Beastly Times: Fabulation in Vikram Seth’s Beastly Tales from Here and There

This paper employs a qualitative and interpretive method to analyse Vikram Seth’s book of fables titled Beastly Tales from Here and There. A close reading of individual fables in the text, situating them within the larger context of earlier fables, will be utilised to understand the thematic and structural differences and similarities with their predecessors.
Due to a limited number of fable writers in Indian writings in English, this genre has been largely ignored. Importantly, in the context of Indian Writings in English, which has a dual heritage of the East and the West, Vikram Seth’s Beastly Tales from Here and There exemplifies this hybridity.
The study shows that the ancient narrative technique’s versatility continues to be relevant even in contemporary times and can successfully be used to address and comment on modern-day realities. Times and lifestyles may have changed, but these fables remind us that the fundamental ethical laws that govern humanity have remained constant.