Abstract

The article argues that smells play an important role in Mithu Sanyal’s Identitti and are closely linked to the central themes of the novel: practices of identity construction, racial discrimination and cultural appropriation. As recent works in cultural studies have demonstrated, the olfactory constitutes a socially significant phenomenon, which has long been neglected in Western cultural history. In Identitti, the nose proves to be an organ of intuitive knowledge that is able to grasp moods, feelings, but also subtle processes of discrimination. Furthermore, the smells in the novel also fulfill an aesthetic function: by creating moments of presence and atmospheric density, the nuanced olfactory descriptions establish a sensual counterweight to the protagonists’ abstract theoretical debates. By pursuing the scent trails that run through Identitti, my analysis offers a new perspective on Sanyal’s debut which has primarily been read as a novel of ideas so far.