A Passage to India

At a Glance

In British India, idealistic Dr. Aziz befriends two English visitors — Mrs. Moore and Adela Quested — and arranges an excursion to the Marabar Caves. Inside the caves, something happens — or doesn't. Adela accuses Aziz of assault. The trial splits the colony along racial lines. Adela retracts the accusation at the last moment. Aziz is acquitted but the friendship is destroyed. Years later, Aziz and his English friend Fielding meet again in a Hindu princely state — and the country itself declares that true connection between colonizer and colonized is impossible, not yet.

Why This Book Matters

Published in 1924, it was immediately recognized as the definitive literary account of British imperialism — praised by Gandhi and denounced by the Anglo-Indian community simultaneously. It remains the novel against which all subsequent colonial and postcolonial fiction is measured. Edward Said's foundational postcolonial theory (Culture and Imperialism) devotes extended analysis to it. It is taught on every continent and in virtually every university-level course on modern literature.

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