Contemporary Indian English Women Writers Essay

The book under review by Dr. K. V. Dominic has 27 essays by 24 eminent critics of Indian slope literary productions on round 12 Indian English writers novelists, and poets. in that respect ar quaternity essays on Anita Desai, dickens on Kamala Markandaya, two on Kamala Das, three on Shashi Deshpande, two on Arundhati Roy, two on Bharati Mukherjee, virtuoso each on Jaishree Mishra, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Kiran Desai, Smita Tiwari, Chandramoni Narayanswamy, and Char mayne DSouza. There is also whizz article that contains a relative content of valet wo custody poets. Linda Lowen and Jay doubtful Sarangi interview respectively Sarojini Sahoo and Rizio Yohanan Raj. V. Ramesh has three and Sudhir Arora two articles in this anthology. Be spatial relations, there is also a Preface by the editor, Prof. Dominic, doctorate on the apologue of RK Narayan, is, himself, a poet and critic of wide renown.The editor, in his Preface to this book, is in truth clear about his percepti on about the Indian English women writers. He writes Indian writing in English is . . . both an Indian literature and a variety of English literature. It has an appeal both to Indians and English men (v). He further adds Indian English women writers rich person got made a phenomenal contri only whenion to Indian literature as hearty as domain literature. They ar able to portray a world that has in it women rich in substance. The women in their works argon real flesh-and-blood protagonists who make the readers look at them with awe with their kinds to their surroundings, their society, their men, their children, their families, their intellectual make-ups and themselves (x-xi).Novelists & Story writersThe book undertakes the resume of 11 women novelists Anita Desai, Kamala Markandaya, Shashi Deshpande, Arundhati Roy, Bharati Mukherjee, Jaishree Mishra, Jhumpa Lahiri, Githa Hariharan, Kiran Desai, Chandramony Narayanaswamy, and Charmayne D Souza. Among the four articles on Ani ta Desais fiction two are by V Ramesh and one each by Latha R. Nair and sr. Sophy Pereppadan, V. Ramesh in one of his article traces the Dravidian aesthetics in her fiction from libberic stance. He concludes that womens faculty to endingure the domestic in arbitrator and the institutionalized totalitarianism unseat the myths of feminity, m separatehood and marriage. This is . . . what the Dravidian culture is all about (19). In the other, he studies Sitas character as The Paradoxical Psyche of an Archetypal Indian Woman in Anita Desais novel Where Shall We Go This Summer? In this article, he infers that Anita Desai undeniably divulges a admirably grasp of the quandary and dilemmas of fair sex and portrays her own vision of a variegated facet of woman in modern India and her fully stimulated powder-puff sensibility (48). Latha R. Nair explores Desais novels in a quest to explicate Locale as an Extension of the self and finds that the locale or environment becomes a commandi ng centre in her novels. Her characters are definitely apart (sic) a part of the locale, which reflects, expands and transforms their identity. It is not possible to free ourselves from this milieu which is an integral part of our psychological milieu (9).Sr. Sophy Pereppadan digs deep into Desais novel Fire on the Mountain to trace her lunacy and affirms that Her desire to be alone finds expression in her love for wind instrumentan expression of nihilism. This is in some sense a death-wish, which enjoys the devastation of the make it world. She gratifies her craving for aloneness by annihilating everything existing . . . (36). Shishu Paul tries, in his article, to show the impact of political upheavals on gracious descents in Kamala Markandeyas novel, The Golden Honeycomb. He affirms Markandaya has conveyed through this novel that freedom is universal fundamental human right which nobody should try to suppress. Humanity is all one lose of love and understanding creates Chasm and conflict. The underlying theme is the doctrine that human nature, of whatsoever race or class is basically the same (70). V. Ramesh, on the other hand, elucidates feministic principles in Indian women in all novels of Markandaya in the present article.He posits Kamala Markandaya suggests that freedom is to be necessarily tempered with responsibility to achieve progress and evolution. Her women are branded, though not for making comprehensive depiction notwithstanding for offering an in-depth study of the human psyche enmeshed in the value of different huessocial, traditional and spiritual (82). The book has three articles on the fiction of Shashi Deshpande one each by Vincent Aerathu, Asha Susan Jacob, and G. Baskaran. Vincent Aerathu studies girl children in Deshpandes novels, The immorality Holds No Terrors, A Matter of term, Roots and Shadows, and The Long Silence. Aerathu writes that Shashi Deshpande looks into the childhood of her womanish characters and shows how ch ildhood experiences go a long way in find or influencing their adult lives. She believes that childhood experiences are lasting and that they have a crucial role to play in the formation of a full-blooded personality (140).But, protagonists of Deshpande have deprived childhood, in one way or another. These deprivations in childhood, equip them with the power to fight and survive till the end (149). Asha Susan Jacob divulges the voice of the mutismd in her study of Despandes novels. She concludes that Each of the marriages is marked by silence (151). In the evolution of their character, their decision to break the silence is the first sign of liberation . . . . From a state of passive acceptance they move to active assertion. By refusing to succumb to societal pressures and by creating infinite within the matrix Deshpande women succeed in establishing their identity by expressing themselves (164). G. Baskaran tries to condone incoherent and loosened relationships in her reading of Shashi Deshpandes Wingless Angels and Amputated Mothers in her short stories from Collected Stories Vol. I. She reveals in her study The aspirations of almost all the youthfulness girls of Deshpandes short stories go unfulfilled because of the difference in the mental make-up between persons of different generations.This causes a heavy blow to the parent-daughter relationship precipitating alienation (178). Premlatha Dinakarlal and K. Nirmala in their respective articles study Subaltern Voices and A Laymans Study in Psychology in Arundhatis novel The God of Small Things. While Premlatha Dinakarlal suggests Indian government moldiness work to remove traditional practices that subordinate women . . . to establish gender justice and ensure dignity and self-respect to which women are en denominationd (185). K. Nirmala holds Arundhati Roys transcendent ability to get into the disturbed psyche of the different personae is indeed commendable . . . . The psychology of the characters r eveals an unusual mental make-up that motivates their behaviour in measure of stress (187). Eliza Joseph and Lata Mishra study Bharati Mukherjees novels Desirable Daughters and Jasmine respectively. Eliza Joseph, in her article Perspectives on the Mestiza Consciousness Bharati Mukherjees Desirable Daughters, infers that Desirable Daughters proclaims that both expatriates and immigrants cannot sever themselves only if from their ethnical roots and their ethnic past (209).Lata Mishra concludes Cultural fusion in the novel is thus a placing of the protagonist as a undefended in control and as an agent of the re-building of the Self. The protagonist is not affix to any inflexible or single identity since she discovers no fixed roots to cling to. Instead of anchoring to a final selfhood she cannot help tho shuttle among temporary identities in different spaces in different times, one after another (219), in her article, Representing Immigration through the Logic of transformation B harati Mukherjees Jasmine. Joji John Panicker examines cultural elements of the Marar familiarity in Jaishree Misras past Promises. Panicker observes . . . the ways she (Jaishree Misra) presents the culture and customs of the Marars makes the book certainly remarkable and realistic. The people, their ways and the age-old adherence to tradition are all to be seen and matte in Ancient Promises. . . . Misra has successfully portrayed the tradition and customs of the Marar community (232).S. Vasigaran writes that Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is concerned with the dialectics of the women immigrants experiences in the American soil whose prospects are repressed by the Indian tradition (236). The critic has chosen only two stories frock and The Word Love from her book. Arranged Marriage, for her study in the paper and concludes These women have finally chosen American individualism eschewing their deep-rooted loyalty to their cultural tradition because they feel that they have been encu mbered by their tradition preferably of being inspired and encouraged by it (242). Sandip Guha Roy & Joydeep Banerjee have studied the unconnected positions in Jhumpa Lahiris novel The Namesake to conclude that Immigration to an alien world today is not as equivalent, not as dreaded as being uprootedas it had been so many decades ago . . . the psychological set up of the change in culture as a consequence of disruption pervades strongly. As cultures superimpose upon each other, they smear the life-fabric of transnational migrants indelibly, perhaps, producing more denizens of a global community like the protagonists in The Namesake (260-61). Lata Mishra in her article on Lahiris fiction deduces Lahiris women are not the silent sufferers. In fact in their silence and their power to continuously reassess the mishandle cultural mores improve their own as salubrious as the lives of their blotto ones . . . . Outwardly these characters may seem to be powerless in horse opera socie ty hardly actually these characters are gifted with remarkable inside(a) adaptability and yet not over-assimilatory nature (273). Avis Joseph thoroughly examines Githa Hariharans novel, The Thousand Faces of Night, to study the muddle of human relationships and believes Hariharan has succeeded in tracing the battles of woman in her relationship with man and society, not to urban existential angst but to times immemorial (280).Chithra PS studies Kiran Desais The Inheritance of Loss from post-colonial perspective. Chithra concludes in the postcolonial era, Indians have learnt how to gadfly in a foreign wording. The foreigner has taught the language and now the Indians are using that language to disgrace the very same people who taught them that language (291). PCK Prem, in his study of Chandramoni Narayanaswanys novel, The Karans of Penang, in the background of freedom struggle, and she depicts the carnal and psychological suffering of her characters. Ms Narayanswamy, retired as an IAS of Orissa cadre, now lives in Bhubaneswar. Prem scrutinizes simply The Karans of Penang appears a keen love story but deep polish up it is an engrossing tale of people who suffered during the freedom struggle and this lofty background affords characteristic distinction to the entire pattern of story telling (299).PoetsThere are four articles on women poets by Lakshmishree Banerjee, V. Alexander Raju, and two by Sudhir K. Arora. Banerjees article is a comparative study of world women poets, which a little bit goes beyond the scope of the book. The critic seeks allowances to cross the borders of Time and Space and venture into the pulsating infinity of Women Poetry (86). In her paper, she has encompassed the works of Emily Dickinson, Kamala Das, Nolene Foxworth, Julia Kristeva, Arlene Zide, Sarojini Naidu, EB Browning, Christina Rossetti, Amy Lowell, Edith Sodergran, Sylvia Plath, Mamta Kalia, Florence Howe, and many more. She comments Despite the disparities of culture, c reed and colour, Women Poetry stands out as an intense, trailblazing experience of human living, as an endless river pouring into a limitless ocean of multi-hued vibrancies . . . .These poets are fast becoming the uncompromising voices of all-embracing truths, tender as well as acerbic in the impacting lyricism of their human language. Ambivalances, contradictions as well as poise, playfulness and affirmativeness characterize these creations as the New Poetry of a New Dawn of human civilization (100-01). Sudhir K Aroras analyses of Smita Tewaris Hourglass and Charmayne DSouzas A Spelling Guide to Woman are quite penetrative in approach. In his article on Smita Tewari, Dr Arora observes Indeed, Smita Tewaris Poetic Self has made a spiritual journey successfully to realize some new aspects which she never experienced before . . . .Her poetise is cathartic in nature (298). In his article on DSouzas poetry, he finds it different. He comments Charmayne DSouza has given voice to feminine sensibility making women realize their identity. She has endevoured (sic) her best to make the male world feel that a woman is not mere possession but is a person who has her own individuality. . . . She has written a new book through A Spelling Guide to Woman with the hope that women exit realize their own role in shaping the life of men and there is nothing wrong if they ask for legal space encroached by men (328). InterviewsThe book also has two interviews by Linda Lowen and Jaydeep Sarangi with Sarojini Sahoo and Rizio Yohannan Raj respectively. Sarojini Sahoo is a feminist writer. Her novels and short stories treat women as sexual beings and probe culturally sensitive topics . . . . Her writings deal with feminine sexual urge, the emotional lives of women. Her blog, Sense & Sensuality, explores why sexuality plays a major role in our understanding of Eastern womens libwrites Linda Owen. Sahoo, herself, tells Linda In my various stories I have discussed lesbian sex, rape, ab ortion, infertility, failed marriage and menopause . . . . But still I believe someone has to bear this assay to accurately portray womens feelingsthe intricate mental agony and complexness which a man can never feeland these must be discussed through our fiction (122). The second review by Jaydeep Sarangi with Rizio Yohannan Raj, who has only one collection, Eunuch, of her poems published the other, Naked by the Sabarmati and Other Poems awaits publication from Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. In this interview she tells of her Self, intrusion of Mumbai, her poetics, negotiation about the composite web of subjectivity, her bi-lingual ability, and the title of her first book Eunuch.She tells the interviewer bout her poetic vision Everything that I have experienced in this world has in some way contributed to what may be called my cross-border vision (252). I would also like to comment about the glaring proof-reading mistakes, leaving aside the text (as is evident in two of the quotes o f this review and pointed there), in the very titles of the articles by Vincent Aerathu Girld for Girl (139) and Sudhir K. Arora Woan for Woman (321). These offset the readers and also indecision the quality of the publication. In nut shell, the book presents established and the new authors side by side. This is a welcome step in Indian English literature for, the critics and editors of older generation considered new writers as somewhat unobtainable and nourished a bias in their minds against them.However, I believe art object the earlier, pre-Independence writers struggled with their sensibility in a foreign tongue and tried to be English in their writings, the contemporary writers have taken it as a hobby to express their views in not the Kings English, but in the Indian English, a different label given and real in the world dictionaries. Indian English is certainly different from the other Englishes of the world. I hope it will be well received by the students and scholars o f Indian English literature.