Lyrical I

Every "I" has a history, a sociology and a politics. I am, therefore, slightly uncomfortable when I hear conversations about the lyrical "I" in abstract, blanket terms. In a dis-embodied way. I look for a body to live in that "I". What's the gender of that "I"? Race? Class? Caste? Nationality? Anything else? That is why, I think, in my own work, I am attracted to lyrical narratives. Because the stories themselves let the writer to root the persona within specific material contexts and histories. The lyrical element lends the stories an ability to move into certain forms of abstractions, non-linearities, fragmentations, which are otherwise hard to attain within the structures of a conventional short story format.