Psychoanalysis in Arun Joshi’s The Foreigner and The Strange Case of Billy Biswas: A Critical Study

Abstract

The current challenges and topics addressed by Indian novelists working in English in the
include identity crisis, alienated self, socio-cultural forces, desire for identity, and battle for
equality. Arun Joshi, unlike his forefathers, does not create fiction for the sake of amusement
or social or political advocacy. He uses novel writing as a vehicle for exploring the
contemporary man's position, notably the motivations behind his acts and the psychological
impact of those actions. He discusses the challenges of westernised Indians who have lost
their spiritual root and are plagued by cynicism, alienation from society, intellectual
questions, and religious crises. He notices the disintegration of ancient values, which results
in an insane world. The researcher, in this paper, attempts to apply psychoanalytical
techniques to Arun Joshi's two novels- The Foreigner and The Strange Case of Billy Biswas
by using the frameworks of most appropriate psychological theories to analyse eastern yet
primarily westernised characters. His characters stress the unconscious' effect on the aware.
The author delves into his subjects' conscious, subconscious, and unconscious mental
processes.