Indian Writing in English (Hardcover)  | Released: 2008

Out of evil cometh good. One of the important consequences of colonialism in India is the birth of Indian English literature. The process through which it developed had three distinct stages. In the first stage there was admiration and imitation of the western models. After the first flush was over, a reaction set in. That was the second stage, the stage of resentment and rebellion. This naturally led to the third stagethe one we are passing throughthe stage of self-discovery and self-assertion. The writers now draw on the rich cultural heritage of India and at the same time explore its contemporary relevance. A writer of an independent country cannot afford to lose touch with social reality and he must understand, transcribe and recreate it in verbal artefact. The task is rendered more difficult because the Indian English writers are obliged to write in a language they are not born into. But the writers have remarkably overcome all these difficulties and, looking at the achievements of the Indian English writers, it can be definitely claimed that Indian writing in English has come of age and has completely got over the anxiety of influence. The nineteen essays that constitute this Volume cover a wide range of authors and subjects. Starting with Nirad C. Chaudhuri, one of the greatest thinkers and most controversial writers of the last century, the essays shed new lights on different aspects of the makers of Indian English literature: Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan, Manohar Malgonkar, Nayantara Sahgal, Bhabani Bhattacharya, Kasthuri Sreenivasan, Vikram Seth, Kamala Markandaya, Anita Desai, Arundhati Roy, A.K. Ramanujan and Kamala Das. Since Indian writing in English is prescribed in most of the Universities in India, both the teachers and the students will find this Volume very useful and anybody interested in Indian writing in English will also find these luminous essays intellectually stimulating.Table of Contents: 1. Nirad C. Chaudhuri: Dual Identity T.M.J. INDRA MOHAN 2. Mulk Raj Anands Untouchable: A Triumph of Narrative Skill U.S. RUKHAIYAR 3. Humanistic Note: A Study in Mulk Raj Anands The Old Woman and the Cow RAMESH KUMAR GUPTA 4. Self-Discovery, Growth and Attainment: The Rising Graph of Rosie in R.K. Narayans The Guide S. RAJALAKSHMI 5. The Chance Encounter in Talkative Man and The World of Nagaraj ANISHA ALI 6. Spirituality Syndrome and Cultural Exclusiveness in R.K. Narayan ANVAR SADHATH 7. Malgonkars Balancing Acts of Gandhian Ideals in A Bend in the Ganges SHIV KUMAR YADAV 8. Storm in Chandigarh: Crisis in Human Values ABHA SHARMA 9. Bhattacharyas Novels: The Portrayal of Poverty and Hunger A.N. PRASAD 10. Balans Sense of Alienation, Dislocation and Salvation in Kasthuri Sreenivasans The Light from Heaven USHA RANI 11. Coming Together: Shoes and the Seductions of Rational Love in Vikram Seths A Suitable Boy KERSTIN W. SHANDS 12. Ironic Vision in Kamala Markandayas Nectar in a Sieve U.S. RUKHAIYAR 13. Fasting, Feasting: A Study in Desires and Dreams (Un)Fulfilled USHA RANI 14. A Clash between Male Chauvinism and Existential Concerns in Anita Desai DEVIKA 15. The God of Small Things: A Note on Roys Sociological Imagination ASHWINI KUMAR VISHNU 16. Women Novelists of the Post-colonial India VEENA SINGH 17. Nationalism in Pre-Independence Indian Poetry in English RAJENDRA P. LOKHANDE 18. A.K. Ramanujans Conception of the Self SARANGA D. BARAL 19. The Contours of Individualism in the Poetry of Kamala Das BHABANI S. BARAL Contributors