This paper examines the profound relationship between legal frameworks and literary representation by conducting a comparative study of two seminal authors in queer Indian and diasporic literature: R. Raj Rao and Rahul Mehta. It argues that the legal status of queer individuals directly shapes the narrative conflicts and themes in their work. The analysis first focuses on Rao's fiction, which emerged during a period defined by the criminalizing threat of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. His works depict a world of "subterfuge" and external struggle against a hostile state, with narratives set in public, clandestine spaces. The paper then juxtaposes this with Mehta's works, which, operating within a different legal landscape, shift the site of conflict from an external, state-sanctioned threat to an internal, psychological state of being "quarantined" within family and community. By contrasting these two authors, the paper demonstrates how the literary imagination evolves in direct response to legal realities, moving from a focus on physical and public liberation to a more intimate and private quest for psychological and social integration.
Rani et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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