Title: Creative Writers on Indian English Novelists
Editors: Arjun Jadhav, Nandkumar Lawande and Prashant Mothe Publisher: Jyotichandra Publication Pvt. Ltd, 2010.
Price: 550/- 270pp.
Reviewer: Madhuri Bite Official Reviewer,
The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN: 0976-8165
The history of Indian English novel can be very much aligned to the advent and supreme reign of the British Raj upon India, resting for a good 200 years. Leaving out the ruthless colonization, Britishers did leave their share of wondrous virtues in the literary, architectural and political sides. However, the literary and artistic sides perhaps had overshadowed all the other routined existence, with Indian literature and English education never remaining the same again. English as a basic and fundamental language was very much introduced in the dozens, with the class and then the mass joining in to be amalgamated with the erudite and good-hearted British populace. It was also precisely during this time that the illustrious Indian litterateurs, in a zealous attempt to show their vengeance against such English oppression, had penned out series of English works of art, only to be accepted forever by the global literary scenario, in the years to come. With many regional geniuses joining hands in such an endeavour, the history of English novel in India, presents itself as a solemn enterprise, surpassing all other literary genres.
Indian English novel and its eventful historical journey had begun with a bang when Rabindranath Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and by the time V.S. Naipaul had earned the same, the Indian English novel owned a far flung reach. Now more than ever,
English novels in India are triggering off debates concerning colossal advances, plagiarisation and film rights.
Arjun Jadhav in his well researched article traces the pragmatic analysis of abuses in Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable. He also states the abusive use of vocabulary is deliberately used by Mulk Raj Anand because he wanted to highlight the social and cultural reality. Nandkumar Lawande’s insightful article attempts to analyze the process of decolonization in the novels of Raja Rao. Ashok Chaskar makes an attempt to look at multiculturalism from sociological perspective and spotlights how the principles of multiculturalism are infringed or violated in the novel Untouchable. In his scholarly article Mustajeeb Khan explores the Indian Ethos in Shama Futehally’s novels. A.K. Mudkanna examines a domineering husband in Kamala Markandaya’s A Silence of Desire. A.R. Gaherwar analyses Indian themes in Indian Literature comparing two generations British-Indian novelists and the novelists of the date. Ajay Tengse illustrates in his scholarly article difficult lives in Anita Nair’s Ladies Coupe. K. Rajkumar’s article endeavours to explore Shashi Tharoor’s City Girl. Mridula Sharma studies comparatively representation of childhood through animal imagery in Fire on the Mountain and The God of Small Things. R.B. Chougule and T.M. Pawar in their article explore spiritual and sexual digression in Upmanyu Chatterjee’s Weight Loss.
Arvind Nawale in his scholarly article examines existentialism in Arun Joshi’s The Last Labyrinth. Chitra Sreedharan in her article studies R.K. Narayan’s The Guide as a comedy in tragedy. Farhana Khan and Abdulla Ali Aljeelani in their article critically evaluate Arvind Adiga’s The White Tiger. Annie John and Deepak Nanaware in their article on The Dark Holds No Terrors explicate that every woman is endowed with spiritual strength and moral courage.
D.N. Ganjewar and Rahul S. Shinde in their article evaluate a critical cram of Githa Hariharan’s The Ghost of Vasu Master. In his insightful article Mallikarjun Karajgi traces the theme of search for identity in Shobha De’s Starry Nights. Anar R. Salunke in her article discusses Anita Desai’s women characters from psychoanalytical point of view. Kamalakar Jadhav in this article traces Rama Mehta’s Inside the Haweli moves from tradition to modernity, tenseness to relaxations and suffocating atmosphere to freedom. Shashikant Shrangare makes an attempt to evaluate changing images of women in Indo-Anglian fiction. V.M. Rasure and D.S. Birajadar in their article examine Shashi Deshpande’s That Long Silence from feministic point of view.
D. N. More in his insightful article explores the plight of partitioned souls in Malgaonkar’s A Bend in Ganges. Milind Mane’s article deals with man-woman relationship in the select novels of Shashi Deshpande and Bharati Mukharjee from feminine point of view. S.
M. Suryawanshi explores in his article diasporic characteristics in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies. P.B. Bhange focuses on the depiction of women in Rohinton Mistry’s Such a Long Journey. Anuja Jadhav’s article studies Shashi Deshpande’s Roots and Shadows which is reflective of feminist aspirations. N.R. Totawad illustrates different critical perspectives in the novels of Bapsi Sidhwa and particularly focuses on the partition of India. Suresh Deshmukh in this article attempts to focus on the subaltern voice in Omprakash Valmiki’s Joothan. Prashant Mannikar explores the question of freedom, revolutionary identity and sexuality in Volga’s Sweccha. Urmila Dharshive in her scholarly article traces alienation of male characters in Arun Joshi’s Novels. Pathan Wajed Khan’s article deals with discourse, colonial discourse and orientalism in the light of postcolonial studies.
Sachin Bhandare makes an attempt to illustrate style and theme of One Night @the Call Center. The article is concerned with the style and theme which Chetan Bhagat employs to create an aura engulfing the readers not to give up the novel. S. T. Haibatpure in his scholarly article discusses a question of partition in Chaman Nahal’s Azadi. Farhana Khan and Rahaman Dange in their article evaluate Shashi Deshpande’s The Dark Holds No Terrors from feminist perspective. In their insightful article S. B. Barure and Syed Zahir Abbas study female characters in Anita Desai’s Fire on the Mountain. Utkarsh B. Kittekar in his article illustrates the theme of marriage and sex in Raja Rao’s The Serpent and The Rope. Minakshi Tilekar makes an attempt to spotlight the continuous oscillation between Oriental (Indian) and Occidental (American) culture reflected in Bharati Mukharjee’s Wife. S. P. Mathpati’s article is an attempt to examine the process of dislocation and relocation as a theme in Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine. In his article Rahul Dhaware studies The Inheritance of Loss from post-colonial perspective. Madhav Raul’s article deals with Quit India Movement in Khushwant Singh’s I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale. Vishnu Patil in his article studies technophobia of selected science fictions.
Chandrasen Kare in his article explores feminine sensibility in Anita Desai’s Voices in the City. In his insightful article Shrishialya Todkar examines Gogol’s alienation and self discovery in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake. Yogesh Malshette’s article illustrates history and
myth in Salman Rushdie’s Midnights Children. Madhavi Kulkarni in her scholarly article studies Shashi Deshpande’s The Dark Holds No Terrors from feminine point of view. Suneeta Nirmale’s article deals with code-switching and code-mixing in selected Indian English novels. Her article demonstrates the close relationship between society and language as the core issue of sociolinguistics as presented in the fictional works under consideration. Sandip Chavan explores the age old traditions and superstitions in R. K. Narayan’s Waiting for the Mahatma. Pritam Thakur studies in his insightful article Shashi Tharoor’s Riot as a multilayered narrative which shades a light on culture and femina of India. S. D. Pawar and N. B. Pawar examine the voice of new woman in Shobha De’s novel, Socialite Evenings and traces that the new woman who raises her voice against patriarchal society and violates the norms laid down by men for women. Prashant Mothe in his well researched article presents a brief survey of Indian English novelists from the debut novel in the canon, Rajmohan’s Wife (1864) to present writers and notes that Indian writers have played a progressive part in reform of Indian society.