such as cinema, comics, autobiography, and myth. The volume offers a pioneering intervention in global literary and cultural studies by tracing representations of disability across the entire twentieth century—from early modernist literature to late postcolonial and popular cultural forms. Unlike most existing works that focus primarily on twenty-first-century narratives, this volume provides rare historical depth and a globally inclusive perspective. Bringing together literary, cinematic, regional, and mythic narratives from Western and non-Western contexts—including Indian literature and film—the book constructs a comparative framework that illuminates how disability is embedded in diverse historical, cultural, and political settings. Covering texts from Kafka and Faulkner to Odia fiction and Indian partition narratives, it spans early modernism, interwar poetics, post–World War II trauma narratives, and late-century cultural media such as cinema, comics, autobiography, and myth. Balancing academic rigour with accessibility, this book is an essential resource for scholars, students, and educators interested in literature, culture, and critical disability studies.