Devika Rege’s Quarterlife (2023) stands out as one of the most daring and relevant contributions to contemporary Indian Fiction. The novel dives headlong into the complex and volatile landscape of twenty first century Indian politics, confronting not only the nation’s ideological fractures but also the emotional and moral turbulence of the generation growing up amidst them. Set during the 2014 Indian general elections, a watershed moment that witnessed the consolidation of right-wing nationalism, the transformation of public discourse through digital media also the politicization of youth aspiration.
This article approaches Quarterlife through critical and argumentative framework situating the novel within the socio-political realities of post-liberalization India. Rege through her argument highlights more than just show what happened; it also questions and criticises the underlying ideologies of the time, interrogates and critiques the ideological undercurrents of the times. The novel exposes the moral compromises, performative, activism and digital age contradictions that characterize urban Indian’s political sensibility. This paper argues that Rege’s fiction functions as a textual document of India’s political adolescence. It captures a moment when politics seeps into every dimension of private life, revealing the fragility of conviction in an era of hyper- connectivity and ideological polarization.
