Bibliography of Criticism of Indian Literature in English (19701990)
This is a working document still not complete. It is offered as a research
tool and corrections, additions etc. are welcome. Please contact the
coordinator [email protected]
Arranged by Writers’ Names, then alphabetically by critics’ names.
Document one of two: writers A to Nan...
Compilers:
Paul Sharrad
Shyamala Narayan
Marvin Gilman
Kerry Lyon
Richard Lever
Contact: A/Prof. Paul Sharrad
English Studies,
University of Wollongong,
Northfields Avenue, Wollongong,
Australia 2522
Phone: (61-2) 42214 757
Fax: (61-2) 42214471
email: [email protected]
This is a project in process. It will be of use as a preliminary research tool. Feedback is
welcome. Additional annotations can be submitted for inclusion (authors will be
acknowledged at the end of entries).
INDIA
Author
to be clarified
MUKHERJEE, SUJIT. "Man, Poet and Critic" Indian Literature 14.2(1971): 5-11. [who?]
WALSH, W. "Two Indian Poets" The Literary Criterion 11.3 (1974):1-16.
[who?]
KARVE, IRAWATI. "Karna's Search for Identity" Vagartha 5 (1974):22-37. (drama?: either
Kailasam or S. Raman)
MAJUMDAR, A.K. "Portrait of an Indian Intellectual" Quest 91 (1974):21-32. check who
and whether in English
MUKHERJEE, M. "Form in The Puppet's Tale" Literary Criterion 12.2-3 The Literary
Criterion 22.1 (1987):76-8.?? review?
CHANDRAN, RAMESH. "The Maverick Master" India Today (November 30, 1987):1749.
[??who?]
RAMACHANDRAIAH, P. "The Submerged Valley and Other Stories" The Literary
Criterion 22.2 (1987):65-6. review?
GOKAK, V.K. "Meet the Author I: Towards the Integrated Man as the Ideal" Indian
Literature 31.1 (January February 1988):87-102.
who? what?
PARASURAM, LAXMI. "Mountain: A New Dimension of Feminine Self-Perception"
Literary Criterion 16.3 (1981):58-64.[author? genre?]
Abbas, Khwaja Ahmad
HASIB, AHMAD. The Novels of Khwaja Ahmad Abbas: A Study in His Art and Vision
Delhi: Seema Publications, 1987, x + 159 pp.
Aiyar, Rajam
ASHOKAMITRAN. "B.R. Rajam Aiyar and His Kamalambal Charitrans" The Literary
Criterion 21.1&2 (1986):86-92.[????]
PARAMESWARAN, UMA. "Rajam Aiyar's Vasudeva Sastry" The Literary Endeavour 6.1
(1985):55-67.
Alexander, Meena
SRIVASTAVA, K.G. "Meena Alexander" in DWIVEDI, A.N. "Eves' Song: Contemporary
English Verse by Indian Women" Studies in Contemporary Indo-English Verse: A
Collection of Critical Essays. Vol. I Female Poets Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1985:
175-81.
Ali, Ahmed
ALI, AHMED. "The Progressive Writer's Movement and Its historical Perspective" Journal of
South Asian Literature 13.1-4 (1977-78):91-7.
Corrects and contests the statements of N. M. Rashed about the origins and motives
of the Progressive Writers Movement. Exposes Rashed's lack of historical and literary validity
and questions his purpose in distorting facts about the progressives. Establishes the nonMarxist practice and intention of the Angare writers group which preceded the PWA.
COPPOLA, CARLO. "The Poetry of Ahmed Ali" JIWE 8.1-2 (1980):63-76. Reprinted in
SINGH, KIRPAL ed. Through Different Eyes: Foreign Responses to Indian Writing in English
Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1984: 87-105.
Best known for his fiction, Ali “feels that he best expresses himself” though his poetry
in English. Biographical survey noting his Urdu short stories and 1938 disillusionment with the
prescriptive politicisation of the Progressive Writers Association and the impact on poetry of
his trips to China (Purple Gold Mountain, 1960). Early work of “naked emotion” drew on
Persian rubai but China and translation work gave the model for “impersonalising personal
experience”. Themes cover loss of friends, memories of love and youth, unfulfilled hopes, life’s
evanescence. Illustrative commentary focusing on imagery. Poems grouped as “Exile” divide
into early political didacticism and later working of political and historical critique into
allegorical reference and symbol. Takes “Having been attacked for speaking the truth...” as his
finest poem of this type. Generally, his work blends English Romantic, Chinese lyric and Urdu
traditions, the last most deeply influential and its derivative quality makes it less than his
fictional achievement, but there are individual poetic successes.
GOWDA, H.H. ANNIAH. “Ahmed Ali’s Twilight in Delhi and Chinua Achebe’s Things
Fall Apart” The Literary Half-Yearly 21.1 (1980): 11-18.
Comparison of two treatments of societies disappearing under colonial rule, both
grounded in historical detail and locality (Delhi of 1900-1910 and Iboland 1850-1900) and
embodying the respective cultures in a central hero (Mir Nihal and Okonkwo), following the
Victorian “linear bourgeois familial novel”. Ali alludes to “farangi” incursion but attributes
change to fate, while Achebe shows socio-historical forces at work. Notes the escalating
impact of missions probing the weak points of traditional African society. Both books show
civilisations that “collapse from within and are overwhelmed from without, and what replaces
them appears most opposite to themselves, being built on what they had overlooked”. Lyric
and humour apply to the “ceremonies of innocence” before the Yeatsian tragic collapse. The
authors both step in to explicate material but avoid anthropologising by being part of what they
observe and by concentrating on the human drama.
KING, BRUCE. “From Twilight to Midnight” in HASHMI, ALAMGIR ed. Worlds of the
Muslim Imagination details???
Reads Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, Ali’s Twilight in Delhi and Ocean of Night,
Attia Hosain’s Sunlight on a Broken Column and Zulfikar Ghose’s The Murder of Aziz Khan
as a collective history of Muslim society from the Moguls to colonial decadence and Partition;
a story of loss, exile, displacement. Ali began with naturalistic Urdu stories moving to a
combination of poetic evocation and social realism carrying an early modernist view of
decadence awaiting cleansing but capitulating to Western ideas. Hosain focusses
impressionistically on the intersections of personal, political and religious independence within
a woman’s love story. Ghose depicts the deleterious effects on Punjab peasantry of
modernising muslim immigrants from Bombay after Partition. Ghose and Rushdie evince a
more complete modernism, separation of heart and mind reflected in expatriation and
Rushdie’s carnivalistic metafictional allegory substituting for loss of faith.
NIVEN, ALISTAIR. "Historical Imagination in the Novels of Ahmed Ali" JIWE 8.1-2
(January-July 1980):3-13. Reprinted in SINGH, KIRPAL ed. Through Different Eyes:
Foreign Responses to Indian Writing in English Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1984: 1-15.
Unlike much Third World fiction recording the disappearing past, Ali’s novels
Twilight in Delhi and Ocean of Night are not rural, but celebrate two centres of urban
civilisation: Delhi and Lucknow, fatalistically hymning the fading glories of indian islamic culture
and the plight of individuals cut off from tradition. The novels were both written in the late
thirties (though Ocean only appeared in 1964) still in an Indian context (notes metaphysical
simliarities between Rao and Ali in Ocean and engagé echoes of Anand) . Later poetry
conventionally reproduces a muslim theme of mortal transience and death. Images of darkness
envelop the novels but are related to linked private and public events and reistered in Asghar’s
swings between fantasy, self-pity and nostalgia, and Mir Nihal’s growing old. The mass of
humanity lives on in unaltered rhythm of rise and fall, reflecting LAi’s essentially classical
outlook. Notes a “kinship of mood” to Eliot, especially in Ocean with its images of time as
dance. Ali’s writing in English threatens to become part of the cultural decline from Urdu
classical culture into modernity, just as its prose can become slack and its elegiac tone
bathetic. Ocean moves to symbolism and dreams but is not altogether the lesser work; both
novels are saved by the affirmation of God’s constancy and human nobility in endurance and
the dignity of Biblical-Koranic cadence.
SHANKAR, D.A. "Ahmed Ali's Twilight in Delhi" Literary Criterion 15.1 (1980):73-80.
Descriptive appreciation of Ali’s detailing of the texture of a lost way of life. A classic
relies on provincial rootedness, grounding ideas in individual sensibility as well as collective
social history. Details of pigeons show the personalities of people around them and the values
of a class and period now crumbling under foreign intrusion. The novel remains a minor classic
limited by its closeness to its central family: it needs irony, humour and “comprehensiveness of
understanding”.
STILZ, GERHARD. “‘Live in Fragments No Longer’: A Conciliatory Analysis of Ahmed
Ali’s Twilight in Delhi” in DAVIS, GEOFFREY & MAES-JELINEK, HENA eds. Crisis and
Creativity in the New Literatures in English Amsterdam’Atlanta: Rodopi, 1990: 369-387.
Bio-bibliographic survey of contradictions in Ali’s life (India/Pakistan, Urdu/English,
politics/Art) including his espousing both modern change and nostalgia for romantic beauty.
His twilight metaphor corresponds to an “existential ambivalence” that reconciles opposites
Narrative modes derive from the psychological novel offset by repetetive emphasis of a
message and swinging from realism to romantic pathos. Twilight shows “the decline of a world
that places art above reality”.
Alkazi, Roshen
DUBEY, SURESH CHANDRA. "Roshen Alkazi and Mamta Kalia" in DWIVEDI, A.N.
"Eves' Song: Contemporary English Verse by Indian Women" Studies in Contemporary IndoEnglish Verse: A Collection of Critical Essays. Vol. I Female Poets Bareilly: Prakash Book
Depot, 1985: 201-16.
Amanuddin, [Syed? or Urdu? Pakistan?]
AMANUDDIN, SYED. "The Image of Woman in My Poetry" SARev (July 1979): 36-42.
DIESENDORF, MARGARET. "Early Love Poems of Amanuddin" Creative Moment 3.1
(1974):35-41.
DWIVEDI, A.N. "Re-creating 'The Living Scenes of Contemporary Life": The Poetry of
Syed Amanuddin" in DWIVEDI, A.N ed. Studies in Contemporary Indo-English Verse
Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1984:349-68.
DWIVEDI, A.N. "Poetry of Syed Amanuddin: A Study in Diction and Versification" Journal
of Indian Writing in English 13.2 (1985):56-67.
Amanuddim follows the Modernist (especially American) turning to anti-sentimentalist
colloquial language, innovative coinings and abbreviations and free form, varying his output
across a wide range of topics from love to science. His most figurative language accurs in
poems of spiritual adventure likened to Browning’s dramatic monologues and Pound’s
Cantos.
DWIVEDI, A.N. Syed Amanuddin: His Mind and Art New Delhi: Sterling, 1988, 160 pp.
Ameeruddin, Syed
DWIVEDI, A.N. "Imagery in the Poetry of Syed Ameeruddin" in RAM, ATMA. ed.
Contemporary Indian-English Poetry Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1989: 136-48.
YASEEN, MOHAMMED. "Syed Ameeruddin's Poetry: A Critical Appraisal" in DWIVEDI,
A.N ed. Studies in Contemporary Indo-English Verse Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot,
1984:369-78.
Anand, Mulk Raj
ABIDI, S.Z.H. 'Coolie': A Critical Study Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1978.
Repeats the generalised opinion on Anand's fiction as based on his beliefs in
humanism, socialism and bhakti-yoga. Covers all aspects of critical perspectives in an
extensive appraisal of 'Coolie'.Confirms accepted analysis of Anand's work as social critique.
AGNIHOTRI, H.L. “Gandhian Ethos in Mulk Raj Anand” Journal of Literature and
Aesthetics 3.1 (1083):43-53.
Interested in economic and material reforms, Anand was not inclined to Gandhi’s spiritual and
moral programme but could not be indifferent to him as a nationalist leader. Details the
biographical connections between the two and surveys Untouchable(Gandhi’s appeal is
through human warmth and popular myth but Anand allows practical questioning of his ideals),
Coolie (shows the effect of the Left on the Union movement to be better than that of Gandhi’s
following), Two Leaves and a Bud (Gandhi wallahs try to imporve conditions on tea estates)
and The Sword and the Sickle (Gandhi warped by revolutionary assimilation of his
reputation, and as someone demanding personal reverence despite ideological difference).
The last work fails to integrate its material into its aartistic structure.
ANAND, MULK RAJ. Author to Critic: The Letters of Mulk Raj Anand, with introduction
and notes by S. Cowasjee. Calcutta: Writers Worshop, 1973, 125 pp.
A self-confessed erratic editing of Anand's letters, useful for finding views of the
writer's sense of his own commitment to causes, his critique of "Vedantist" obfuscation over
Indian cultural identity and social change, his position within Indian politics. Expresses real
sympathy for the Indian peasant without putting aside some rather unfavourable traits. Totally
rejects any easy us/them, East/West oppositions in embracing wholehearted support for an
unconquerable humanism still occupying the centre of his worldview.
ANAND, MULK RAJ. "Roots and Flowers: Content and Form in Untouchable and
Kanthapura" Littcrit 8.1 (1982):47-60.
see under Rao, Raja
ANAND, MULK RAJ. "The Sources of Protest in my Novels" The Literary Criterion 18.4
(1983):1-12.
Argument: Expresses his concerns as a novelist based on commitment to the common
folk and his writing as the articulation of holy anger against the dehumanization of lower class
Indians by the powerful elite few. Critical Focus: Provides context to overall assessment by
differentiating himself from western critical categorization in pleading for special treatment
within an Indian perspective. Critical Mode: Sociological analysis of Indian society as a site of
struggle between the traditional force of the powerful and the emergin groups seeking change
and improvement for the masses. 4) Not Applicable! [MG>RL]
ASNANI, SHYAM M. "Untouchability and Mulk Raj Anand's Untouchable" Banasthali
Patrika 6.16 (1971):31-6.
Argues that untouchability is really not an honourable Hindu belief and its continuing
hold on the religious impairs any attempt to eradicate the problem and its unjustifiable
suffering. Thematic critique of Hinduism itself and the rigid intolerance that the higher castes
continue to hold. Moral valuation based on Brahminical investigation of Hindu holy books
denies traditional religious support to untouchability as a tenet of Hinduism.
ASNANI, SHYAM. "Socio-Political Concerns in the Novels of Mulk Raj Anand" Triveni 45
.1 (1976):38-50.
Praises Anand as a champion of the underprivileged lower castes of India but does
not assert any political motivation for this stance. Thematic unity established in the so-called
early trilogy, Untouchable, Coolie, and Two Leaves and a Bud. Attempts sociological analysis
of the caste system and its effect on India's millions of underprivileged.
ASNANI, S.M. "The Theme of East-West Encounter in the Novels of Mulk Raj Anand"
Littcrit 7 (1978):11-19.
Reiterates previous commentary by Cowasjee, Naik and Sinha on the 1930s novels.
‘East-West encounter’ is between culture of birth and culture of education operating at
personal (social), racial (cultural) and philosophic (religious) levels. Anand espouses an Indian
modernity but in revolting against negative aspects of tradition neglects nobler elements of
Eastern heritage and favours Western materialism. Thematic criticism focussed on Coolie,
Two leaves and a Bud and The Big Heart..
ASNANI, S.M. "A Critique of Mulk Raj Anand's Literary Creed" Commonwealth Quarterly
4.15 (1980):64-85.
Assembles Anand’s views on the novel to argue a “steadfast consistency” across his
work. The artist is a heroic striver for all-encompassing comprehension of human experience
within prohetic vision. The novel manages contrasts of inner emotion and outer reality,
Western modern and Eastern traditional narrative forms, passion and reason, not as didactic
moralising but as a dialectic tension introducing new areas of human experience to Indian
writing in English. Notes Anand’s oppositio to Rao’s preachy abstraction, the modernist use
of detached first-person veiwpoint and stream of consciousness. Basically a novelist of
character, Anand mixes realism with dream and memory and creates his ‘Pigeon English’ as a
way of conveying localised speech and thinking.
BALD, SURESH RENJEN. "Politics of a Revolutionary Elite: A Study of Mulk Raj Anand's
Novels" Modern Asian Studies 8(1974):473-89.
Offers incisive evidence of the basic conflicts debilitating the aggressive Marxist
revolutionary position present in Anand's pre-1945 fiction. Focuses on the theme of revolution
as the only way to real social change for the underprivileged Indian masses. Selects elitism,
paternalism, industrialism and collectivism as the major components in the totality of Anand's
revolutionary stance. Bald's critical perceptions are of primary importance in thorough analysis
of Anand's politics.
BANERJEE, SURABI. "Irony as a Stylistic Device: A Note on the Opening Chapter of
Across the Black Waters" Journal of Literature and Aesthetics 2. 2&3 (1982):63-6.
Criticism concentrates on Anand’s social and historical, though he himself emphasises
“how one says it”. Study of the narrative stance of the opening of Across the Black Waters
(1940) reveals shifts from omniscient narration to Lalu’s thoughts to dialogue. These are
echoed in the plotlessness and reflect ironically the general confusion in the uneducated Indian
troops set down in Europe and in the war itself.
BERRY, MARGARET. Mulk Raj Anand: The Man and the Novelist Amsterdam: Oriental
Press, 1971, 114 pp.
Probes the question of values in Anand himself and in his writing and seeks to
determine whether they have been transmitted through his fiction. Examines the details of the
novels in pursuit of the messages of Anand's non-fictional views and theories. Finds Anand
failed to achieve detachment, disinterestedness and freedom from commitment to causes.
Universalist standards upheld as basis of critical assessments.
CARTER, D. "Probing Identities: Untouchable, Things Fall Apart, and This Earth My
Brother" The Literary Criterion 14.3 (1979):14-29.
Correlates individual identity and national identity as primary concern for fictions from
within the New Literatures in English. Focuses on individual's quest as a microcosm for the
national identity under the stress of imperialism. Examines the similarities of sociological and
psychological traits of African and Indian fictional representations.
CHAUDHURY, JASBIR. "Images of Women in the Novels of Mulk Raj Anand" PURBA
16.2 (October 1985):47-56.
CHELLAPPAN, K. "The Child Archetype in the Commonwealth Short Stories: Katherine
Mansfield, Janet Frame and Mulk Raj Anand" The Commonwealth Review 1.1 (1989): 6068.
CHINESWARARAO, G.J. “Anand’s Private Life and Malgonkar’s Princes’Journal of
Indian Writing in English 4.1 (1976): 15-20.
Anand offers a study of lonely, troubles character; Malgonkar is distant from his more
confident character, commenting on events of the time.
COWASJEE, SAROS. "Mulk Raj Anand: The Early Struggles of a Novelist" The Journal of
Commonwealth Literature 7.1(1972):49-56.
Asserts commitment as primary motivation for Anand's writing. Presents background
material on Anand's attempt to locate a publisher, especially for 'Untouchable', from factual
evidence contained in letters by E.M. Forster, Bonamy Dobree and others.
COWASJEE, SAROS. "Anand's Literary Creed" The Journal of Indian Writing in English
1.1(1973):66-70.
Cowasjee claims no development in theory or attitude throughout Anand's writing.
Anand's principles about fiction owe much to Flaubert and his readings of Marxist dialectics.
Analysis centred on Anand as a committed political writer and his contribution to the evolving
nationalism of India under the dominance of British colonialism.
COWASJEE, SAROS. "Mulk Raj Anand's Untouchable: An Appraisal" Literature East and
West 17.2-4 (December 1973):199-211.
Examines the three solutions proffered by Anand's text to the problem of the
untouchable. Character study based on the situation of the untouchable and the choice of
possibilities which may alleviate the problem. Includes an evaluation of Hindu morality with the
Mahatma's teachings praised as offering guidelines to the eventual resolution of the
untouchable situation.
COWASJEE, SAROS. "Anand's Two Leaves and a Bud" Indian Literature
16.3&4(1973):134-47.
A discussion of fiction as propaganda with a comparison to Orwell's 'Burmese Days'
(1934) used as example. In vestigates Anand's writing style, especially his choice of language,
dismissing any criticism of it as "babu-like". Analyses the morality of British and Indian
characters built upon biblical concepts of good and evil.
COWASJEE, SAROS. "Mulk Raj Anand's Coolie: an Appraisal" Banasthali Patrika 8.19
(1972; pub. 1974):8-19.
Cowasjee continues his assessment of Anand's fiction as propaganda with nationalistic
overtones. Examines colonialism as a system of repression and exploitation. Offers
sociological analysis of the effects of British rule on the caste system.
COWASJEE, S. "Mulk Raj Anand's The Sword and the Sickle" in RAO, K.S.
NARAYANA. ed. World Literature Written in English 14.2 (1975): 267-277.
1) Seeks to clarify earlier misreadings by insisting on the author’s considerable
achievement in using thoroughly accurate historical material to remarkable effect. 2) Perceives
lalu, the main character, represents Anand’s sounding board to test various revolutionary
approaches to the Indian problem. 3) Focuses on the nationalist perspective by asserting the
novel’s factual correctness based on Nehru’s “An Autobiography” (1936) and Svetlana (?)
Alliluyeva’s “Only One Year” (1969).
COWASJEE, SAROS. "Mulk Raj Anand's The Big Heart: A New Perspective" ACLALS
Bulletin 4th Series, No. 2 (1975):83-6.
1) Reiterates previous treatments of Anand’s work as dominated by concern for the
poor and underprivileged trapped by India’s class and caste systems. 2) closely examines the
character of Ananta and finds him a victim of rage and insanity, not of religious or political
creed, and his sacrifice is the sacrifice of the unselfish man for humanity. 3) sociological
analysis based on economic determinism as fundamental principle in a capitalist society. 4)
See also Kakatiya Journal of English Studies volume 11 (II?) no.1 Spring 1977, 85-92.
COWASJEE, S. Mulk Raj Anand, Coolie, An Assessment Delhi: OUP, 1976, 62 pp.
(NB. annotation says An Appraisal, not ‘assessment’]. Continuing assessment of
Anand’s fiction as propaganda with nationalistic overtones. 2) Examines colonization as a
system of repression and exploitation. 3) Sociological analysis of the effects of British rule in
the caste system.
COWASJEE, S. So Many Freedoms: A Study of the Major Fiction of Mulk Raj Anand
New Delhi: OUP, 1977, x + 205 pp.
Suggests the social impulse conditioned by Marxist dialectics occupies the centre of
meaning in Anand's writing. Categorises Anand as a political novelist, connecting his fiction to
the social, economic and political events of his time. Claims the author's extensive use of irony
destroys the mythic romanticisation of India by Western writers. Follows no particular school
of criticism by utilising many approaches in an eclectic mix of critical strategies.
COWASJEE, S. "Mulk Raj Anand's Confession of a Lover" International Fiction Review 4
(1977):18-22.
Contextualises autobiographical details in this third volume of Anand's mammoth
project in seven volumes, Seven Ages of Man.Extremely detailed authorial examination of
himself as debilitated by self-praise and self-deception. Psychological analysis of author's
character hindered by simplistic interpretation.
COWASJEE, SAROS. "Mulk Raj Anand: The Hard Road to Fiction": 82-96.
in DWIVEDI, A.N. (ed) Studies in Contemporary Indian Fiction in English, Allahabad: Kitab
Mahal, 1987, pp.358
DAS, G.K. "Between Two Heritages: A Note on Mulk Raj Anand's Confession of a Lover"
The Indian Literary Review I.2 (1978):6-14.
DHAR, T.N. "The Big Heart" The Indian Literary Review 5.3 (1987):33-8.
DHAWAN, R.K. "Mulk Raj Anand: Coolie" in PRADHAN, N.S. ed. Major Indian Novels:
An Evaluation New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1986: 1-21. Also Atlantic Highlands, New
Jersey: Humanities, 1986.
DOMMERGUES, A. "An Interpretation of Mulk Raj Anand's Untouchable" Commonwealth
8.1 (1985):14-23.
1) Reiterates previously expressed opinions without offering any new considerations.
2) Discusses the character of Bakha (?) and the gradual shift in his perspective due to the
experiences undergone during the time frame of the novel to a probable breakthrough based
on shattering the codes of silence and submission surrounding untouchability. 3) Places great
emphasis on language, especially the spoken word and its potentialities to liberate, as a vital
component in coming to grips with the author’s implied suggestion that education is the most
powerful force available to counteract the vicious cycle of untouchability.
FISHER, M. "Interview with Mulk Raj Anand" WLWE 13 (1974):109-22.
Discusses Anand's ideas about literature as organicist and motivated by passion for
writing and a commitment to life. Provides context by the author himself into various aspects
of influence, politics and personalities which have played significant roles in shaping his writing
career.
FISHER, M. "The Shape of Lostness: Mulk Raj Anand's Short Stories" Journal of Indian
Writing in English 2.2 (1974):1-11.
Anand's short stories exhibit variety and control of form and tone. They reinterpret old
myths by recreating new ones suitable to contemporary experience. The theme of inner
lostness has genuinely universal significance. Close reading of selected short stories establishes
comparative aspects relating to moral condition of fictive subjects.
FISHER, MARLENE. The Wisdom of the Heart: A Study of the Works of Mulk Raj Anand
New Delhi: Sterling, 1985, xi + 207.
1) Again points to humanism as the driving force for Anand’s work centred on the
need for social justice. 2) An in-depth investigation based on expansive (?) personal
interviews with the author. Devotes considerable attention to Anand’s preoccupation with
Indian art.3) Establishes interrelatedness of author’s biodata with strategic developments in
content and control of his works of fiction.
FISHER, MARLENE. "Mulk Raj Anand: A Study in his Confessional Novels":97-106. in
DWIVEDI, A.N. (ed) Studies in Contemporary Indian Fiction in English, Allahabad: Kitab
Mahal, 1987, pp.358
GUPTA, G.S. "Dr Mulk Raj Anand's Prose-poems" Contemporary Indian Literature 3
(1971):13-15.
GUPTA, G.S. BALARAMA. Mulk Raj Anand: A Study of his Fiction in Humanist
Perspective Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1973, xi + 163 pp.
GUPTA, G.S. BALARAMA. "Towards A Closer Understanding of Anand" in SHARMA,
K.K. ed. Indo-English Literature: a Collection of Critical Essays, Ghaziabad: Vimal
Prakashan, 1977: 113-20.
1) Claims “comprehensive historical humanism” has been the principle position behind
his literary efforts. 2) Investigates the responses to questions put in correspondence with the
author. 3) Reprinted from Sharma, K. K. ed. Indo-English Literature: A Collection of Critical
Essays (Ghaziabad: Vimal Prakashan, 1977): 113-20.
GUPTA, G.S. BALARAMA. "Mulk Raj Anand's Untouchable: The Dialectics of SelfAffirmation" in NAIK, M.K. Perspectives on Indian Fiction in English New Delhi: Abhinav
Publications, 1985: 13-20.
HARREX, S.C. "Western Ideology and Eastern Forms of Fiction: The Case of Mulk Raj
Anand" in AMIRTHANAYAGAM, GUY. ed. Asian and Western Writers in Dialogue: New
Cultural Identities London: Macmillan, 1982: 142-58.
Argues a correlation between Anand’s quest for ideological structure and fictional form.
Labelling his novels “socio-political messianic”, Harrex finds Untouchable a successful
expression of commitment that avoids diatribe arising from a combination of factors including
Anand’s “self-projection” whereby objective social realism includes subjective felt experience
and the quest “to fuse Western realist tradition [with] the Indian tradition of the moral fable”.
Reads Apology for Heroism for details of the author’s search for an adequate form to
convey the life of common people. Anand rejects the ‘dead myth’ of Vedantic Absolutism and
turns to the Western novel, but increasingly attempts to assert an Indian modification of
realism in a reflection of his own ambivalence about East and West, tradition and modernity.
He moves to a more Romantic position in expounding his idea of “body-soul drama”. Defends
Anand against charges of communist propagandising. Charts Anand’s struggle to shape
novelistic amorphousness and autobiography into a moral fable of awakening consciousness in
Untouchable, seeing its success in The Big Heart. Private Life of an Indian Prince
changes the viewpoint to achieve more detachment. The ‘Lalu trilogy’ comprehensively
attempts an allegorical representation of “the meaning for India of the modern historical
process.”
IYENGAR, K.R. SRINIVASA. "The Bubble: A Novel by Mulk Raj Anand" Commonwealth
Quarterly 14.38 (1989): 57-62.
1) Claims impresive achievement for this fourth part of Anand’s seven-part
autobiographical novel. 2) Character’s self-discovery as novel records coming of age in
hothouse atmosphere of international artistic world. 3) Psychological analysis correlates the
bubble of the title to individual’s ego and its development and growth. 4) Doesn’t break any
new ground here.
KAKATIYA Journal of English Studies 2.1 (1977) special issue. Ed Satyanarain Singh. See
individual entries: Chatterjee, Fisher, Gupta,
Afterword: “Why I Write” by Anand, chronology, bibliography.
BHATTACHARYA, B.K. "Two Leaves and a Bud: Truth and Fiction": 39-47.
1) Traces the purported real life incidents in Assam on which Anand probably based
his fiction. 2) Expands on the white planters’ methods of dealing with opposition to their
exploitation. 3) Locates this novel within the nationalist phase dedicated to a political
change for India.
CHATTERJEE, D. "Gandhi's Influence on Anand and his Fiction":149-62.
Anand’s commitment is to ‘Man’ as a humantist, though he refers to himself as a
‘pseudo-Gandhian’. He admired Gandhi because of his love for the underprivileged but
departd from his Hindu orthodoxy. Gandhi’s influence is most seen in Untouchable
(1935) The Sword and the Sickle (1942) and the biographical Confession of Love
(1976).
COWASJEE, S. "The Big Heart: A New Perspective":85-92. Repeat of ACLALS
Bulletin 4th Series No. 2 (1975): 83-6. See Cowasjee entry.
COWASJEE, SAROS. ”The Princes in Indian Fiction”: 48-70.
FISHER, M. "Confession of a Lover":107-18.
The third book of the biographical “Seven Ages of Man’ series, this looks at young
Krishan Chander’s rites of passage, experiencing different facets of love as spiritual
education and experimenting with poetic images to find his voice. Each of the three
novels ends with hopeful moving on to a new phase of life; this first-person narrative
starts top blend the other voices of its forerunners.
GUPTA, G.S. BALARAMA. "Anand in Letters":210-18.
Assembles excerpts from correspondence 1968-73, showing the importance of
‘karuna’ (compassion) to Anand’s humanism and supporting the idea that he believed
unsystematically in ‘the wisdom of the heart’ rather than in Marxism.
KOHLI, S. "The Road":232-4. a note.
IYENGAR, K.R.SRINIVASA. "Morning Face":239-43. a note.
LINDSAY, J. "Mulk Raj Anand":1-4.
Seeks to provide a basis for Anand's place in world literature. Contextualises Anand
within the 1930s group of writers who made up an international avant-garde concerned
with protest against the debilitating effects of imperialism and fascism. Notes his vital
connections to Rabindranath Tagore and the Indian working class milieu.
MELWANI, M.D. "Approaches to Anand's Short Stories":119-24.
1) Provides an overview of various critical approaches utilized on Anand’s short
fiction. 2) Looks at critical practices and the differing conclusions they offer about his
short stories. 3) Seeks to deconstruct any system of critical inquiry previously applied
by pleading for an evaluative scheme based on an individuated study of each story.
MURTHY, S. LAXMANA. "Bakha: An Existential Analysis" :163-75.
1) Perceives Anand is not a humanist or Marxist but closely involved with
existentialism, especially in his portrayal of Bakha’s alienation in Untouchable (1935). 2)
Character study of Bakha based on Camus’s The Rebel (1950), although tradition
prevents any actual rebellion. 3) Grapples with existentialist doctrine in trying to reveal
another approach to Untouchable (1935).
MURTI, K.V.SURYANARAYANA. "Seven Summers: Anand's Fictional Matrix"
:71-84.
Considers Seven Summers (1951) to be the prologue to Anand’s oeuvre, containing
all his themes and techniques, images and symbols as the microcosm of his fictional
world, the seven volume series, Seven Ages of Man. 2) Offers the quest motif as the
guiding form behind the novel’s construction. 3) claims Anand has adopted Aldous
huxley’s theory of “musicalization of fiction” to his writing.
NIVEN, A. "Myth into Moral: Mulk Raj Anand's The Old Woman and the Cow":93106. Repeat of ACLALS Bulletin 4th Series No. 3(1975):30-6. See Niven entry.
NIVEN, A. "The 'Lalu' Trilogy of Mulk Raj Anand":17-38. Repeat of The Literary
Half-Yearly 13.1 (1972):31-49. See Niven entry.
RAMAKRISHNA, D. "Anand's Idea of the Novel":190-9.
1) Reveals Anand’s regard for Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past (19??) fostered
his his utilization of stream of consciousness technique. 2) Finds Anand’s novelistic form
determined by his main character’s evolution into an awakened consciousness. 3)
Applies Northrop Frye’s definition of form to Anand’s case. Compares Anand’s
fictional aesthetics with Henry James’ views in The Art of Fiction (1884).
RAO, E. NAGESWARA. "Dialogue in Forster and Anand: A Contrastive
Analysis":176-89.
1) Analyses discourse by pinpointing the problem of transcribing Indian speech
paterns into English. 2) Contrastive analysis of dialogue in A Passage to India (1924)
and Untouchable (1935) based on their similarity in linguistic, geographical and cultural
backgrounds. 3) Linguistic structures are intensely examined. Finds Forster and Anand
did not make attempts to alter English syntax and grammar by transferring the
grammatical and syntactic deviations of Hindi, Urdu or Punjabi into English.
RIEMENSCHNEIDER, D. "Death of a Hero":235-8. a note.
ROBERTSON, R.T. "Untouchable as an Archetypal Novel":5-16. See also World
Literature Written in English Vol. 14 No. 2 November 1975 The University of
Texas,Arlington:339-346. [See Item, Robertson]
SHARMA, A.R. "Folk Elements in Anand's Novels":200-9.
1) Considers the incorporation of Punjabi folklore within Anand’s fiction, especially
the Lalu trilogy. 2) Describes Punjabi folk motifs and Anand’s utilization of them. This
enables him to accurately represent the spirit of the peasant character. 3) Claims Anand
unites the negative and positive aspects of the folk tradition in his imaginitive extension
of folk heros into modern anti-heros.
SINGH, SATYANARAIN. "Yoke of Pity: The Poet in Anand's Novels" :125-48.
1) Examines the poet figure as representative of Anand’s spiritual vision of life in
Untouchable (1935), Death of A Hero (1964), and Confession of a Lover (1976). 2)
Character study of the poet figure as integrative force in Anand’s fiction representing the
‘conscience’ of the novel. 3) Applies Brahminical concept of Karuna or pity as the
basic underpinning to Anand’s work.
KAUSHIK, R.K. "From potter's Wheel to Dragon's Teeth: Character Delineation in Mulk
Raj Anand's Novels" Mahfil 6.4 (1970):17-31.
Attacks Anand's characters for lack of sophisticated development as Anand's Marxist
ideology overrode his authorial integrity. Makes an extensive investigation of characterisation
considered as deliberately driven by ideological commitment. Capitalist/Marxist dichotomy
explored as major premise.
KAUSHIK, ASHA & IQBAL NARRAIN. "The Democratic Experiment and Social Change
in India: Some Perceptions from Mulk Raj Anand" 61-77 in Narain, Iqbal & Lutze, Lothar,
eds. Literature, Social Consciousness and Polity New Delhi: Manohar, 1987, xv + 131 pp.
KAUSHIK, R.K. "Red, Brown and Gray: Ideological Commitment in Mulk Raj Anand's
Novels" in SHARMA, K.K. ed. Indo-English Literature: a Collection of Critical Essays,
Ghaziabad: Vimal Prakashan, 1977: 101-12. 1) Perceives Anand’s prose (sp?)
masquerades as ideological warfare and classifies it as fanatic dogmatism. 2) attacks his
writing style saturated by pervasive pessimism but Kaushik’s suggested alternative demands
an acceptance og God on the writer’s part. Reprinted from Sharma, K. K. ed Indo-English
Literature: A Collection of Critical Essays (Ghaziabad: Vimal Prahashan, 1977): 101-12.
KHER, INDER NATH. "Mulk Raj Anand: Encounter with Dark Passion" Journal of Indian
Writing in English 11.2 (1983):3-8.
Psychological analysis of Private Life of an Indian Prince (1953), concluding that the
Mahararja’s mind has totally disintegrated into madness because of his inability to contend
with his uncontrolled sexuality. Acknowledges a major debt to Krishna Nandan Sinha (sp?)
for this analysis. 2) A character study based on psychological guidelines. Comparison to
Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby made. 3) Psycho-sexual analysis. 4) NA.
KLAUS, GUSTAV, H. "Zum Beispiel Coolie" Germanisch-romanische Monatsschriften
28.4 (1978):453-67.
KULSHRESTHA, CHIRANTAN. "The Hero as Survivor: Reflections on Anand's
Untouchable" WLWE 19.1 (1980):84-91.
By introducing the concept of the survivor, Kulshrestha extends existing claims that
Anand's fiction has an overall aesthetic unity as well as notable political and sociological
commentary. The image of the survivor studied in comparison to Solzhenitsyn's One Day in
the Life of Ivan Denisovich and Malamud's The Fixer. Morally evaluates the image of the
survivor as superior to the conventional tragic hero in respect to higher ethical principles and
an unwavering sense of duty.
MATHUR, O.P. "Two Modern Versions of the Sita Myth: Narayan and Anand" JCL 21.1
(1986):16-25.
1) Mathur establishes an Indain mythis basis for Narayan’s and Anand’s modern
interpretations. 2) Mathur focuses on myth as structure which is received and reinterpreted on
the writer’s ‘own terms’. 3) Comparative approach concerns issues of similarity and
difference between mythic basis and individual talent’s treatment of mythic structure on his
‘own terms’. 4) Nothing new here.
MATHUR, O. P. “Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchables [sic] and Richard Wright’s Bigger
Thomas: A comparative Study in Social Protest and Affirmation.” LHY 19.2 (1978). 115-28.
1) Identifies these fictions as examples of “revolutionary romanticism” motivated by
the “socialist” humanism of their authors. Reiteration of Anand’s socialist principles. 2)
Distinguishes some notable differences between the black American and the untouchable
Hindu, although both are marginalised by their societies as dispossed minorities. 3)
Investigation of religious credos based on Gandhian Hinduism and renewed Christianity found
to have similar solutions to societal problems. 4) Nothing new here.
MUKHERJEE, MEENAKSHI. "The Tractor and the Plough: The Contrasted Visions of
Sudhin Ghose and Mulk Raj Anand" in MUKHERJEE, MEENAKSHI. ed. Considerations:
Twelve Studies of Indo-Anglian Writing New Delhi: Allied, 1977: 111-21.
1) Analyses four contrasts in the writing of Sudhin Ghose and Mulk Raj Anand: I)
Realism and Myth ii) Reason and Faith iii) Attitude towards the Past iv) Concept of Art.
Claims progress to be Anand’s key belief in his fiction. Anand values dynamism and active
participation in changing social conditions. 2) Investigates technical aspects dealing with
resources used to generate material. 3) Contrasts formalism of Ghose with realism of Anand.
4) Critical mode to historical development: Nothing new here.
MURTI, K.V. SURYANARAYANA. The Sword and the Sickle: A Study of Mulk Raj
Anand's Novels Mysore: Geetha Book House, 1983, 162 pp.
NAIK, M.K. Mulk Raj Anand New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1973, 199pp.
Pursues the complex of issues arising from the clash between Indian tradition and
Western modernity as it applies to Anand's writing. Opposes the openly positive assessments
of the author by expressing agreement with highly critical comments by K. R. Srinivasa
Iyengar. Adopts a formalist/sociological approach to Anand's oeuvre locating his best efforts
as reliant upon traditional Hindu material enlightened by judicious use of Western modernist
concepts.
NAIK, M.K. “Introduction” Selected Short Stories of Mulk Raj Anand New Delhi: ArnoldHeinemann. 1977: 9-31.
Cites Anand’s debt to Indian traditional tales and his mother’s storytelling, to Tolstoy,
Gorky, Turgenev and Powys. Notes his social satire, comic touches andpsychological
perception. Divides the stories into ‘lyric awareness’, animal fabels, the pathos of the
oppressed and overt satire. Stories cover a wide range of settings and characters, all with a
strong narrative drive, though occasionally with drawn-out beginnings and ‘poeticising’. They
have the ‘galloping tempo’ and ‘opulent’ idiom of Indian speech.
NAIK, M.K. "The Achievement of Mulk Raj Anand" Journal of Indian Writing in English 1.1
(1973):41-50.
Naik argues that Anand is a committed writer attached to conscious humanist
convictions and humanitarian compassion. A defence of formalist conventions as lacking in
Anand's work. Lack of formalist orthodoxy evidenced in three distinct ways: a) character
development fixed by his social commitment, b) overstatement of commitment tends to
produce melodrama or farce, c) intrusive authorial comment corrupts character delineation.
NASIMI, REZA AHMAD. The Language of Mulk Raj Anand, Raja Rao and R.K. Narayan
Delhi: Capital Publishing House, 1989, vi+88 pp.
NIRANJAN, SHIVA. “The Nature and Extent of Gandhi’s Impact on the Early Novels of
Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao” Commonwealth Quarterly 3.11 (1979): 36-46.
The Gandhian movement gave Indian English writers a way of connecting with Indian feeling
and national commitment. Narayan’s Waiting for the Mahatma is a controversial exception
to fiction dealing with Gandhi. Anand, though personally affected by him, and allowing him as
a character in Untouchable to move Bakha towards a hopeful future, does not give Gandhi a
central or definitive role: emotional solace is not matched by practical outcomes. The Sword
and the Sickle differentiates between Gandhi and his less pure followers. Lalu’s respects
Gandhi but his reservations about his ideas (on non-violence, for example) reflect Anand’s
own. Raja Rao makes a village’s realisation of Gandhian thought a pervasive force in
Kanthapura and Gandhi more a mythic, divine figure. He does not appear in the novel. Notes
the disappearance of Gandhi novels after Independence.
NIVEN, ALASTAIR. "The 'Lalu Trilogy' of Mulk Raj Anand" The Literary Half-Yearly 13.1
(1972):31-49.
Offers support for Anand's central character as a microcosm of Indian peasantry in
the crucial period of the First World War and its aftermath. Concentrates totally on character
development and its wider implications. Sociological analysis founded on understanding
conditions of poverty which exacerbate political issues and require political solutions. Niven
introduces some concepts of Frantz Fanon's work into his conclusion but does not exploit
Fanon's theories in detail.
See also Kakatiya Journal of English Studies Vol. 11 No. 1 Spring 1977: 17-38.
NIVEN, A. "Myth into Moral: Mulk Raj Anand's The Old Woman and the Cow" ACLALS
Bulletin 4th Series, No. 3 (1975):30-36.
Asserts that The Old Woman and The Cow(1960) surpasses Anand's other novels of
the 1960s in quality and remains one of his strongest works, comparable to
Untouchable(1935). Anand handles his first female protagonist with understanding and insight
and places her story of domestic insignificance into a national and mythic context. Notes the
overtly classical framework taken from The Ramayana. Offers the view that Anand has
transformed this epic tale to express a basic tenet of his own beliefs: that men and women do
not repeat the mistakes of their past but are saved from this repetition by cutting loose from
tradition and grasping the new.
See also Kakatiya Journal of English Studies Vol. 11 No. 1 Spring 1977:93-106.
NIVEN, ALISTAIR. The Yoke of Pity: A Study of the Fictional Writings of Mulk Raj Anand
New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1980, 144pp. reissued 1984.
NIVEN, ALASTAIR. The Yoke of Pity A Study in the Fictional Writings of Mulk Raj Anand
New Delhi: Arnold Heinemann, 1978.
Niven asserts that Anand seeks a regenerated social order for India rather than merely
advocating a single political strategy for change. Recontextualises his fiction as important
contributions to humanist themes common to many writers, such as D. H. Lawrence and
Chinua Achebe. The fundamental guideline to comprehending all his work is understanding the
individual’s freedom to act undergoes constant compromise by collective social forces.
NIVEN, ALISTAIR. The Yoke of Pity: A Study of the Fictional Writings of Mulk Raj Anand
New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1980, 144pp. reissued 1984. [check year: 78?]
Niven asserts that Anand seeks a regenerated social order for India rather than
advocating a single political strategy for change. Recontextualises Anand's fiction as important
contributions to humanist themes common to many writers, such as D. H. Lawrence and
Chinua Achebe. Assesses the individual's freedom to act constantly compromised by
collective social forces as the fundamental guideline to comprehending Anand's entire
production.
PACHORI, SATYA S. "Mulk Raj Anand's Untouchable: A Study in Search of Selfhood"
Commonwealth Novel In English 2.2 (July 1983):41-9.
Aligns Anand with Modernist self-consciousness and close-up probing of inner life in
realtion to society. bakha’s sensory intuitive understanding follows Anand’s study of Hume,
Locke and Berkely (his feel of British clothes helps to shift his mind towards broader
realisations manifested in the Brahmin-touching incident, and his withdrawal to sleep and sun
figures a rebirth into new awareness). Anand finally rejects Hume’s passive receptor model,
but is caught in a Modernist focus on ‘heroism of consciousness’ rather than definite social
action.
PACKHAM, GILLIAN. "Mulk Raj Anand's New Myth" New Literature Review 8
(1980):45-53.
Locates a workable pattern operating beneath the surface of Anand's entire oeuvre.
The pattern is as follows: the protagonist observes injustice and contradictions in society and is
driven to reform it, in doing so he asserts his individuality and finds himself isolated from
society. By searching for ways out of his isolation, he develops intellectually and morally until,
by the close of the novel, he has achieved definite personal values. Claims that Anand calls this
pattern which shows the individual struggling to understand his situation and to achieve new
values based on love his "New Myth". Anand's "New Myth" is a conscious reinterpretation of
traditional myths. A cornerstone of Anand's literary theory states that ancient literature always
found man struggling against an all-powerful fate, but that the fate which is confronted in
modern literature is the power for good and evil which lies within the individual. His "New
Myth" is a myth of struggle for personal integration founded on the achievement of new values.
Psychological probe of Anand's oeuvre discovers this recurring pattern in his work. Relates
this pattern to Anand's own life and perceives it again in his autobiographical magnum opus,
Seven Ages of Man, and for a third time in his fictional novels.
PALLAN, RAJESH K. "Encounter with the Self: A Study of the Confessional Mode in Mulk
Raj Anand's The Bubble" in KIRPAL, VINEY, ed. & introd. The New Indian Novel in
English: A Study of the 80s New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1990: 11-23.
PAUL, PREMILA. "Anand's Lament on the Death of a Master of Arts: A Thematic Analysis"
Journal of Indian Writing in English 6.2 (1978):70-77.
PAUL, PREMILA. The Novels of Mulk Raj Anand: A Thematic Study New Delhi: Sterling,
1983, 183 pp.
1) Identifies Anand’s pervasive themes as the caste system, the class structure,
religion, education and the status of women. 2) Concentrates entirely on these five themes as
they are expanded upon in most fictions. 3) Concerned with existentialist issues such as loss of
identity, rootlessness and isolation and Anand’s empirical approach to these social realities.
PONTES, HILDA. "A Select Checklist of Critical Responses to Mulk Raj Anand's
Untouchable" Journal of Commonwealth Literature 23.1 (1988): 189-98.
Brief introduction notes origins in the autobiographical 2000-page ‘confessional’; social
radicalism presented through the “body-soul drama of Bakha”, a blend of folk-tale fabulism
and western realist short story plus Joycean stream of consciousness. Approximately 80
entries with rudimentary annotation.
PONTES, HILDA. "The Education of a Rebel: Mulk Raj Anand" Literary Half-Yearly 27.2
(July 1986):105-22.
1) Suggests British imperialism forced English language education and values on
Anand and his generation. 2) Biographical details concerning Anand’s schooling and its
ramifications on his personal educational attainments. 3) Sociological investigation of British
influence and control on Indian educational system.
PONTES, HILDA. "Untouchable: A Classic in Experimentation of Theme and Technique" in
GUPTA, G.S. BALARAMA., ed. Studies in Indian Fiction in English Gulbarga: JIWE
Publications, 1987: 128-41.
PRASAD, R. NARENDA. "Pollution in Untouchable and Scavenger's Son" Littcrit 6.2
(1980):32-8.
Compares Anand to Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai. Both focus on the idea of ritual
pollution as the basis for untouchability, but Pillai broadens his scope, surveying three
generations to show “the workers’ fight against all exploitation”. Anand individualises Bakha
and moves him to a visionary promise, whereas Pillai’s Chudalamuthu climbs materially to a
better future and alienates himself from his fellows. Pillai wrote after Independence and the
outlawing of untouchability in Kerala; for Anand the problem was still religious beliefs, hence
Gandhi’s importance. Bakha is a limited seeker after enlightenment rather than a workingclass hero, and yearns for human touch and the warmth of nature; Pillai’s story is more
external and melodramatic.
RAJAN, P.K. "Conflict and Resolution in The Tractor and the Corn Goddess" Littcrit 9.2
(1983):15-19.
This “satirical commentary on the social life of precapitalist India” expresses Anand’s
consistent theme of industrialised modernity contending with tradition. Ambivalent symbolism
and resolution shows Anand’s Gandhian ambivalence towards social issues. A village narrator
‘storytells’ a modern short story in which the triumph of the tractor rests in its not affecting
ancient beliefs, and the comic victory of the villagers is stage-managed by the landowning elite
ushering in ‘progress’.
RAJAN, P.K. Studies in Mulk Raj Anand New Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 1986, viii +
122pp.
RAO, E. NAGESWARA. "The Dialogue Is the Thing: A Contrastive Analysis of Fictional
Speech in Forster and Anand" 138-47 in Shahane, Vasant A., ed. Approaches to E.M.
Forster: A Centenary Volume New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1981; Atlanbtic Highlands:
Humanities, 1981, 177pp. [See Rao entry under KAKATIYA]
REDDY, K.V. "Mulk Raj Anand's Lament on the Death of a Master of Arts" Journal of
Indian Writing in English 5.2 (1977):28-36.
Questions rejection of this work by Naik and others. As character study and satire it
arouses compassion and outrage. Focuses on the stress of an orphan's upbringing in the
development of Nur's life. He fails to succeed because he lacks conventionally sedirable ethnic
origin, parental occupation and connections to influential persons.
RIEMENSCHNEIDER, D. "Mulk Raj Anand's Confession of a Lover" WLWE 16.1: 105-9;
and Indian Author 2.1 (1977):73-6.
Probes the interrelatedness of autobiographical details and fictitious renderings of
authorial search for truth. Analyses the thematic cohesion of Indian writing in English centred
upon a quest for identity. Grapples with the concept of alienation from traditional Hindu
society and values as the fundamental motivation for Indian intellectual's pursuit of the meaning
of self.
RIEMENSCHNEIDER, D. "Saros Cowasjee's So Many Freedoms: A Study of the Major
Fiction of Mulk Raj Anand" Journal of the School of Languages 7.1&2 (1978-9):150-5.
Offers praise for Cowasjee's erudite and expansive treatment of Anand's oeuvre but
admonishes him for not separating textual criticism from authorial intent. Cowasjee resources a
range of critical approaches in an eclectic mix of criticism.
RIEMENSCHNEIDER, DIETER. "Mulk Raj Anand: Coolie; The Old Woman and the Cow;
Untouchable" Kindlers Neues Literatur-Lexicon Bd. 1 Munchen (1988):407-09, 410-11.
RIEMENSCHNEIDER, DIETER. "The Function of Labour in Mulk Raj Anand's Novels"
JSL 4.1 (1976):1-20.
Assesses the problem of human labour as a probe into the ideological messages
transmitted through his fiction. Employs the Marxist theory of labour as the principle guideline
of his investigation.
ROBERTSON, R.T. "Untouchable as an Archetypal Novel" World Literature Written in
English (K.S. NARAYANA RAO ed.) Vol. 14 No. 2 November 1975:339-346. The
University of Texas,Arlington.
Perceives Untouchable(1935) deserves canonical status within the new literatures area
as the archetype of the isolation of the individual expressed as the concept of "untouchability".
Contextualises this novel as the archetypal presentation of the classic colonial situation and its
resolution in a reharmonising of the rebellious individual into his own culture. Builds a
structuralist perspective into Untouchable(1935) and applies it to the entire new literatures
fictional field. Provides an extremely perceptive and far-ranging analysis that serves to open up
the complexity of colonialism and its expression in fiction.
See also Kakatiya Journal of English Studies Vol. 11 No. 1 Spring 1977: 5-15.
SETHI, VIJAY MOHAN. Mulk Raj Anand: the Short Story Writer, New Delhi: Ashish
Publishing House, 1990, 114pp.
SHARMA, K.K. ed. Perspectives on Mulk Raj Anand. Vimal Prakashan Ghaziabad India,
1978, 188pp.
1) Reappraisal of thematic and technical aspects of Anand’s fiction. Comprehension
of Anand’s stance demands close atention to the ‘thirties movement in England. 2)
Contextualises all facets of Anand’s work in a collection of major contributions, mostly
sociological and universalist in approach.
check gaps
GUPTA, RAMESHWAR. “The Gandhi in Anand.”: 77-83.
Finds Untouchable (1935) reflects and echoes Gandhi. Claims Anand is a Gandhian
because of his cleanliness, his concern with the dispossessed and the weak and for his
humanism.
HARREX, S. C. “Quest for Structures: Form, Fable and Technique in the Fiction of
Mulk Raj Anand.”: 153-168.
Offers the theory that Anand’s Marxist-Socialist quest for a humanist society and his
fictional pursuit of an appropriate verbal structure are complementary components of his
overall purpose. Labels his fiction the socio-political messianic novel and analyses his
“poetic realism”. Concludes that his fictional forms are allegorical representations of his
soul theories and philosophic ideas.
MATHUR, O.P. “An Approach to the Problem of National Integration in the Novels of
Mulk Raj Anand.”: 64-76.
Probes the main characters’ rejection of outmoded beliefs, customs, and rituals.
Interprets a call for national integration as the object of Anand’s writing in its attempt to
overcome the divisive force of religious intolerance.
Mulk Raj Anand. “Why I Write?”: 1-8.
NAIK, M. K. “Infinite Variety: A Study of the Short Stories of Mulk Raj Anand.”: 3951.
Proclaims the quality of his short stories based on variety of theme, mood, tone, and
technique. Demonstrates how Anand’s best work reveals a thorough apprehension of
what is enduring in the Indian folk tale tradition.
NATH, SURESH. “The Element of Protest in Mulk Raj Anand’s Fiction.”:129-38.
Considers this author’s work as spontaneous expression of protest against the painful
spectacle of human misery. Focuses on protest elements in Untouchable (1935) and
Coolie (1936).
RAIZADA, HARISH. “Ethics and Aesthetics of Mulk Raj Anand.”: 115-28.
Anand’s ethics are founded on comprehensive historical humanism. Aesthetics are
based on his innovative techniques of “poetic realism”.
RAM, ATMA. “Anand’s Prose Style: An Analysis.”: 169-76.
Probes into his prose style on the basis of Anand’s own comments. Traces his
aggressive incorporation of Punjabi peasant idiom into English.
SHEPHERD, RON. “Alienated Being: A Reappraisal of Anand’s Alienated Hero.”:
139-52.
Reveals the later and more complex heroe’s struggle with past traditions while
concerned with social change and its impact. Character study formulated around a
crisis of identity.
SHIVPURI, JAGDISH. “Tagore and Anand.”: 84-93.
Comments on Anand’s lectures about Tagore. Discloses their common commitment to
universal brotherhood.
WALSH, WILLIAM. “Some Observations on Mulk Raj Anand’s Fiction”: 177-180.
Anand’s earliest works are his best: his socially engaged passion is his power and
weakness (when the moral becomes separated from its imaginative embodiment). He
belongs to a nineteenth-century tradtion of character, circumstance and the picaresque
(Dickens, William Morris and the Russians).
SHARMA, AMBUJ KUMAR. The Theme of Exploitation in the Novels of Mulk Raj Anand,
New Delhi: D.K. Publishers and Distributors, 1990, 162pp.
Traces eight elements of Marxist theory in Anand’s fiction: a) class in itself b) class for
itself c) transformation of class in itself into class for itself d) class conflict involving violence e)
religion as the opium of the masses f) economic factor as the root of exploitation g)
exploitation as a worldwide phenomenon and h) contradictions in capitalism and its
overthrow. Relies on the autobiographical novels of the Seven Ages of Man series and
Apology for Heroism (1975) to support his argument concerning exploitation. Probes the
social agencies responsible for aiding exploitation of the poor and underprivileged. A thematic
approach links the centrality of exploitation to Anand’s writing.
SHARMA, GOVIND N. "Anand's Englishmen: The British Presence in the Novels of Mulk
Raj Anand" WLWE 21.2 (Summer 1982):336-41.
Anand’s youthful experience in the Punjab and hisn love of unmasking pretention result
in a pervasive satirising of British claims to bring peace and justice to India. Outlines the
exposé of exploitation in Two Leaves and a Bud. Anand also shows (in Untouchable’s
Bakha, and the Krishan of Seven Summers and Morning Face) the split in Indian
consciousness between cultural rootedness and admiration for sahibs’ modern efficiency.
British in his work are catalysts for Indians’ quest to recover their souls by sorting lifeaffirming values from life-denying ones.
SHIVPURI, JAGDISH. “Mulk Raj Anand’s The Road: An Interpretation” Littcrit 22&23,
12. 1&2 (1986):19-26.
Diffuse descriptive commentary.
SINGH, AMARJIT. “Why are Anand’s later Novels Unsuccessful?” Commonwealth
Quarterly 4.13 (1979): 60-67.
Considers Untouchable, Seven Summers and Morning Face as examples of early,
middle and late works to show increasing lack of attention to style (repetitious scenes,
language unsuited to the narrator).
SINGH, AMARJIT. "Private Life of an Indian Prince as a Novel of Protest" Commonwealth
Quarterly 37 (1988):1-16.
1) Identifies Anand’s real purpose in writing this fiction as pointing toward the
necessary revolutionary struggle still to come in India to redress the people’s oppression by
the disintegrating feudalism of the Maharajas and the bourgeois interests of the Praja Mandal
(Congress Party in the Native States). 2) Concentrates on the theme of protest as unifying
element in Anand’s fictional treatment of political machinations in the rapidly changing India of
1947. 3) Ofers a Marxist approach centred on continuing class struggle as Anand’s message
conveyed through his fiction. 4) Marxist critique in 1988 seems hardly new in historical
development of Indian English criticism.
SINGH, SATYANARAIN ed. Kakatiya Journal of English Studies special issue 11.1
(1977)
see KAKATIYA
SINGH, SUNAINA. "Protest in the Novels of Mulk Raj Anand" Osmania Journal of English
Studies 17 (1981):123-33.
SINHA, K.N. Mulk Raj Anand New York: Twayne, 1973, 154 pp.
SIVADASAN, C.P. "Two Proletarian Novels: Similarities in Anand's Untouchable and
Thakazhi's Thottiyude makan" Indian Literature 30.3 (May-June 1987):119-24.
1) Both novels concerned with the issue of discrimination and its consequences on the
lower caste untouchables. 2) Articulates similarities in character, setting, narrative technique
and social commitment between Anand’s Untouchable (1935) and Thakazhi’s The
Scavenger’s Son (1947). 3) Comparative approach links fictions by similarity and difference.
4) NA.
SOOD. S.C. “The Return of the Prodigal: A Reading of Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable”
Commonwealth Quarterly 14.39 (1989):34-49.
Argument founded on Gandhian Hinduism and rejection of British influence as viable
way forward for Indian untouchables. Extensive character study of Bakha and his dilemma.
Sociological analysis of untouchability and its denial of humanity.
STEINVORTH, KLAUS. "Mulk Raj Anand's Private Life of an Indian Prince and Manohar
Malgonkar's The Princes" The Literary Half-Yearly 14.1 (1973):76-91.
Offers the suggestion that the maharajas aligned themselves with the British
establishment and thereby alienated themselves from the Indian nationalist and proindependence forces. Analyses the role of the maharaja as a pivotal character in Western
conceptions of the Indian way of life. Sociological study of the relationship between the
maharajas and their subjects. Concludes with superficial psychological assessment of the
maharajas suffering from the Oedipal Complex.
STILZ, GERHARD. “Indian Autobiographies in English: Nehru and Anand, for Instance” in
MCDERMOTT, DOIREANN ed. Autobiographical and Biographical Writing in
Commonwealth Literature Barcelona: Sabadell, 1984:209-213.
Figures autobiography as an ellipse around locating the self and describing experience.
Self is what resists absorption into description of the world, the private “changeability behind
the continuity of imposed social roles”. Nehru’s Autobiography (1936) offers mostly external
reflections, fleeting introspective moments explained away as his “inclination to escape into
action”. Anand’s Apology for Heroism (1946) alludes to Gandhi but works with
Hegelian/Marxist ideas. His concept of evolving belief/spiritual development allows an openended narration of self-correction.
SUDHAKAR, PREMILA PAUL. "Major Themes in the Novels of Mulk Raj Anand" in
NAIK, M.K. Perspectives on Indian Fiction in English New Delhi: Abhinav Publications,
1985 1-12.
THARU, SUSIE. “Reading against the Imperial Grain: Intertextuality, Narrative Structure and
Liberal Humanism in Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable” Jadavpur Journal of Comparative
Literature 24 (1986): 60-71.
Works from Guha’s inspection of “significatory apparatus” to critique the production of
untouchability as ‘social problem’ under colonialism, using his three-part model of counter insurgent history: actual record, British historiographic reatiling of it and indian nationalist
absorbption of peasant rebellions into a continuous history of bourgeois freedom struggle.
How does a nationalist social reformer like Anand “become accomplice to a programme in
which the oppressed, waiting for civilization to be brought to them [as a water closet],
continue to be a source of cheap, but proud labour?” Apparently breaking with the
traditionalist revivialism of nationalism, and locating the question of untouchability in the
common person rather than elite debate, Anand creates a Lukacs individualised-typical hero
worthy of human consideration, but as a human defined by liberal values infused with
imperialist ideology: he is instinctive and childlike and isolated from collective action as he
approaches individualised consciousness. Bhaka’s eye is really the narrating eye of the
anthropological outsider objectifying and orientalising Indian society and its primitive subgroup. Close reading and deconstructive discoure analysis.
VARALAKSHMI, P. "Lament on the Death of a Master of Arts: An Analysis" Journal of
Indian Writing in English 7.2 (1980):82-7.
Mixes concepts of existentialism, Greek tragedy and the Miltonic hero. in a structural
study. Exploits Aristotleian concepts as basic structures for Anand's writing scheme.
VENUGOPAL, C.V. "Bakha's Deliverance: A Consideration of the Last Part of
Untouchable" Journal of the Karnatak University: Humanities 21 (1977):106-110.
VENUGOPAL, C.V. "Munoo and Mrs Mainwaring: A Note on the Last Chapter of Anand's
Coolie" Journal of the Karnatak University: Humanities 19 (1975):110-16.
WILLIAMS, HAYDN MOORE. Studies in Modern Indian Fiction in English 2 Vols.
Calcutta: Writers' Workshop, 1973.
Anantanarayanan, M.
RAMACHANDRA, R. "The Silver Pilgrimage: A Belated Response" The Literary Criterion
14.1 (1980):73-8.
Arora, V.N.
TRIKHA, M. "V.N. Arora's Sons and Fathers: A Brief Study" Journal of Indian Writing in
English 13.1 (1985):59-63.
Aurobindo, Sri
BHATNAGAR, K.C. "Aurobindo's Savitri as 'The Future of Poetry'" PURBA 3.2
(1972):87-96.
BHATTA, S. KRISHNA. "Sri Aurobindo's Vasavadutta." In Aspects of Indian Writing in
English, edited by M. K. Naik, 248-61. New Delhi: Macmillan, 1979.
Aurobindo often deviates from the original story in Kathasaritsagara which he
mentions as his source. He highlights the romantic aspect, using the hero Vuthsa to symbolize
the patriotic urges of a subjugated nation. Aurobindo casts a purely Indian legend into the
Elizabethan five-act mould. The play would have been more effective and stageworthy if he
had followed the rich dramatic tradition of India.
CHATTERJEE, KALIKA RANJAN. "The Philosophical Themes in Sri Aurobindo's Perseus
the Deliverer." in Indian Writing in English, edited by Krishna Nandan Sinha, 147-55. New
Delhi: Heritage Publishers, 1979.
Aurobindo wrote five verse plays during the Baroda period, when philosophical ideas
were crystallising in his mind. The legend of Perseus takes on a universal character, and is
used to express Aurobindo's view of life. By presenting the old god Poseidon as a foil to
Athene, Aurobindo shows the evolution of the idea of God from a vindictive deity to a humane
one. From the philosophic point of view, Perseus is the representative of the high god on
earth; his mission is to save mankind. Perseus and Andromeda stand for the creative principle
of life; they are associated with light, while animal imagery is used for Poseidon. The worship
of Poseidon symbolizes the Asuric (dark and violent) life forces, which are mastered and
transformed by the redeeming power of love, represented by Perseus and Andromeda.
DESHPANDE, P.S. "Sri Aurobindo's Savitri: a Key to Integral Perfection" in AMUR, G.S.,
PRASAD, V.R.N., NEMADE, B.V. & NIHALANI, N.H., eds. Indian Readings in
Commonwealth Literature New York: Apt; 1985: New Delhi: Sterling, 1985: 59-70.
DESHPANDE, R.Y. "'Sathyavan Must Die': A Discourse apropos of a Phrase in Sri
Aurobindo's Savithri" Mother India, no.? (1990): 413-415, 624-627, 682-686, 768-771,
813-816,
DESHPANDE, R.Y. "Savitri's House of Meditation" Mother India 42.1 (1989): 61-7; 41.2
(1989): 135-41.
DESHPANDE, R.Y. "The Message of Vyasa's Savitri" Mother India 42.3 (1989): 205-9;
42.4 (1989): 273-80.
DEVY, G.M. "Sri Aurobindo's 'Sources of Poetry' and Indian Poetry in English" The Literary
Criterion 19.2 (1984):25-36.
DWIVEDI, A.N. A Study of Sri Aurobindo's 'Savitri' and Other Select Poems Bareilly:
Prakash, 1989.
GHATAK, NIRMALYA. Sri Aurobindo: The Poet and Thinker Howrah: Privately published,
1898, 285pp.
GHOSE, S.K. "Shelley and Sri Aurobindo: Two Poetics or One?' ACLALS Bulletin 4th
Series 5 (1977):76-9.
GHOSE, SISIR KUMAR. "Sri Aurobindo's Gita: A Short Survey" 174-80 in Sharma, T.R.,
ed. Influence of Bhagavadgita on Literature Written in English Meerut: Shalabh, 1988, xxxiv +
277 pp.
GHOSE, SISIR KUMAR. "The Basic Poetry of Sri Aurobindo" in SHARMA, K.K. ed.
Indo-English Literature: a Collection of Critical Essays, Ghaziabad: Vimal Prakashan, 1977:
47-59.
HEEHS, PETER. Sri Aurobindo, A Brief Biography Delhi & New York: Oxford University
Press, 1989, x+172pp.
HICKS, RAND. A Savitri Dictionary Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1984, 55 pp.
INDRA__, C.T. "The Use of the Andromeda Myth in Perseus the Deliverer." Journal of
South Asian Literature. 24, no.1 (1989): 50-66.
Aurobindo's literary works are so complex that no consensus of critical opinion is
possible. Use of the Greek myth offers a complement as well as a contrast to Hopkins' sonnet
"Andromeda". Indra considers structure, imagery, characterization, and language. Perseus and
Andromeda are associated with light, while animal imagery expresses the regressive forces of
the monster and Polydaon. Aurobindo's characterization is demonstrated with help of a chart;
the principle of transformation is important. The character of Perissus the butcher provides
comic relief. Aurobindo follows the conventional Elizabethan alteration of prose and verse in
drama, and his language has vitality.
IYENGAR, K.R. SRINIVASA. Dawn to Greater Dawn: Six Lectures on 'Savitri' (??)
IYENGAR, K.R. SRINIVASA. "Sri Aurobindo's The Life Divine" in NAIK, M.K. ed.
Perspectives on Indian Prose in English New Delhi: Abhinav, 1982: 104-23. Also Atlantic
Highlands: Humanities, 1982.
JACOB, G. Guide to Sri Aurobindo's Epic, 'Savitri' Vol. 1, Pondicherry: Dipti Pblns, 1973.
JIT, LILLE MADAN. “Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri—A Vista Beyond Faith” PURBA 17.2
(1986):3-16.
Surveys critical assessement of Aurobindo to show how it is warped by critics being mostly
devotees who attribute ambiguity to spiritual profundity, Aurobindo having claimed
transcendental inspiration for his verse. Savitri however, is not a traditional Indian epic, being
written in English and in a combination of epical form and intuitive gush. Images lack a
material base with which to grip the reader and arguing that the text speaks to the soul without
addressing the intellect is no defense, especially when the poem is replete with didactic
philosophy. The syntax is artificial and the material unsuited to an epic drama, though
occasionally we hear a personal anguish as the poet struggles to answer imponderable
questions.
KALAMANI, N. & RAMAMURTHY, K.S. "Sri Aurobindo's 'Songs to Myrtilla'"
Commonwealth Quarterly 28 (1984):32-42.
KALLURY, SYAMALA. Symbolism in the Poetry of Sri Aurobindo New Delhi: Abhinav
PUblications, 1989, 122pp.
KULKARNI, S.S. "The Plays of Sri Aurobindo." In Perspectives on Indian Drama in English
edited by Naik, M.K. & S. Mokashi-Punekar, 1-15. Madras: OUP, 1977.
Aurobindo's indifference to having his plays staged has led to their being treated as closet
dramas.
KULKARNI, S.S. The Plays of Sri Aurobindo: A Study. Goa: Rajhans Publishers, 1990,
146pp.
After analysing the plays (mainly thematically and in terms of stagecraft), concludes
that they are closet drama not because of lack of stageability but because of changed times
and circumstances. Appendix (pp. 125-43) contains outlines of the plots of The Viziers of
Bassora, Rodogune, Perseus the Deliverer, and Eric.
KUMARI, SHYAM. "'Suddenness' in Savitri" Mother India 39.8 (1986):502-8.
KUMARI, SHYAM. "Humour in the Plays of Aurobindo" Mother India 6.4 (1987):220-6 &
6.5 (1987):286-92; Mother India 40.7 (1987):433-8, 40.8 (1987):497-507, 40.9
(1987):582-7, 40.10 (1987):644-9, 40.11 (1987):718-24 & 40.12 (1987):810-14.
KUMARI, SHYAM. "Humour in the Plays of Sri Aurobindo"; "Perseus the Deliverer"
Mother India 41 (1988):45-51; 128-34; 183-9; "The Prince of Edur" Mother India 41
(1988):261-5; 411-16; 469-74.
KUMARI, SHYAM. "Spirituality in the Early Poetry of Sri Aurobindo" Mother India 39.11
(1986):683-89 and 39.12 (1986):765-72.
KUMARI, SHYAM. "The Spirit of Indian Nationalism in Sri Aurobindo's Earliest Poems"
Mother India 39.6 (1986):354-63.
KUMARI, SHYAM. "Two Short Poems of Sri Aurobindo: A Comparison" Mother India
39.4 (1986): 222-25.
LALITHA, K.S. "Sri Aurobindo's Perseus the Deliverer: An Approach." Mother India 23,
no.8 (1970): 427-31; no.9: 518-21; no.10: 694-96.
Aurobindo widens the implications of the Greek myth to present an Indian insight into
life. The characters are developed as individuals. Andromeda is not a helpless puppet, she is
an awe-inspiring figure with a will of her own, reminding one of Indian heroines like Savitri.
Perseus is primarily an instrument of the gods, but he is motivated by love for his fellow human
beings. The play can be seen as a romantic love story, as a tragedy of Polydaon the evil priest,
or as a depiction of the struggle between good and evil. Aurobindo has woven the idea of the
evolution of consciousness into the play.
LALITHA, K.S. “Aurobindo’s views on poetry” Journal of Indian Writing in English 1.1
(1973): 81-85.
Summary of three elements of creativity (source of inspiration, force of beauty and transmitting
agent) and three levels of creation (feeling, mind, soul). Art mediates between the concrete
and the immaterial. The true critic must be fully attuned to the work through the ‘overmind’
and mystic poetry is the highest achievement.
MENON, K.P.K. A.S.P. Ayyar Madras: Macmillan, 1980, 30 pp.
MISHRA, D.S. Poetry and Philosophy in Sri Aurobindo's 'Savitri' New Delhi: Harman
Publishing House, 1989, 131pp.
MISHRA, D.S. "Savitri as an Epic of the Soul" PURBA 15.2 (October 1984):13-23.
MISHRA, NANDA KISHORE. "French Symbolist Aesthetics and SriAurobindo's Poetics"
Mother India 41.12 (1988):842-8.
NADKARNI, MANGESH. Savitri: A Brief Introduction Four Talks Pondicherry: Sri
Aurobindo Society, 1985.
NAIK, M.K. “Idylls of the Occult: The Short Stories of Aurobindo” the indian literary
review 1.5-6 (1978): 17-25.
Unlike other literary forms, the story in Aurobindo’s output began with two in Bengali. Four in
English (only one a fully-fledged short story) appeared attempting to use the occult in
narrative. Summarises the stories, finding influences of Poe, Hawthorne and Conan Doyle and
a control of suspense, atmospherics and swift pace leading to climax. Characters combine
unusual sensitivity with scepticism. The stories are glimpses of “tantalising artistic possibilities”
unrealised.
NANDAKUMAR, PREMA. “Sri Aurobindo’s Eric: A Dramatic Romance” Littcrit 3, 2.2
(1976):22-25.
Aurobindo was influenced by Shakespearean verse drama, adding in his own vision of
deliverance from conflict and ascent to higher consciousness. In a tale of warriors and revenge
from Scandinavia, Eric sets up a struggle between love and hate, raw power and spiritual
wisdom. Allegorical connections are drawn with the independence movement: freedom by the
sword is not sufficient; moral liberation and persuasion will be more productive, reflectin
Aurobindo’s own shift from political to spiritual action.
NANDAKUMAR, PREMA. "Perseus the Deliverer." in Perspectives on Indian Drama in
English edited by Naik, M.K. & S. Mokashi-Punekar, 16-40. Madras: OUP, 1977.
Sri Aurobindo wrote this play when caught up in the freedom movement. The appearance of a
hero and the deliverance of a captive nation were recurrent subjects. This five-act play of
absorbing dramatic interest projects Aurobindo's favourite theme of earth's evolutionary
progress.
NANDAKUMAR, PREMA. A Comparative Study of The Divine Comedy and Savitri
Madras: Affiliated East-West Press, 1981, 160 pp.
NANDAKUMAR, PREMA. "Savitri and The Divine Comedy." The Humanties Review 3,
no.2 (1981):24-5.
NANDAKUMAR, PREMA. "Sri Aurobindo: The Prose Canon." In Perspectives on Indian
Prose in English edited by M.K. Naik, 72-103. New Delhi: Abhinav, 1982. Also Atlantic
Highlands: Humanities, 1982.
NANDAKUMAR, PREMA. Sri Aurobindo: A Critical Introduction New Delhi: Sterling,
1988, 128 pp.
NANDAKUMAR, PREMA. "Sri Aurobindo as a Writer of English Prose" Journal of Indian
Writing in English. 17, no.2 (1989): 1-7.
NARASIMHAIAH, C.D. "Aurobindo: Inaugurator of Modern Indian Criticism" Literary
Criterion 15.2 (1980):13-31.
PANDIT, M.P. Essays on 'Savitri' 5 vols.[??]
PANDIT, M.P. Introducing 'Savitri' Pondicherry: Dipti Publications, 1982, 79 pp.
PANDIT, M.P. Readings in Savithri Part X Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1977, 741
pp.
PANDIT, M.P. The Book of Beginnings: Talks on Sri Aurobindo's Savitri Book One
Pondicherry: Dipti Publications, 1983.
PHILLIPS, STEPHEN H. "The Central Argument of Aurobindo's The Life Divine" PE&W
35.3 (July 1985):271-84.
PRASAD, S.K. The Literary Criticism of Sri Aurobindo with Special Reference to Poetry
Patna, Bharati Bhavan, 1973, 487 pp.
RAJNATH, "Sri Aurobindo and T.S. Eliot as Critics" ACLALS Bulletin 4th Series 5
(1977):52-7.
RAM, ATMA & BINDRA, D. “Sri Aurobindo’s Sonnets: A Thematic Study” Triveni 56.1
(1987):11-18.
Most criticism deals with the epics; considers 58 dated sonnets of the collected 77, arguing
that Aurobindo’s intellectual and spiritual powers “crystallised” rather than declined. Some
poems show the “struggle for release from... material bonds” while most “embody concrete
experiences in the metaphysical plane”, the soul suffused with blissful glimpses of divine
harmony. Notes a humorous touch in “A Dream of Surreal Science” and contrasts Whitman’s
“adventures with the Self” to Aurobindo’s more spiritual soul journey.
RAMAMURTI, K.S. & KAMALANI N. “Sri Aurobindo’s ‘Songs to Myrtilla—A
Note”Commonwealth Quarterly 9.28 (1984): 32-42.
Early poems have a greater English and Greek classical flavour than later, more Indian verse
and are more youthfully sensuous. Makes comparison to Milton’s poetic development.
RANCHAN, SOM P. "The Aesthetics of Aurobindo" in PRASAD, R.C. & SHARMA,
R.K., eds. Modern Studies and Other Essays in Honour of Dr R.K. Sinha New Delhi: Vikas,
1987: 224-38.
RANCHAN, SOM P. & BINDRA, DAVINDAR. “Savitri-Satyavan-Coniunctio on Sri
Aurobindo’s Savitri”Ken: a Journal of English Studies and Creative Writing 2.
(1986):13-24.
Concentrates on Books 4 and 5, offering descriptive commentary centred on the love theme
and its translation of the physical-emotional to the spiritual-cosmic level.
RAO, V. MADHUSUDAN. Savitri: Epic of the Eternal Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram,
1984, 150 pp.
ROARKE, JESSE. Sri Aurobindo Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1973, xv + 189 pp.
SARMA, S. KRISHNA. Seeds of Grandeur: Commentary on Some Poems of Sri
Aurobindo Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1982, 96 pp.
SETHNA, K.D. Sri Aurobindo - The Poet
SETHNA, K.D. "The Biggest Puzzle in the Text of Savithri" Mother India, 11, (1990): 74554.
SINGH, R.K. "The Poet of Savitri: A Study in Romantic Strain" The Literary Endeavour
4.1&2 (1982):39-50.
Plcaes Aurobindo as a Romantic visionary of sipritual fulfilment. His theory of the Imagination
expresses kant’s and Novalis’s ideas on intuition in an indian context, where inner vision
serves universal spiritual evolution as the soul is an aspect of cosmic reality. Compares
Aurobindo’s work to The Prelude, looking to archetypal patterns beneath perception to
convey the spiritual significance of phenomena, and also to In Memoriam where the deeper
transpersonal love of the conclusion is likened to the archetypal love of Savithri for Satyavan.
Browning also dramatised “the quest for self knowledge” through symbols of inner experience
but without Aurobindo’s mythopoeic grounding.
SINGH, R.K. “Emily Dickinson and Sri Aurobindo: An ‘Overhead’ Confluence of Love, Life
and Death” Littcrit 17, 9.2 (1983): 40-52.
Reads Dickinson through Aurobindo’s ideas about poetry and spiritual evolution, finding a
mystic visionary core in Dickinson’s “poetic sadhana” similar to his. Commentary on Savitri.
SINGH, R.K. Savitri: A Spiritual Epic Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1984, iv + 164 pp.
SINGH, R.K. Savitri: A Spritual Epic bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1989, 150pp.
SINGH, R.K. "Some Reflections on the Mythical Construction of Death in Sri Aurobindo's
Savitri" Littcrit 7.2 (1981):27-35.
SINGH, R.K. “Isis-Osiris: A Deconstruction in Savitri” Ken: a Journal of English Studies
and Creative Writing 1. (1982-3):25-29.
Puts Savitri in an archetypal context of muse-primal Mother whose task is to lead man to
enlightenment. Satyavan’s death and resurrection figures the shift from lower to higher spiritual
states, and instead of living happily ever after, as in the traditional tale, he must help Savitri
lead humanity towards the divine. The text is multiform, asking for active reader collaboration
in porbing deeper levels of significiance. Draws a parallel with the Isis-Osiris myth. (Nothing
to do with deconstruction).
SINGH, SATYA PRAKASH. Sri Aurobindo and Jung Aligarh: Madhucchandas
Publications, 1986, 239 pp.
SINHA, A.K. The Dramatic Art of Sri Aurobindo. New Delhi: Chand, 1980.
THARU, SUSIE J. "Savitri's Pedigree" New Quest 40 (1983):213-20.
TYAGI, PREM. Sri Aurobindo: His Poetry and Poetic Theory Saharanpur: Ashir Prakashan,
1988, 214 pp.
VAN DIJK, ALPHONS. European Influences on Sri Aurobindo's Thought The Indian
P.E.N. 46.1&2 (1984):8-18.
VARALAKSHMI, B. "Mothers in Sri Aurobindo's Plays and Savitri" Mother India 38.12
(1985):810-19.
Ayyar, A.S.P
REDDY, P. BAYAPPA, "Drama with a Message: A.S.P. Ayyar's Sita's Choice" in Studies in
Indian Writing in English with a Focus on Indian English Drama, New Delhi: Prestige Books,
1990:7-12.
Aziz, Nasima
ABIDI, S.Z.H. "Mary Ann Dasgupta and Nasima Aziz - Two Alien Voices" in DWIVEDI,
A.N. "Eves' Song: Contemporary English Verse by Indian Women" Studies in Contemporary
Indo-English Verse: A Collection of Critical Essays. Vol. I Female Poets Bareilly: Prakash
Book Depot, 1985:164-73.
DASGUPTA, MARY ANN. “Nasima Aziz” Commonwealth Quarterly 9.28 (1984): 5356.
Compares her directness to Kamala Das and looks for a shift from telling us what she thinks
and does to communication what it means to the poet. Records her protests at the confined
lives of women and praises her immediate and unusual images.
Bandyopadhyaya, Pranab
BANDYOPADYHAY,ARNAB.Pranab Bandyopadhyaya:Interpretations Calcutta: United
Writers, 1980.
BHATNAGAR, O.P. "Urbanity and Ruralism in the Poetry of Pranab Bandyopadhyay" in
DAS, BIJAY KUMAR ed. Contemporary Indo-English Poetry Bareilly: Prakash Book
Depot, 1986:134-45.
CHOWDHURY, KABIR. "Pranab Bandyopadhyay" in DWIVEDI, A.N ed. Studies in
Contemporary Indo-English Verse Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1984:243-50.
MACHWE, PRABHAKAR. "The Poetry of Pranab Bandyopadhyay" Commonwealth
Quarterly 6 (1978):28-38.
Basu, Romen
KIRPAL, VINEY. "Harivansh Batra's Quest Beyond Matter: A Study of Sunrise in Fiji" in
KIRPAL, VINEY, ed. & introd. The New Indian Novel in English: A Study of the 80s New
Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1990: 45-55.
RAO, D.S.. "Portrait on the Roof: A Novel by Romen Basu" Indian Literature 24.4 (JulyAugust 1981):156-62.
Bharati
NANDAKUMAR, PREMA. Bharati (Subramania or the Classical writer or the poet?)
SATCHIDANANDAM, V. Whitman and Bharati (the poet? classical?)
VIJAYA, BHARATI S. "The Other Harmony: A Study of Bharati's Prose Writings" [F 129]
2 (1972):116-21. [??]
Bhatnagar, O.P.
BAGHMAR, B.S., ed. The Vision and the Voice: Studies in the Poetry of O.P. Bhatnager
Vol. I 183pp Vol II 161pp Vol III 98pp Nagpur: Vishwa Bharati Prakashan, 1987.
BARCHE, G.D. "A Stylistic Analysis of O.P. Bhatnagar's Poem: 'Man is Lived'" in SINGH,
R.K. ed. Indian English Writing 1981-1985: Experiments with Expression New Delhi: Bahri
Publications, 1987: 126-32.
CHAR, SHREE RAMA. "Symbols of Road and Journey in the Poetry of O.P. Bhatnagar" in
RAM, ATMA. ed. Contemporary Indian-English Poetry Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1989:
149-57.
KASTURE, P.S. "Symbolism in O.P. Bhatnagar's Poetry" WLWE 27.1 (Spring 1987):13138.
KASTURI, P.S. "O.P. Bhatnagar: The Poet of Integral Existence" Poetry 12 (1986):21-36.
Loose discussion of Bhatnagar’s links to existentialism, quoting his dicta on poetry, religion,
the centrality of human experience. Bhatnagar writes of the suffering of disbelief but is not
despairing, showing a “gaiety of anguish” and reconciling himself to fallen humanity.
MOHANTY, NIRANJAN. "O.P. Bhatnagar's Poetry: The Meaningful Glance" in
DWIVEDI, A.N ed. Studies in Contemporary Indo-English Verse Bareilly: Prakash Book
Depot, 1984:216-33.
MOHANTY, NIRANJAN. “HERE AND NOW A Study in the Poetry of O.P. Bhatnagar”
New Literary Horizons 3.1 (1988): 79-84.
Bhatnagar insists on present reality while protesting its inequities and conflicts and human
suffering.
PATHAK, R.S. "The Nativization of English in India: O.P. Bhatnagar's Exploitation of Lexical
Resources" in SINGH, R.K. ed. Indian English Writing 1981-1985: Experiments with
Expression New Delhi: Bahri Publications, 1987: 99-124.
SAHU, N.S. "Metaphor and Symbol in O.P. Bhatnagar's Poetry" in DAS, BIJAY KUMAR
ed. Contemporary Indo-English Poetry Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1986: 111-23.
SINGH, R.K. "O.P. Bhatnagar's Poetry: Average is Large" World Literature Today 59.1
(Winter 1985):44-6.
Bhatt, Sujata
EHLING, HOLGER G. "Autorinnenportrait: Sujata Bhatt (Indien)" Literaturnachrichten
Afrika-Asien-Lateinamerika 23 (1989):14-16. lang? genre?
Bhattacharya, Bhabani
AMEERUDDIN, SYED. "Social Commitment in Bhattacharya's Novels" Littcrit 7
(1978):20-30.
Perceives political protest against social evils afflicting India as the underlying message
in the author's novels. Commitment to humanist values permeates these fictions. The author's
work calls for a realignment of social forces as the only practical possibility for change in the
country's future.
ARULANDRAM, H.G.S. "Bhabani Bhattacharya's Novels" Triveni 46.3 (1980):68-73.
Bhattacharya is a novelist concerned with changing social reality and ameliorating the
conditions of the poor. Lists the various themes in his oeuvre. Advocates the responsibility of
the artist to plead for a better world.
ASNANI, SHYAM M. “ Form, Technique and Style in Bhabani Bhattacharya’s Novels”
Littcrit 8, 5.1 (1979): 29-37.
All his work uses social realist technique: omniscient narrator moving an ideal character
through a socio-historical backdrop (Quit India, the Bengal famine, the Chinese invasion).
Exposing social evils, Bhattacharya always shows the innate goodness of man. He has
rounded characters but sometimes reverts to types in order to portray mass upheaval. Music
for Mohini is less successful than the more concentrated So Many Hungers. He Who Rides
a Tiger balances satire with entertainment. A Goddess Named Gold and Shadow from
Ladakh lack intensity and depth. Charts the characteristic use of irony (both Socratic and
dramatic) and notes the use of Indian proverbs, interrogative formations and composite
adjectives, finding naturalness sacrificed to local colour. Portraying rural India is a strength.
BHATT, P.N. "The Impact of Gandhi on Bhabani Bhattacharya's Novels"Triveni 54.3
(1985): 83-85.
Traces the author’s commitment to Gandhi’s beliefs and practices. Claims Shadow
from Ladakh (1966) based on Gandhian philosophy and values. Character study of Satyajit.
BHATTACHARYA, BHABANI. "Women in my Stories." Journal of Indian Writing in
English 3.2 (1975): 1-6.
Identifies "human richness" as the key factor in his women figures. Claims women have
an innate capacity for value adaptation. Traces the importance of the images of the
grandmother in the short story,"Steel Hawk", and the destitute girl in So Many Hungers
(1947). Moral evaluation of women characters finds more depth in them than the male
characters.
CHANDRASEKHARAN, K. R. Bhabani Bhattacharya New Delhi:
Arnold-Heinemann, 1974, 180pp.
Perceives the author advocating a synthesis of Gandhi’s asceticism and Tagore’s
aestheticism producing a philosophy of compromise and reconciliation. Examines the author’s
purpose in depicting truth as he see it. Focuses on the transformation of character operating
within a formulation of synthesis which eventuates in equilibrium and harmony.
DESAI, S.K. "Bhabani Bhattacharya: The Writer Who Rides a Tiger" in NAIK, M.K.
Perspectives on Indian Fiction in English New Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 1985: 119-34.
DHAR, T.N. "Bhabani Bhattacharya's He Who Rides a Tiger: The Role-Playing Matrix" in
GUPTA, G.S. BALARAMA., ed. Studies in Indian Fiction in English Gulbarga: JIWE
Publications, 1987: 93-103.
FISHER, MARLENE. "Personal and Social change in Bhattacharya's Novels" World
Literature Written in English 12 (1973):288-96.
Finds Bhattacharya's oeuvre implies that inner personal growth and outer social
change are inextricably interrelated and must keep pace with one another. Reveals the central
motifs in his work as 1) the need for reform, 2) reconciliation of the two conflicting means to
improvement, 3) removal of British imperialism is connected to radically transforming native
greed and selfishness into a better India for all. Traces universalist values in his work.
FISHER, MARLENE. "The Women in Bhattacharya's Novels" World Literature Written in
English 11.1 (1972):95-108.
The author’s representation of women stems from his linking them to the Hindu
worship of the Sacred Cow, Gaumata, and to the Hindu concept of Shakti. Offers character
studies of Chandra Lekha, Kajoli, Mohini, Meera and Suruchi as examples of Shakti in
action. Finds his depiction of women sensitive, sympathetic and successful because they are
able to take on a life of their own beyond the context of their novels.
JAIN, JASBIR. "Coming to Terms with Gandhi: Shadow From Ladakh" Journal of Indian
Writing in English 3.2 (1975):20-23.
Considers Shadow From Ladakh (1966) as a probe of the validity and relevance of
Gandian ethics to postindependence India. Perceives the character of Satyajit as the
representative of the form and Bhaskar, the content, of Gandhi. Gandian moral evaluation
differentiates between the form and content of the guru's message.
PANDIA, MAHENDRA N. "Relevance of Bhattacharya's Fiction" The Indian PEN 50.1012 (1989): 6-10.
Sociological accuracy contributes social realistic impulse to the author's work. Notes
Bhattacharya's sensitivity to humankind's mistreatment of their fellow human beings.
RAMACHANDRA, P. “The Short Stories of Bhabani Bhattacharya” The Literary
Endeavour 6.1-4 (1985): 68-82.
Takes issue with Dorothy Blair Shimer over the status of the short stories. Bhattacharya
creates spontaneously and destroys unsatisfactory work. The 15 stories available show a
range of human experiences and “puncture... pomposities with a good-humoured sympathy”.
The occasional exaggerated situation is part of comic caricature and there is psychological
insight into character.
RAO, A.V. KRISHNA.”Shadow from Ladakh: A Critical Viewpoint” The Literary
Endeavour 1.2 (1979): 77-80.
Distinguishes Bhattachaya’s naturalism from Anand, Abbas, Premchand and Tagore. The
Chinese invasion takes him away from Gandhian values into modern Realpolitik. In a framing
drama of tradition versus modernity, economic determinism is the primary force for change.
RAO, B. SYAMALA. Bhabani Bhattacharya Madras: Blackie & Son, 1988, 167 pp.
RAO, B. SYAMALA. "Dr. Bhabani Bhattacharya as a Novelist" Triveni 40.1 (1971):35-40.
Assesses Bhattacharya's writing as entirely socially purposeful. Focuses on the
themes of poverty and hunger and their effect on human degradation. Seeks to confirm him as
a social realist in the style of Mulk Raj Anand.
SARMA, S. KRISHNA & RANGAN, V. "What is in Dream — A Critical Appraisal of
Bhabhabi Bhattacharya's A Dream in Hawaii" The Literary Endeavour 1.3 (1980): 85-96.
The book fails to advance Bhattacharya's art, although it canvasses the themes of
East-West encounter, the sickness of modern society and the the search for the self.
Persuaded to renunciation by a beloved student Devjani, Prof Neeloy turns ascetic and is
persuaded to teach vedanta in Hawaii by a Fulbright scholar Stella. Exploited and
compromised by academics there, he returns to India, leaving a circle of characters variously
affected: Jennifer, a rich widow finds solace; the opportunistic Dr Swift assumes a fake
orientalism; Walt, Stella's estranged husband, loses some of his scepticism and hedonism;
Devjani has developed her intellect and accepted physicality and sex in the West. Devjani's
character is complex but not clearly delineated and her final confirmtion of Neeloy as
Yogananda is not altogether convincing. Neeloy is also a person of dualities, an ordinary
person pushed into a role that he both fails in and fulfils, but his growth occurs only in the final
moments of the novel and there is no fabric of irony as there is in Narayan's The Guide
(though the article cites several ironic reversals). Bhattacharya loads the dice against western
decadence but fails to create a basis for a serious vedantic alternative.
SHARMA, K.K. "Bhabani Bhattacharya's So Many Hungers! An Affirmative Vision of Life"
in SHARMA, K.K. ed. Indo-English Literature: a Collection of Critical Essays, Ghaziabad:
Vimal Prakashan, 1977: 201-14.
SHARMA, K. K.Bhabani Bhattacharya: His Vision and Themes New Delhi: Abhinav
Publications, 1979.
Perceives two basic themes, hunger for food and political freedom, pervade this
author's fiction. Reveals a synthesis of opposites as Bhattacharya's expression of the Indian
ideal of unity in diversity. Focuses on the need for economic and social freedom in the
aftermath of political sovereignty.
SHARMA, K.K. "The Everlasting Yea: Bhabani Bhattacharya's View of Life": 191-212. in
DWIVEDI, A.N. (ed) Studies in Contemporary Indian Fiction in English, Allahabad:
Kitab Mahal, 1987, pp.358
SHIMER, D.B. Bhabani Bhattacharya Boston: Twayne, 1975, 151 pp. Finds his fictions
address the question of technological progress on a rural-based economy tied to ancient
cultural values. Offers three basic components to his writing,1) expands social awareness and
concern,2) confirms human commonality, 3) reflects a “dynamic equilibrium” in the social
structure through a reconciliation of opposites. Adheres to universalist values.
SHIMER, DOROTHY BLAIR."Bhabani Bhattacharya-Gandhi Biographer" Journal of
Indian Writing in English Vol. 2 No. 2 (1974): 14-19. Assesses Gandhi the Writer: The
Image As It Grew (1969) and its relevance to Bhattacharya's own work. Traces the impact
on Gandhi of Romain Rolland and Leo Tolstoy. Notes the interrelatedness of various writers
to Gandhi's philosophy of passive resistance. (Could be deleted, if necessary)
SHIMER, DOROTHY BLAIR. "Gandhian Influence on the Writing of Bhabani Bhattacharya"
SARev 5.2 (July 1981):74-81.
SIRCAR, ARJYA. "Duplicity in Saffron Robes: Contrastive Study of The Guide, He Who
Rides a Tiger and Putul Nacher Itikatha" New Quest 33 (1982):163-8.
SRIVASTAVA, RAMESH K. "Bhabani Bhattacharya: Shadow From Ladakh" in
PRADHAN, N.S. ed. Major Indian Novels: An Evaluation New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann,
1986:155-73. Also Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey: Humanities, 1986.
SRIVASTAVA, RAMESH K., ed. Perspectives on Bhabani Bhattacharya Ghaziabad: Vimal
Prakashan (Indo-English Writers Series No. 4), 1982, xiv + 251 pp.
TAMILARASAN, C. “Bhattacharya’s Music for Mohini: A Study” The Literary
Endeavour 2.2 (1982): 35-43.
Likens Bhattacharya to Anand in his ideal of ‘social purpose’ fiction, but his work lacks the
amplitude and profundity of ‘the big three’. Music for Mohini contrasts urban and rural
values, setting voiced ideals against behaviour and suggesting understanding, selflessness and
adaption as ways to harmony. While approving of Mohini’s accommodating to tradition,
Bhattacharya also shows tradition’s absurdities.
TARINAYYA, M. "Two Novels" Indian Literature Vol 13 No. 1 Jan-Feb (1970) 113-121
Offers cursory readings of Khushwant Singh's Train to Pakistan (1956) and Bhattacharya's
So Many Hungers (1947). Finds remarkable detachment in the former and deep sensitivity to
peasant life in Bengal in the latter. Centres on tragedy of Indian experience Mainly plot
summary with romantic overtones. [Worth keeping?]
Brata, Sasthi
LAL, P. “Sexy Brata” Littcrit 5. 3.2 (1977): 31-34.
Finds the sexual voraciousness a ridiculous “literary lust”, slick in style with slapped-on
existentialist philosophising and basically commercial porn.
Chatterjee, Bankim Chandra
CHAKRAVORTY, DILIP K. "An Approach to Bankim Chandra's Novel Rajmohan's Wife"
The Quest 1.1 (1987):1-6.
MOHAN, DEVINDER. "Romanticism and the Woman: A Comparative View of
Hawthorne's Hester Prynne, Hardy's Sue Bridehead, Chatterjee's Rohini and Hesse's
Kamala" Literary Half-Yearly 27.1 (January 1986):78-88.
check
RAMAMURTI, K.S. "Bankim Chandra and The Indian Novel in English" Chandrabhaga 4
(1978):37-45.
RAMAMURTI, K.S. "Bankim Chandra and the Indian Novel in English" Journal of Indian
Writing in English 6.2 (1978):37-45.
Chatterjee, Margaret
DAS, BIJAY KUMAR. "The Poetry of Margaret Chatterjee" in DAS, BIJAY KUMAR ed.
Contemporary Indo-English Poetry Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1986: 124-33.
DWIVEDI, A.N. "Between Two Worlds: The Poetry of Margaret Chatterjee" Indian
Literature 25.5 (September-October 1982):72-85.
SAXENA, H.S. “Margaret Chatterjee” The Literary Endeavour 2.2 (1982): 45-51.
Biographical notes on her interest in philosophy and music. Finds Indian women’s poetry in
english “decadently romantic”, shockingly carnal or mechanically releasing the unconscious.
Chatterjee shows greater control and balance of idea with concrete detail, plus a “rare sense
of the significance of historical processes”. Though British born, she conveys an Indian spirit in
her work.
SAXENA, H.S. "Margaret Chatterjee" in DWIVEDI, A.N. "Eves' Song: Contemporary
English Verse by Indian Women" Studies in Contemporary Indo-English Verse: A Collection
of Critical Essays. Vol. I Female Poets Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1985: 157-63.
Chatterjee, Upamanyu
KUMAR, T. VIJAY. "I Can't Get No Satisfaction: Upamanyu Chatterjee's English, August"
in KIRPAL, VINEY, ed. & introd. The New Indian Novel in English: A Study of the 80s
New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1990: 169-78.
LAL, VINAY. "Enjoyable Reading" Indian Literature 137, (1990): 155-62. review? (English
August)
Chattopadhyaya, Harindranath
GUPTA, G.S. BALARAMA. "Harindranath's Saint: A Farce." The Century 11, no.2 (1973):
11-12. Reprinted in Essays on Indian Writing in English (1975): 31-32.
The Saint is quite different from Harindranath's earlier plays based on the life of the
legendary Indian holy men. it is a short farce with a single scene, which satirizes the gullibility
of the religious villagers who take a lean opium addict to be a saint emaciated because of
austerities. The play shows Chattopadhyaya as a satirist.
GUPTA, G.S. BALARAMA. "The Devotional Plays of Harindranath Chattopadhyaya."
Journal of the Karnatak University: Humanities, 15 (1973): 116-26. Reprinted in Essays on
Indian Writing in English (1975): 19-30.
In the nineteen-twenties Chattopadhyaya wrote a dozen plays about the Indian saints.
most of these verse plays are quite short, and it is the poetry, not the dramatic action, which
predominates. Tukaram is the exception, with its stageability and humour; it has a tight
structure, and the poetry is functional, not decorative.
GUPTA, G.S. BALARAMA. "A Note on Siddhartha: Man of Peace." In Essays on Indian
Writing in English, 1975: 33-37.
Chattopadhyaya's most ambitious play, in eight acts, Siddartha is a straightforward
enactment of the Buddha's life and message written with a foreign audience in mind. The
language seldom glows with passion, and the dramatic structure is loose. The play is significant
only in the context of the paucity of Indian drama in English.
GUPTA, G.S. BALARAMA. "The Plays of Harindranath Chattopadhyaya." In Perspectives
on Indian Drama in English, edited by M.K. Naik & S. Mokashi-Punekar, 115-23.(114-24)
Madras: OUP, 1977.
Chattopadhyaya wrote a variety of plays, in prose and in verse: devotional plays
based on the lives of the Indian saints (of which Tukaram is the best), social plays, and
historical plays (of which Siddhartha: Man of Peace, based on the life of the Buddha, is the
most impressive).
REDDY, K. VENKATA & SUNANDA, K. "Harindranath Chattopadhyaya's The Parrot."
Journal of Indian Writing in English 11, no.2 (1983): 37-43.
Expository analysis of The Parrot to show that it is too short to develop characters
fully, though it is well structured. The parrot is a good symbol for the helpless bondage of
women in India.
REDDY, K. VENKATA. & SUNANDA, K. "Harindranath Chattopadhyaya's The Parrot:
A Study" Journal of Indian Writing in English 11.2 (1984): 37-43. which year?
YARAVINTHELIMATH, C.R. "Pundalik." In Perspectives on Indian Drama in English,
edited by M.K. Naik & S. Mokashi-Punekar, 124-35. Madras: OUP, 1977.
Chattopadhyaya's one-act-play in verse about a renowned sage makes effective use
of symbols to present the Hindu glorification of parent-worship.
Chaudhuri, Nirad
DEVI, P. LAKSHMI. "Adverse Awareness: A Study of Chaudhuri's The Autobiography of
an Unknown Indian" Journal of Indian Writing in English 17.2 (1989): 55-59.
Considers The Autobiography's value lies in the rendering of a unique and unusual
personality. Claims Chaudhuri's importance rests on his ability to test some comfortable
illusions concerning Indian tradition. Psychological probing of Chaudhuri's autobiography
lacks any psychoanalytical depth.
JUMAR, S. Nirad C. Chaudhuri: The Man and Writer Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1984,
84 pp.
KARNANI, CHETAN. Nirad C. Chaudhuri New York: Twayne (World Authors Series),
1980, 140 pp.
MISHRA, GANESWAR. see entry under Mohanti, Prafulla.
MISHRA, SUDESH. "The Two Chaudhuris: Historical Witness and Pseudo-Historian" JCL
1 (1988):7-15.
Confirms Chaudhuri's authenticity in passages "where social, political or religious
dilemmas take precedence over personal traumas." His pseudo-historical side appears in
sections full of gossip, name-calling and malice best described as imaginative history.
Questions the veracity of Chaudhuri's claim to recording history as an objective, value-free,
disinterested chronicler. Traces the twin pillars of Chaudhuri's thought to Darwinian evolution
and Jungian collective unconscious.
NAIK, M.K. "Nirad C. Chaudhuri's First Publication" Journal of Commonwealth Literature
19.1(1984):98-107.
An introduction to "Defence of India or Nationalization of Indian Army" (1935), a
seventy-three page essay. Finds the structure divided into four sections, 1) "The Problem
Stated", 2) "Function", 3) "Man Power", 4) "Command and Control". Notes the
perceptiveness of Chaudhuri's analysis and the strength of British imperialism under which the
Indian army was subsumed.
NAIK, M.K. "The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian: A Note" WLWE 21.1 (Spring
1982):160-6.
"Unbridled egoism" gives Chaudhuri's autobiography a distinctive quality. Asserts the
autobiography's value as an important social document. Compares Chaudhuri to Jawaharlal
Nehru's Autobiography (1962) and reveals a "radical contrast" between them based on the
issue of motivation for the writing itself, Nehru declaring his purpose to be knowledge of the
self while Chaudhuri consciously set out to record a "national. . . history".
NAIK, M.K. "Pride and Prejudice Unabated" Indian Literature, 135, (1990): 131-8.
Discusses three basic elements in this second part of Chaudhuri's autobiography, a)
the disclosure of the author's personality, b) the men he knew and observed, c) the political
and cultural milieu of his time. Examines the details of Chaudhuri's purported factuality and
finds some inconsistencies based on political opposition to his worldview. Specifically
questions his portrait of Mahatma Gandhi. Claims Chaudhuri's interpretation of recent Indian
history biased by anglophilia and Indian-baiting.
NAIKAR, BASAVARAJ S. Critical Articles on Nirad C. Chaudhuri Dharwad: Sivaranjani
Publications, 1986, viii + 115 pp.
An appreciative close reading arranged with separate but unconnected chapters for
each work:
Chap 1 perceives The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian (1972) as an exercise in
descriptive ethnology.
Chap 2 Reveals Hindu philosophic search for inner knowledge works against external worldly
awareness practised by travel writing.
Chap 3 designates The Continent of Circe (1974) as a descriptive-analytical, satirical work.
Chap 4 finds bureaucratisation the defining factor in To Live or Not to Live (1970).
Chap 5 offers the view that the Hindu pursuit of knowledge was never rational but rather
supranational in The Intellectual in India (1967).
Chap 6 refers to his work as an expository prose style based on:
a)
concreteness of diction
b)
realistic detail
c)
extensive use of non-English words
d)
encyclopaedic knowledge
e)
unhibited boldness
f)
personal anecdotes.
Attends to structural concerns. Formalist analysis.
C. D. NARASIMHAIAH. "Nirad C. Chaudhuri: The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian"
The Indian Critical Scene: Controversial Essays 1990 Chap 8 85-95
Attacks Chaudhuri for his colonial cringe, egoism and pedantry. Compares
Chaudhuri's work to Nehru's Autobiography (1962) and find the latter well-written and a rare
achievement in the genre. Formalist analysis.
NIVEN, Alastair. "Crossing the Black Waters: Nirad C. Chaudhuri's A Passage to
England and V. S. Naipaul's An Area of Darkness" Ariel (Calgary, Canada) Vol. 9 July
1978 21-36
Compares Chaudhuri's and Naipaul's travel writing books and finds them exercises in
self-discovery obsessed with the history of imperialism. Examines their colonised usage of the
imposed English language and reveals it as the central concern of these writers. Traces the
nexus of colonialism and imperialism and its consequences for Indian society.
NIVEN, ALASTAIR. "Nirad Chaudhuri and Modern Indian Literature" in Individual and
Community in Commonwealth Literature ed Daniel Massa, Malta: Old University Press,
1979: 196-201.
Examines Chaudhuri's oeuvre and its encounter with the complexity of imperialism.
Questions the differing reception of Chaudhuri's work in India, where few critics esteem him,
and Britian, where his prose is highly praised. Analyses Chaudhuri's contention that the
history of India has been a culture in decline brought about by the stultifying conservatism of
Hindu ethics.
NIVEN, ALASTAIR. :Contrasts in the Autobiography of Childhood: Nirad Chaudhuri, Janet
Frame and Wole Soyinka” in MCDERMOTT, DOIREANN ed. Autobiographical and
Biographical Writing in Commonwealth Literature Barcelona: Sabadell, 1984:175-180.
Many auto/biographies rush through childhood, selecting only details indicating
predestined adult greatness. Better works capture the present-tense fantasy of childhood.
Chaudhuri differs from Frame and Soyinka in representing himself as an already adult infant.
“Indian autobiographies ... have a public aspect and a sense of history” and Chaudhuri links
his story to India’s emergence, detailing childhood only to document values eroded by
modernity. Frame and Soyinka create children with vital lives less connected to future
adulthood and differently linked to consciousness of an outside, historical world.
PHILIP, DAVID SCOTT. Perceiving India Through the Works of Nirad C. Chaudhuri, R.K.
Narayan and Ved Mehta New Delhi: Sterling, 1986, vi + 184 pp.
SINHA, TARA. "A Stylistic Treatment of a Few Traits of Nirad C. Chaudhuri's Writings
Along Modern Linguistic Lines" The Quest 1.2 (1988):38-50.
SINHA, TARA. Nirad C. Chaudhuri: A Sociological and Stylistic Study of his Writings
During the Period 1951-72 Patna: Prakashan, 1981, xii + 256 pp.
SINHA, TARA. Nirad C. Chaudhuri: A Sociological Study of His Writings: 1951-72 (1981)
VENUGOPAL, C.V. "Growing to Manhood: The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian" in
NAIK, M.K. ed. Perspectives on Indian Prose in English New Delhi: Abhinav, 1982: 21331. Also Atlantic Highlands: Humanities, 1982.
VERGHESE, C. Paul. "Nirad C. Chauduri: An Assessment" Littcrit 6 (1978):4-14.
VERGHESE, C.PAUL. "Nirad C. Chaudhuri: An Assessment" in NAIK, M.K. ed.
Perspectives on Indian Prose in English New Delhi: Abhinav, 1982: 200-12. Also Atlantic
Highlands: Humanities, 1982.
WALSH, W. "On Nirad Chaudhuri" in MUKHERJEE, MEENAKSHI. ed. Considerations:
Twelve Studies of Indo-Anglian Writing New Delhi: Allied, 1977: 132-6.
WILLIAMS, HAYDN M. "The Insider and the Outsider: The India of V.S. Naipaul and
Nirad Chaudhuri" in NANDAN, SATENDRA. ed. Language and Literature in Multicultural
Contexts, Suva: University of the South Pacific, 1983: 353-361.
Likens Naipaul’s An Area of Darkness (1965) and Chaudhuri’s The Continent of
Circe (1965) to Old Testament prophecy: visionay criticism, moral dissection, expressions of
anguished concern. Both honestly reveal their view of the damaging truth, though Naipaul has
an air of Camus and Chaudhuri more of Spengler and Toynbee. Contrasts their styles and
different presentations of self.
WILLIAMS, HAYDN MOORE. "The Plight of the Aryans and the Nightmare of history:
Nirad Chaudhuri's Alternative View" SPAN 24 (April 1987):190-207.
Reveals Chaudhuri's major influence has been the Brahmoism or Brahmo Samjay of
Rammohan Roy. Perceives Chaudhuri's theory of history based on three traumatic epochs of
contact between the indigenous peoples and their successive waves of conquerors, the
Aryans, the Moguls and the British and the aftermath. Idiosyncratic interpreation of history
shaped by the confluence of Brahminical and nationalist perceptions, which challenge myths
about the Raj perpetuated by E. M. Forster or Paul Scott and shatter illusions such as the
Hindu tradition of pacifism.
Chinmoy, Sri
BENNET, MEREDITH. "The Poet as Language-Maker: Sri Chinmoy" New Literature
Review 10 (May 1982):61-6.
BENNET, VIDAGDHA MEREDITH. "Forging a New Language: Sri Chinmoy's 'Ten
Thousand Flower-Flames'" Westerly 28.4 (December 1983):81-6.
Coomaraswamy, Ananda K.
BALASUBRAHMANYA, N. “Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy — A Centenary Tribute”
Commonwealth Quarterly 1.1 (1976): 1-9.
Biographical outline and tribute to his role as nationalist promoter of cultural pride. Admits he
was “more doctrinaire and metaphysical in his criticism than aesthetic and technical” beceause
of the spirit of the times. His view of good art as impersonal prevented him from appreciating
post-Renaissance work and he disliked science for its anti-creative materialist aspects, looking
for an organic relation between art and life.
DESAI, S.K. "The Dance of Shiva" in NAIK, M.K. ed. Perspectives on Indian Prose in
English New Delhi: Abhinav, 1982: 139-53. Also Atlantic Highlands: Humanities, 1982.
KAMALIAH, K.C. "Ananda K. Coomaraswamy's Universalism" Triveni 45.2 (1976):32-8.
RAGANATHAN, A. "Coomaraswamy: A Tribute" Indian Horizons 26.1 (1977):11-15.
RAGHAVAN, V. The Aesthetics of Ananda Coomaraswamy Bangalore: Indian Institute of
World Culture, 1983, 6 pp.
RANGANATHAN, A. "Ananda Coomaraswamy: Exponent of Perennial Philosophy" I&FR
14.22 (1977):17, 19.
SASTRI, P.S. "Coomaraswamy and Indian Renaissance" in NAIK, M.K. ed. Perspectives
on Indian Prose in English New Delhi: Abhinav, 1982: 124-38. Also Atlantic Highlands:
Humanities, 1982.
Currimbhoy, Asif
BANHAM, MARTIN. "Indian Theatrical Craftmanship." Journal of Commonwealth
Literature 9, no.3 (1975): 86-87.
Reviewing six plays of Currimbhoy, concludes that they are distinguished by careful
craftsmanship. Considerable theatrical impact from the experience of contemporary political
events in works like Inquilab and Sonar Bangla, though Sonar Bangla with its semidocumentary form needs a multi-media presentation. Goa is an allegory relating to the Indian
takeover of the Portuguese enclave. In The Doldrummers, the characters are dropouts, the
kind of people familiar in all cultures.
BHATT, A.K. "A Theatre of Journalism.' The Indian P.E.N. 40, no.12 (1974): 1-4.
Currimbhoy writes hurriedly about events which are in the news, so his language tends
to be journalistic. After analysing the language, Bhatt concludes that Currimbhoy "does not
seem ever to have cared to blot a single line."
NAIK, M. K. "Half-God's Plenty: The Drama of Asif Currimbhoy." In Studies in Indian
Literature, 121-35. New Delhi: Sterling,1987.
Naik analyses all the plays in terms of theme, characterisation, dialogue, and
stagecraft, and concludes that though there are many scenes which show keen dramatic sense,
and the dialogue too is lifted to a higher level, Currimbhoy fails to sustain a genuine drama.
Many of his plays deal with recent historical and political events; plays like An Experiment
with truth and Goa fail to transmute events into art. The same inability is evident in plays
dealing with social concerns like The Doledrummers, where Currimbhoy lays stress on sex,
drunkenness, and violence, not on the forces which have brought the characters to destitution.
The Miracle Seed fails because the city-bred playwright knows nothing of the Indian village.
Plays on East-West encounter such as The Tourist Mecca and The Hungry Ones lack clarity,
while Darjeeling Tea? has too many themes. Plays of psychological portrayal, such as The
Clock and The Dumb Dancer are more promising. Lack of live performance has had a bad
effect on Currimbhoy's plays, and later works, such as Sonar Bangla are unstageable.
NAZARETH, PETER. "Asif Currimbhoy: Dramatist of the Pulic Event." JIWE 4, no.2
(1976): 13-19.
Currimbhoy needs a public event to catalyse his writings. His best plays are Goa
(about the liberation of the Portuguese colony), Inquilab which deals with the Naxalite
movement, and Sonar Bangla which describes events surrounding the birth of Bangladesh.
Currimbhoy interweaves the public event with private, to create exciting drama which raises
moral questions.
PAN, DAPHNE. "Asif Currimbhoy's Goa: A Consideration." Journal of Indian Writing in
English 8, nos. 1 & 2 (1980): 77-97. Reprinted in Through Different Eyes: Foreign Responses
to Indian Writing in English, edited by Singh, Kirpal, 106-36. Calcutta: Writers Workshop,
1984.
Currimbhoy's plays are meant for the stage, they are not mrely vehicles for expressing
his thought. Goa is geographically a meeting place for different cultures, religions and attitudes,
and the play displays continuous conflicts and contradictions. Pan examines different
characters in the play and concludes that the play is capable of a variety of meanings. Goa is a
finely balanced and structured play, with dialogues in the last act echoing earlier passages. The
Appendix sets out the parallel passages in tabular form.
REDDY, P. BAYAPPA. "Asif Currimbhoy's The Refugees: A Study." JIWE 10, nos. 1 & 2
(1982): 63-70.
The play dramatises the exodus of ten million refugees from East Pakistan into India in
1971. Sengupta, himself a refugee who came over in 1947, helps Yassin, his childhood friend,
a Muslim from East Pakistan. The well-knit play shows the conflict between ideas and actions.
The dialogue is very effective: it furthers the plot, reveals character, and sometimes has ironic
dimensions.
REDDY, P. BAYAPPA. "Asif Currimbhoy's Goa: A Study." in Kher, Inder Nath and
Christopher Wiseman eds. Ariel 14, no.4 (1983): 77-86.(1984: 77-85)
Through the story of an Indian boy Krishna's love for a Goan girl, Currimbhoy
highlights colonialism and colour prejudice in a light ironic vein. Goa has some of Currimbhoy's
most psychologically complex characters, and his handling of the element of conflict is
effective. It is a finely balanced and tautly knit play notable for its poetic value and
demonstrates Currimbhoy's fine sense of theater.
REDDY, P. BAYAPPA. "Asif Currimbhoy's An Experiment with Truth: A Thematic Study."
Littcrit 9, no.1 (1983): 25-30.
Thematic study. The only other earlier plays to dramatise Gandhiji's life and ideals are
Bharati Sarabhai's The Well of the People (1943) and K. S. Rangappa's Gandhiji's Sadhana
(1969). In An Experiment with Truth, the internal conflict in Gandhiji regarding his sexual
abstinence is more important than the external conflict between the Indians and the British.
This three-act play is episodic in structure. The first act is set just before Mahatma Gandhi's
assassination in 1948, the second shows the Salt March of 1931, while the third shows him
being gunned down. The character of Vincent Sheean, the journalist, provides unity and choric
commentary. There are historical as well as symbolic characters, and stagecraft is complex,
with musical effects.
REDDY, P. BAYAPPA. The Plays of Asif Currimbhoy. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1986,
194pp.
Reddy's approach is thematic and descriptive. He categorizes the plays into romantic,
political, social, religious, etc. and proceeds to give summaries of the plays with brief critical
comments. There is a useful introductory chapter on the origins and development of Indian
theater. Has a comprehensive bibliography.
REDDY, P. BAYAPPA, "Reflections on Asif Currimbhoy's Plays" and "The Clock Symbol in
Asif Currimbhoy's The Clock." In Studies in Indian Writing in English with a Focus on Indian
English Drama, 35-40; 41-43, New Delhi: Prestige Books, 1990.
SAHA, SUBHAS. C. "Currimbhoy's Study of Love and Hate in Goa and Monsoon." The
Literary Half-Yearly 15, no.2 (1974): 96-105.
Currimbhoy combines the methods of realism, expressionism, and surrealism; conflict
is shown on the physical plane to project the conflict within. Goa (1964) and Monsoon
(1965) are his most intense plays because they have no light scenes. Goa shows the evil of
possessive love through the lives of Krishnan, the young and innocent girl whom he loves but
rapes, her promiscuous mother Miranda, and Alphonso who hankers after Portugal. The
period is December 1961 when India invaded Goa, but the political symbolism is not very
effective. Monsoon is not as brisk as Goa; the chief emotion is hate and the protagonist,
Andrew, is a megalomaniac. The play is reminiscent of Jacobean drama, with its lurid
atmosphere, ghosts, murder, and suicide.
VENUGOPAL, C.V. "Asif Currimbhoy's The Doledrummers: A Glimpse into the Bombay
Shacks." In Aspects of Indian Writing in English, edited by M. K. Naik, 262-67. New Delhi:
Macmillan, 1979.
Viewed as a whole, his achievement is impressive. The Doledrummers reveals the
mature artist. The stagecraft is superb, and the dialogue, true to the shack, is raw and physical.
The play is a sympathetic study of the shackdwellers, successfully portraying their basic
humanity.
Dalal, Nergis
BHATNAGAR, O.P. “Playing the Role in The Guide and The Inner Door”
Commonwealth Quarterly 4.13 (1979): 71-79.
Both works have individuals playing roles under pressure of collective expectation, but
outcomes differ (Narayan’s external forces mock the hero, but Dalal’s hero mocks external
forces) and the hero of the The Inner Door is not as introspective as Raju.
BHATNAGAR, O.P. “A Study of Nergis Dalal as a Novelist” Commonwealth Quarterly
9.28 (1984): 57-72.
Dalal neither strains to be overtly Indian nor affects a Western style. Dalal avoids mass social
movements in favour of individual emotions. Surveys Minari (1967), The Sisters (1973) and
The Inner Door (1973). Dalal seems not to reward virtue and punish vice: withdrawal,
substitutes or compromise are solutions offered to life’s frustrations. Sensitive characters show
the possible merging of sensuousness with spiritual wisdom, though they are not saintly
renouncers of life and are victims to situational ironies. Briefly traces ironies through the short
story collections. Compares Dalal to Anita Desai.
SHARMA, D.R. "The Creative Art of Nergis Dalal" Journal of Indian Writing in English 5.1
(1977):17-23.
Dalmiya, Rita
SAHA, SUBHAS C. "Rita Dalmiya, Renu Roy and Zahida Zaidi" in DWIVEDI, A.N. "Eves'
Song: Contemporary English Verse by Indian Women" Studies in Contemporary Indo-English
Verse: A Collection of Critical Essays. Vol. I Female Poets Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot,
1985: 194-200.
Daniels, Shouri
DANIELS, SHOURI. "Daniels, Shouri: The Salt Doll" Osmania Journal of English Studies 17
(1981):135-7. [review?]
KANTAMBLE, V.D. "The Salt Doll: An Experimentation with Existentialist Writing in IndoAnglian Fiction" Littcrit 9.2 (1983):32-39.
Daruwalla, Keki N.
CHAR, M. SREE RAMA. "Secularization of the Religious Concepts and Idiom in Keki N.
Daruwalla's Bombay Prayer's" Poetry 12.1 (1987):19-31.
CHAR, M. SREERAMA. Prayer Motif in Indian Poetry in English Calcutta: Writers
Workshop, 1988, 135 pp.
Concentrates on A.K. Ramanujan, Arun Kolatkar, Nissim Ezekiel & Keki N.
Daruwalla.
DWIVEDI, A.N. “K.N. Daruwalla: The Painter of Rural Landscape” Rajasthan University
Studies in English 16 (1984): 86-95.
Descriptive survey of verse in first four volumes dealing with nature (especially rivers)
and rural life, noting mythic and narrative elements in “Crossing of Rivers” and occasional
lapses into rhetoric and sentimentality.
DWIVEDI, A.N. "K.N. Daruwalla's Poetry: An Assessment" in DWIVEDI, A.N ed. Studies
in Contemporary Indo-English Verse Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1984:163-76.
INAMDAR, F.A. "K.N. Daruwalla's Poems: Individual Response" in RAM, ATMA. ed.
Contemporary Indian-English Poetry Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1989: 86-92.
KING, BRUCE. “Daruwalla’s Oxford Revisions” Littcrit 19, 10.2 (1984): 37-56.
In contrast to earlier printings, the Oxford editions left-justify margins, italicise and footnote
Indian terms and regulate usage of capitals and punctuation. Close reading of texts noting a
general tightening of diction, less ambiguity, fewer excess similes, more regular linebreaks and
a general shift to “vigorous realistic speech” , all as evidence of Daruwalla’s continuing
attention to poetic craft.
KING, BRUCE. "Keki Daruwalla: Outsider, Skeptic and Poet" The Indian Literary Review
4.2 (1986):47-59.
MOKASHI-PUNEKAR, SHANKAR. “????” [Daruwalla]Journal of Indian Writing in
English 4.1 (1976): 24-?.
Daruwalla as a police officer engages with real life and is naturally Indian in his “aliveness to
the environment”. Finds his debunking irony more amusing than Ezekiel’s play with Indian
English. Under Orion is more controlled than Apparitions in April. Contrasts to Santhi’s
verse and compares with Rajendranath Seal.
MUKHERJEE, PRASENJIT. "Relating the Subjective: An Approach to the Recent Poetry of
Keki N. Daruwalla" Chandrabhaga 4 (1980):51-8.
NABAR, VRINDA. "Keki N. Daruwalla: Poetry and a National Culture" in SHAHANE,
VASANT A. and SIVARAMKRISHNA, M. eds Indian Poetry in English: A Critical
Assessment Madras: Macmillan, 1980: 28-40. Also Atlantic Highlands: Humanities, 1981.
NAIK, M.K. “‘Drama Talk’: The Poetry of K. N. Daruwalla” in Naik Studies in Indian
English Literature New Delhi: Sterling, 1987: 93-104.
NAIK, M.K. "Landscapes and Inscapes" Kavya Bharati 1 (1988): 65-71.
PRASAD, MADHUSUDAN. "Keki N. Daruwalla: Poet as Critic of His Age" Literary HalfYearly 28.1 (January 1987):17-38.
SREERMACHER, M. "The River's Argot in Three Indo-English Poets: A.K. Ramanujan,
K.N. Daruwalla and Nissim Ezekiel" Poetry 10 (1986):11-13.
SREERMACHER, M. "The River's Argot in Three Indo-English Poets: A.K. Ramanujan,
K.N. Daruwalla and Nissim Ezekiel" Poetry 10 (1986):11-13.
VENKATACHARI, K."The Idiom of Autochthon: A Note on the Poetry of Keki N.
Daruwalla" in KHER, INDER NATH and CHRISTOPHER WISEMAN eds. Ariel 14.4
(1983): 72-76. Reprinted in Madhusudan Prasad (ed) Living Indian English Poets New
Delhi: Sterling, 1989: 66-72.
Without recourse to religion, Daruwalla’s work patterns an “apprehension of man in
relation to nature and his identity” as the fulfilment of historical development, and requires
exploration of “the singular power of the place” (autocthon) which generates a distinctive life.
Hence his ‘documentary’ cataloguing of India’s stark realities, the “dialectic of decadence and
regression” and the “re-enactment ... of the terms of the mind ... to awaken the Indian to the
disgrace of his condition”. Wanting to write “intensely personal poems”, Daruwalla
nonetheless downplays art in favour of experience. He uses open form with variable lines and
employs laconic wit shocking in its frankness.
Das, Deb Kumar
BHATNAGAR, O.P. "The 'Candle that Discovered Darkness': The Poetry of Deb Kumar
Das" in DWIVEDI, A.N ed. Studies in Contemporary Indo-English Verse Bareilly: Prakash
Book Depot, 1984:62-71.
Das, Gurcharan
NAIK, M. K. "The Three Avatars of Henry Lawrence: A Study of Gurcharan Das's Larins
Sahib." The Literary Criterion 12, nos.2 & 3 (1976): 29-36.
Total artistic confusion vitiates the play, because Des allows his protagonist to enact
three incompatible roles alternately: Lawrence the enlightened empire-builder who admires
what is good in Indian life and character; Lawrence the "Lion of the Punjab" who
unconsciously identifies himself with Ranjit Singh, the last Sikh king; and Lawrence the little
cog in the wheels of the East India Company machine, who meekly accepts his transfer out of
the Punjab. The play has many minor virtues--the speech of the Indian characters has a
realistic regional flavour, and the minor characters are quite convincing.
VENUGOPAL, C.V. "Larins Sahib." In Perspectives on Indian Drama in English, edited by
Naik, M.K. & S. Mokashi-Punekar, 165-79. Madras: OUP, 1977.
Gurcharan Das's first published play may not be a perfect drama, but it has elements
which ensure stage success--a fine grip over dramatic technique, effective dialogue, exotic
historical settings, and plenty of action.
Das, J.P.
SRIVASTAVA, K.G. "J.P. Das: An Appraisal" in DWIVEDI, A.N ed. Studies in
Contemporary Indo-English Verse Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1984:123-28.
Das, Kamala
AGRAWAL, ISHWAR NATH. “The Language and the Limits of the Self in the Poetry of
Kamala Das” in SINHA, KRISHNA NANDAN Indian Writing in English 1979:138-146. xref
Asks why we should respond to Das’s isolated self “shouting in a hall of mirrors”. Focuses on
“the man-woman relationship” (best dealt with in The Old Playhouse) but is unsympathetic to
“Women’s lib crusaders” and sees ‘Das’ and her lovers as “unable to rise above their ego”.
Whitmanesque technique lacks breadth of vision and fails to rise above prose. When they
“escape from the surface-self” (as in “Lines addressed to a Devadasi”), poems are more
successful.
BREWSTER, ANNE. "The Freedom to Decompose: The Poetry of Kamala Das" Journal of
Indian Writing in English 7.1&2 (1980):98-107. Reprinted in SINGH, KIRPAL ed. Through
Different Eyes: Foreign Responses to Indian Writing in English Calcutta: Writers Workshop,
1984: 137-150.
The poems of a woman defined in her personal relationships, sensitive to “inadequacy,
mistrust or lack of communication” and expressed through “the tactile world of sense
experience.” They become, too, a vehicle for exploring “the interaction of consciousness with
the external world of phenomena” constellated in imagery of house and body. Traces moods
from celebration of senses to existential angst, the house as positive tradition and prison, the
image of spontaneous exposure to the cover of role-playing, sex as grotesque spectacle and
vehicle for union, noting that static structures are oppressive while the dynamic changes of
history reinvigorate moral and cultural tradition. Illustrative commentary on “Composition” in
which emotional intensity counterpoints blunt description and paradoxes of flesh and spirit
wherein “the strength of desire” provokes cruelty and exhaustion but also life-informing drives
to resurrection of purified soul.
DARUWALLA, K.N. "Confessional Poetry as Social Commentary: A View of English
Poetry by Indian Women" in RAM, ATMA. ed. Contemporary Indian-English Poetry
Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1989: 13-20.
DAS, BIJAY KUMAR. "Kamala Das and the Making of the Indian English Idiom" in
SINGH, R.K. ed. Indian English Writing 1981-1985: Experiments with Expression New
Delhi: Bahri Publications, 1987: 91-8.
DE SOUZA, EUNICE. "Kamala Das" in SHAHANE, V.A. & M. SIVARAMAKRISHNA,
eds. "Contemporary Indian Poetry in English Special Number" Osmania Journal of English
Studies 13.1 (1977):19-27.
DE SOUZA, EUNICE. "Kamala Das" in SHAHANE, VASANT A. and
SIVARAMKRISHNA, M. eds Indian Poetry in English: A Critical Assessment Madras:
Macmillan, 1980: 41-7. Also Atlantic Highlands: Humanities, 1981.
DHAR, T.N. "Eros Denied: Love in the Poetry of Kamala Das" i RAM, ATMA. ed.
Contemporary Indian-English Poetry Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1989: 21-31.
DWIVEDI, A.N. Kamala Das and Her Poetry Delhi: Doaba House, 1983, 148 pp.
ELIAS, M. "Kamala Das and Nayar Heritage" Journal of Indian Writing in English 6.2
(1978):15-24.
ELIAS, MOHAMED. "The Short Stories of Kamala Das" WLWE (Autumn 1985):307-12.
ELIAS, MOHAMED. “Aubrey Menen and Kamala Das: Angli-Dravidian Revolt against
Aryan Myths”Jadavpur Journal of Comparative Literature 24 (1986): 124-133..
Menen in his Rama Retold and Das in her My Story and verse recreate traditional Hindu
myths to focus on outlaws and adultresses. Both South Indian (and related), they create a
pure Dravidian space (crossed in Das with Whitman and western writing and in both cases by
a sense of racial alienation) opposed to the corrupt urban North and its Aryan hierarchised
aggression. Das’s ambivalent relations with Krishna indicate both fear of male and Aryan
domination and confidence that Dravidian/Nayar blood can contain their conquests.
Biographical, cultural and thematic approach.
GOWDA, H. H. ANNIAH. “Perfected Passions: The Love Poetry of Kamala Das and Judith
Wright.” Literary half-Yearly 20:1 (1979)
GREWAL, OMPRAKASH. “The Poetry of Kamala Das — A Critical Assessment” in
SINHA, KRISHNA NANDAN ed. Indian Writing in English 1979: 128-137. x ref
Aligns Das with P. Lal’s break from Romantic tradition.Social unconventionality and
heightened self-awareness before a threatening world supposedly accompany clarity, intensity
and subtlety. the brittle decay of the social scene expresses the poet’s “restless turmoil”.
Rejects the ‘alien language/alien sensibility’ claims against IWE but sees Das as a minor figure
because she eschews public themes, providing only external superficial treatment of the poor
etc. and much hollow bourgeois futility.
JUSSAWALLA, FEROZA. "Kamala Das: The Evolution of the Self" Journal of Indian
Writing In English 10.1&2 (1982):54-61.
KOHLI, DEVENDRA. "Kamala Das" in KULSHRESHTHA, CHIRANTAN., ed
Contemporary Indian-English Verse: An Evaluation New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1980,
270 pp. Also Atlantic Highlands: Humanities, 1981: 187-200. Reissued, New Delhi: ArnoldHeinemann, 1982.
KOHLI, DEVINDRA. Kamala Das New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1975, 128 pp.
NARAYAN, SHYAMALA. “A Note on Kamala Das’s My Story” Commonwealth
Quarterly 9.28 (1984): 148-153.
Das writes her poetry in English and her stories in Malayalam (with the less successful
exception of A Doll for the Chile Prostitute). My Story is the only work to appear in both
languages, but disappoints in providing only surface events and inconsistencies rather than
insights into the life and times or creative process of the writer. Written for serialisation to pay
her hospital bills and offload personal burdens, the text needed
extensive editing.
O'SULLIVAN, VINCENT. "Whose Voice is Where? On Listening to Kamala Das"
ACLALS Bulletin 7th series No. 2 (1985):51-66.
RADHA, K. "Common Ground Between the Poems of Kamala Das and Her Other Works in
English" ACLALS Bulletin 7th series No. 6 (1986):66-76; also in Littcrit 22 & 23, 12. 1&2
(1986):44-55.
Traces the autobiographical material in the poetry back through My Story, noting the almost
exact transfer of lines from prose to verse.
RADHA, K. Kamala Das Madras: Macmillan India (Kerala Writers in English Series), 1987,
64pp.
RAGHUNANDAN, LAKSHMI, Contemporary Indian Poetry in English: with Special
Emphasis on Nissim Ezekiel, Kamala Das, R. Parthasarathy and A.K. Ramanujan, New
Delhi: Reliance Publishing House, 1990, 295pp.
RAHMAN, ANISUR. Expressive Form in the Poetry of Kamala Das New Delhi: Abhinav
Publications, 1981, xii + 92 pp.
RAMAKRISHNAN, E.V. "Kamala Das as a Confessional Poet" in KULSHRESHTHA,
CHIRANTAN., ed Contemporary Indian-English Verse: An Evaluation New Delhi: Arnold-
Heinemann, 1980: 201-07. Also Atlantic Highlands: Humanities, 1981, 314pp. Reissued,
New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1982.
RAMAKRISHNAN, E.V. "Kamala Das as a Confessional Poet" Journal of Indian Writing in
English 5.1 (1977):29-34.
RAO, P. MALLIKARJUNA. “Love Poetry of Kamala Das.” Triveni (sp.?) April-June,
1989, 51-56. Her love poems combine the indigenous traditions of Abhisarika and Sahaja
and the confessional mode of the West. Divides her work into two phases, 1) obsessive
concern with physical love, 2) focus on ideal love. Contrasts Das’ treatment of the Krishna
motif with that of Sarajini Naidu.
RAO, VIMALA. "Kamala Das - The Limits of Over-Exposure" in DWIVEDI, A.N. "Eves'
Song: Contemporary English Verse by Indian Women" Studies in Contemporary Indo-English
Verse: A Collection of Critical Essays. Vol. I Female Poets Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot,
1985: 87-96.
RAO, VIMALA. "The Poetry of Kamala Das: Limits to Overexposure" Commonwealth
Quarterly 17 (1980):17-28.
RAVINDRAN, SANKARAN. "National and Regional Elements in Poetic Structure: "The
Dream Flower", "Old House" and Structuralism" Journal of Indian Writing in English 18.2
(1990):103-112.
SHARMA, I.K. "Mary and Mira: A Study of Kamala Das" Commonwealth Quarterly 10
(1980):36-47.
SHARMA, I.K. "The Irony of Sex: A Study of Kamala Das's Poetry" in DAS, BIJAY
KUMAR ed. Contemporary Indo-English Poetry Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1986: 41-9.
SHARMA, MOHAN LAL. "The Road to Brindaban: The Theme of Love in Kamala Das'
Poetry" in DWIVEDI, A.N. "Eves' Song: Contemporary English Verse by Indian Women"
Studies in Contemporary Indo-English Verse: A Collection of Critical Essays. Vol. I Female
Poets Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1985: 97-111.
SINGH, KIRPAL. "Kamala Das and the Problem with 'Composition'" Journal of Indian
Writing in English 7.1 (1980):1-9.
SYAL, PUSHPINDER. "The Poetry of Kamala Das" PURBA 8.1-2 (April-October
1977):61-73.
VENUGOPAL, C.V. “Kamala Das: The Seeker After Truth” in PRASAD,
MADHUSUDHAN ed. Living Indian English Poets New Delhi: Sterling (1989): 143-47.
Stresses Das’s blatant honesty and conversational intimacy. Her limited thematic range
and stylistic flair are overshadowed by the shock value of refusing conventional attitudes to
sex and gender. but there is a deeper questioning of unpalatable truths.
Das, Manoj
RAJA, P. "Fusion of Vision and Technique in the Short Stories of Manoj Das" The Literary
Endeavour 2. 2&3 (1981): 15-20.
Descriptive appreciation of Das's blending of realism and the supernatural, satire and
fantasy.
RAJA, P. "The Short Stories of Manoj Das" Indian Literature 25.5 (September-October
1982):56-62.
RAJA, P. "Indian Sensibility and the Fiction of Manoj Das" in SINGH, R.K. ed. Indian
English Writing 1981-1985: Experiments with Expression New Delhi: Bahri Publications,
1987: 133-46.
Dasgupta, Mary Ann
ABIDI, S.Z.H. "Mary Ann Dasgupta and Nasima Aziz - Two Alien Voices" in DWIVEDI,
A.N. "Eves' Song: Contemporary English Verse by Indian Women" Studies in Contemporary
Indo-English Verse: A Collection of Critical Essays. Vol. I Female Poets Bareilly: Prakash
Book Depot, 1985:164-73.
Day
RAMAMURTI, K.S. “Lal Behari Day: Govinda Samanta.” The Literary Half-Yearly 15.1
(1974): 96-105.
De, Ira
JAIN, SUNITA. "Leela Dharmaraj, Ira De and Tapati Mookerji" in DWIVEDI, A.N. "Eves'
Song: Contemporary English Verse by Indian Women" Studies in Contemporary Indo-English
Verse: A Collection of Critical Essays. Vol. I Female Poets Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot,
1985: 132-40.
Deb, Lakhan
BHATNAGER, O.P. "Lakhan Deb's Murder at the Prayer Meeting and T.S. Eliot's Murder
in the Cathedral : A Comparative Study in Human Values" MJCL&L 1.2 (October 1988):6374.
Derozio, Henry
JAIN, JASBIR. Powre Above Powres:6:The Colonial Encounter: Henry Derozio Mysore:
The Centre of Commonwealth Literature and Research, 1981, 68 pp.
MADGE, ELIOT WALTER. Henry Derozio: The Eurasian Poet and Reformer Calcutta:
Naya Prakash, 1982.
NAIR, K.R. RAMACHANDRAN. Three Indo-Anglian Poets: Henry Derozio, Toru Dutt
and Sarojini Naidu New Delhi: Sterling, 1987, 122 pp.
Desai, Anita
ACHARYA, SHANTA. "Problems of the Self in the Novels of Anita Desai" in DHAWAN,
R.K. ed. Explorations in Modern Indo-English Fiction Bahri Publishers,1982: ??.
AFZAL-KHAN, FAWZIA. "Genre and Ideology in the novels of Four contemporary IndoAnglian novelists: R.K. Narayan, Anita Desai, Kamala Markandaya and Salman Rushdie"
DAI 47.4 (October 1986):1328A.
AITHAL, S. KRISHNAMOORTHY. "Interracial and Intercultural Relationships in Anita
Desai's Bye-Bye Blackbird" CNIE 3.1 (Spring-Summer 1984):101-08.
ALCOCK, PETER. "Distancing the Maya of the West" in SINGH, KIRPAL ed. Through
Different Eyes: Foreign Responses to Indian Writing in English Calcutta: Writers Workshop,
1984: 255-69. includes some comments on Desai: see entry under SINGH in General section.
ALCOCK, PETER. "Rope, Serpent, Fire: The Recent Fiction of Anita __Desai" Journal of
Indian Writing in English 9.1 (1981):15-34. Reworked as "Rope, Serpent, Fire: Recent
Fiction of Anita Desai" in NANDAN, SATENDRA. ed. Language and Literature in
Multicultural Contexts, Suva: University of the South Pacific, 1983:11-22. (Proceedings of the
5th Triennial ACLALS Conference, Suva, January 1980.)
Traces Shakespeare’s The Tempest through Where Shall we go this
Summer?(1975), Fire on the Mountain (1977) and Games at Twilight (1978). Finds
continuing thematic dualities such as individual/group, art/life and illusion/reality. Grounds
argument on Desai’s interview with Atma Ram (WLWE 16.1, 1977:95-103).
AMIN, AMINA. "Imagery as a Mode of Apprehension in Anita Desai's Novels" Littcrit 10.1
(1984):36-45.
ASNANI, S.M. "Anita Desai: The Novelist with Unique Personal Vision" Contemporary
Indian Thought 14.1 (Jan-March 1974):6-9, 16-21.
ASNANI, SHYAM A. "Anita Desai's Fiction: A New Dimension" Indian Literature 24.2
(March-April 1981):44-54.
ASNANI, SHYAM A. "The Theme of Withdrawal and Loneliness in Anita Desai's Fire on
the Mountain" Journal of Indian Writing in English 9.1 (1981):81-92.
BANDE, USHA & RAM, ATMA. "Symbolism in Anita Desai's Fire on the Mountain"
WLWE 24.2 (Autumn 1984):422-27.
BANDE, USHA. "Is Sita Mad?" Indian Literature, 139, 33.5 (1990): 179-84.
While the “rhetoric” of Where Shall we go this Summer points to Sita’s madness, its
“mimesis” reveals oppressive domestic routine facing an educated Indian woman and
producing discontent, identity crisis and revolt.Neither Raman nor Moses comprehend Sita’s
bitterness: that of the New Woman who can see social shortcomings but no way to overcome
them, no self-affirmation save escape to recovery of childhood. It is more than the
incompatibility of husband and wife personalities and less than a mythic allegory with
triumphant heroine. Sita is an ordinary person combining modern traits with traditional respect
for marriage and motherhood. Her achievement is her awakening; perhaps fulfilment will come
for her daughter Menaka.
BANDE, USHA. The Novels of Anita Desai: A Study in Character and conflict New Delhi:
Prestige Books, 1988, 191 pp.
BANDE, USHA. “Baumgartner’s Bombay—An Assessment” PURBA 20.2 (1989): 131134.
Character study, noting the theme of “random evil” in post-war modernity. Desai’s output
moves from poetic style to stark realism.
BELLIAPPA, MEENA. Anita Desai: A Study of Her Fiction Calcutta: Writers Workshop,
1971, 165 pp.
DHAWAN, R.K. ed. The Fiction of Anita Desai Delhi: Bahri Publications, 1989, 164pp.
GANGULI, CHANDRA. "Fire on the Mountain: An Analysis" Commonwealth Quarterly
11.32 (1986):51-6.
Descriptive commentary.
GANGULI, CHANDRA. "Fire on the Mountain: An Analysis" Commonwealth Quarterly
21 (1981):40-4.[Repeated?]
GOEL, KUNJ BALA. Language and Theme in Anita Desai's Fiction Jaipur: Classic
Publishing House, 1989, iii+190pp.
HASHMI, ALAMGIR. "A Reading of Anita Desai's Clear Light of Day" Explorations 8 &
9.3&4 (1981-82):72-9.
HASHMI, ALAMGIR. "Clear Light of Day Between India and Pakistan" in KIRPAL,
VINEY, ed. & introd. The New Indian Novel in English: A Study of the 80s New Delhi:
Allied Publishers, 1990: 65-71.
JAIN, JASBIR. "Airing the Family Ghosts: Anita Desai's Clear Light of Day" WLWE 24.2
(Autumn 1984):416-22.
JAIN, JASBIR. "Anita Desai" in PRASAD, MADHUSUDAN. ed. Indian English Novelists
New Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 1982:23-50.
JASBIR JAIN, "In Pursuit of Wholeness: Transcendence of the Self in the Novels of Anita
Desai": 298-308. in DWIVEDI, A.N. (ed) Studies in Contemporary Indian Fiction in English,
Allahabad: Kitab Mahal, 1987, pp.358
JAIN, JASBIR. "Use of Fantasy in the Novels of Anita Desai" in DHAWAN, R.K. ed.
Explorations in Modern Indo-English Fiction Bahri Publishers,1982: ??
JAIN, JASBIR. Stairs to the Attic: The Novels of Anita Desai Jaipur: Printwell Publishers,
1986, xii + 176 pp.
JENA, SEEMA. Voice and Vision of Anita Desai New Delhi" Ashish Publishing House,
1989, ix+88pp.
KANWAR, ASHA. Virginia Woolf and Anita Desai: A Contemporary Study New Delhi:
Prestige Books, 1989, 75pp.
KIRPAL, VINEY. "An Image of India: A Study of Anita Desai's In Custody" Ariel 17.4
(1986):127-38.
KNAPP, BETTINA L. "Anita Desai: Fire on the Mountain - A Rite of Exit" JEP 8.3-4
(August 1987):223-37.
KNAPP, BETTINA. "Rite of Exit: A Jungian Approach to Anita Desai's Fire on the
Mountain" The Indian Literary Review VI.1-3 (1989): 27-34.
KRISHNA, FRANCINE E. " Anita Desai: Fire on the Mountain" Indian Literature 25.5
(Sept-Oct. 1982): 58-69.
KRISHNA, SHIV K. "The Fiction of Anita Desai: Another View" The Humanist Review
(DATE?) 3.2:43-6.
KUMAR, SHIV K. "Art and Experience: A Note on Anita Desai as Short-Story Writer" in
RIZVI, S.N.A. ed. The Twofold Voice: Essays in Honor of Ramesh Mohan Salzburg: Inst.
für Anglistik & Amerikanistik, University of Salzburg, 1982: 190-4.
KUMAR, SHIV K. "The Fiction of Anita Desai: Another View" The Humanities Review 3.2
(1981):43-6.
LAL, MALASHRI. "Anita Desai: Fire On the Mountain" in PRADHAN, N.S. ed. Major
Indian Novels: An Evaluation New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1986: 242-62. Also Atlantic
Highlands, New Jersey: Humanities, 1986.
LAL, MALASHRI. "The Shift from female Centred to Male Centred Narrative in the Novels
of the 1980s: A Study of Anita Desai and Nayantara Sahgal" in KIRPAL, VINEY, ed. &
introd. The New Indian Novel in English: A Study of the 80s New Delhi: Allied Publishers,
1990: 279-86.
LINDBLAD, ISHRAT. "Colour Symbolism and the Rebirth Archetype in Anita Desai's Clear
Light of Day" 256-63 in Backman, Sven & Kjellmer, Goran, eds. Papers on Language and
Literature: Presented to Alvar Ellegard and Erik Frykman Goteborg: ACTA University
Gothoburgensis, 1985, viii + 399.
MAINI, DARSIN SINGH. "The Achievement of Anita Desai" in SHARMA, K.K. ed. IndoEnglish Literature: a Collection of Critical Essays, Ghaziabad: Vimal Prakashan, 1977: 21530.
MAINI, IRMA. “Anita Desai and the Feminine Sensibility” Commonwealth Quarterly 9.28
(1984): 1-12.
Splits the novel into two interlinked strands: ‘masculine’ (ideas, action and choice) and
‘feminine’ (feeling, intuition, epiphany). Desai belongs in the second grouping, exploring the
nuances of a psyche under stress, exteme characters in stifling worlds of existential emotional
struggles. Study of Maya in Cry the Peacock and “the poetry of disjointed emotions”. Voices
in the City expands its focus to include external social factors reflecting the states of mind of a
range of characters, though depiction of inner life is less well orchestrated. Sides with
Ramachandra Rao in finding Nirode not always convincing and his crises reported rather than
dramatised. Monisha’s case is more akin to Maya’s. Unlike Monisha, Sita in Where shall we
go this Summer? rejects her meaningless life, but finds that escape carries dangers too. Her
decision to return to Bombay is unconvincing.
NANDAKUMAR, PREMA. "Sombre the Shadows and Sudden the Lights: A Study of
Anita Desai's Novels" in NAIK, M.K. Perspectives on Indian Fiction in English New Delhi:
Abhinav Publications, 1985: 174-99.
NARASIMHAN, RAJI. “Desai versus Desani: Norms of Appreciation.” Indian Literature 16.
nos. 3&4 (1973): 180-4.
Indo-English writing counters colonialist denigration of ‘the native’, so Desani’s verbose
metaphysical intensities are valued for supporting the underdog, as is Desai’s Bye Bye
Blackbird. Voices in the City has a more “robust domestic relevance” but is overrated
because it sets Western acculturation above local experience. Such a ‘nationalist’ criticism
allows disregard of Desani’s hybridised binary of brown and white in which Hatterr
experiences “rockbottom” vairagya that resists religiosity and despair alike. His language is
lively and spontaneous, lying beyond the clichés of Indo-English writing.
PANDEY, LAL UDAI BHAN. "Art and Vision of Anita Desai" The Quest, 4.2, (1990): 1828.
PANDEY, LALU U.B. “Seething Cauldron of Existence: A Thematic Study of Anita Desai’s
‘In Custody’” New Literary Horizons 3.1 (1988): 85-90.
The novel depicts the bewildering fluctuations in life governed by time and change. Compares
the work to Camus’ Sisyphus and sees it as denying sublime ideals in the face of failure and
frustration.
PANIGRAHI, BIPIN B. & KIRPAL, VINEY. "The Dangling Man: Deven in Anita Desai's
In Custody" in KIRPAL, VINEY, ed. & introd. The New Indian Novel in English: A Study of
the 80s New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1990: 271-8.
PANIGRAHI, BIPIN B. "Self-Apprehension and Self-Identity in Clear Light of Day" in
KIRPAL, VINEY, ed. & introd. The New Indian Novel in English: A Study of the 80s New
Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1990: 73-81.
PARASURAM, LAXMI. "Fire on the Mountain: A New Dimension of Feminine SelfPerception" The Literary Criterion 16.3 (1981):58-64.
The criticism focuses on the growth of independence of Anita Desai's heroines.
PATIL, UJWALA. "Sexual Violence and Death in Anita Desai's Fire on the Mountain" in
GUPTA, G.S. BALARAMA., ed. Studies in Indian Fiction in English Gulbarga: JIWE
Publications, 1987: 61-7.
PETERSEN, KIRSTEN HOLST. "Anita Desai" Kunapipi 6.3 (1984):83-5. interview?
PRASAD, MADHUSUDAN. Anita Desai the Novelist Allahabad: New Horizon, 1982, 148
pp.
PRASAD, MADHUSUDAN. "Anita Desai's Voices in the City: A Critical Study" Littcrit 2
(1981):46-58.
PRASAD, MADHUSUDAN. Anita Desai: The Novelist Allahabad: Anil K. Srivastava,
1981.
PRASAD, MADHUSUDAN. "Imagery in the Novels of Anita Desai: A Critical Study"
World Literature Today 58.3 (Summer 1984):363-9.
PRASAD, MADHUSUDAN. "Where Shall We Go This Summer? A Critical Study."
Rajasthan Journal of English Studies 9.1 (January 1981):51-66.
PRASAD, V.V.N. RAJENDRA, “Anita Desai and the wounded Self” in The Self, Family
and Society in Five Indian Novelists, New Delhi: Prestige Books, 1990: 130-149.
RAI, G. "The Soil and the Roots: A Study of the Novels of Anita Desai" in SINHA, R.K. &
SINHA, RAVI NANDAN., eds. The Indian Novel in English: Essays in Criticism Ranchi:
Ankit Publishers, 1987: 93-107.
RAM, ATMA & USHA BANDE. "Symbolism in Anita Desai's Fire on the Mountain" World
Literature Written in English 24.2 (Autumn 1984):422-7.
RAM, ATMA. “Anita Desai, the Novelist who Writes for Herself” Journal of Indian
Writing in English 5.2 (1977): 39-42.
Biographical.
RAMAKRISHNAN, E.V. "The Politics of Language and the Language of Politics" Littcrit
16.1&2 (1990): 54-69.
A study of In Custody with comparative recourse to Shashi Tharoor's The Great
Indian Novel and O.V. Vijayan's The Saga of Dharmapuri to determine the ideology behind
the Indian English novelist's ironic mode.
RAO, A. RAMAKRISHNA. “Anita Desai’s Modernist Novel”The Literary Endeavour
2.2&3 (1982): 11-14.
In Voices in the City, Nirode’s void, similar to Baudelaire’s, is a personal wound relating to
his mother. Camus and literary pretensions are thin bandages for it. Desai fails to prepare us
for his change of attitude upon Monisha’s suicide and for his seeing the Divine Mother in his
own mother. The “exoskeletal structure” doesn’t fit completely with the elements it holds; like
other modernists, Desai is “hostile to the reality they represent”.
RAO, B. RAMACHANDRA. Anita Desai: Themes and Variations in the Novels and Short
Stories of Anita Desai" Journal of Literature and Aesthetics 2.2&3 (1982):74-9.
RAO, B. RAMACHANDRA. The Novels of Mrs Anita Desai Delhi: Kalyani Publications,
1977.
RAO, B. RAMACHANDRA. The Novels of Mrs Anita Desai [???]
RAO, VIMALA. “Anita Desai’s Where shall we go this Summer?— An Analysis”
Commonwealth Quarterly 9.28 (1984): 44-50. (removed)
RAO, VIMLA. "Where Shall We Go This Summer? An Analysis." Commonwealth Quarterly
3.9(December 1978):
RIEMENSCHNEIDER, DIETER. "History and the Individual in Anita Desai's Clear Light of
Day and Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children" World Literature Written in English 23.1
(Winter 1984):196-207. Reprinted in KIRPAL, VINEY, ed. & introd. The New Indian
Novel in English: A Study of the 80s New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1990: 187-99.
SAMARTH, MANINI MAYAR. The Internalized Narrative: A Study of Lyricism and Irony
in the Novels of Anita Desai and Anita Brookner" DAI 49.3 (September 1988):513A.
SHARMA, ATMA RAM. "Anita Desai's Novels: An Exploration of Inner Sensibility"
Perspective 1.12 (July 1978):64-83.
SHARMA, R.S. "Alienation, Accommodation and Locale in Anita Desai's Bye-Bye
Blackbird" Literary Criterion 14.4 (1979):31-49.
SHARMA, R.S. Anita Desai New Delhi: Arnold Heinemann, 1981.
SHARMA, R.S. Anita Desai New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1980, 166 pp.
SHARMA, R.S. "Mother and the City: Archetypes in Anita Desai's Voices in the City"
Journal of Literary Studies 2.2 (December 1979):57-77.
SHARMA, R.S. "Movement and Stillness in Anita Desai's Fire on the Mountain" Littcrit 7
(1978):1-6.
SHARMA, R.S. "Where Shall We Go This Summer: An Analysis" Commonwealth Quarterly
10 (1980):50-69.
SHASTRI, N.R. "Where Shall We Go This Summer?: A Critical Study" Osmania Journal of
Literary Studies 17 (1981):83-103.
SINGH, BRIJRAJ. "The Fiction of Anita Desai" The Humanities Review 3.2 (1981):40-3.
SRIVASTAVA, RAMESH K, ed. Perspectives on Anita Desai Ghaziabad: Vimal
Prakashan, 1985. xlvii + 239pp.
AITHAL, S. KRISHNAMOORTHY. "The Ballad of East and West Updated: Anita Desai's
Bye Bye Blackbird": 156-61.
ASNANI, SHYAM M. "Desai's Theory and Practice of the Novel": 5-16.
AWASTHAI, KAMAL N. & SHARMA, SOM P. "Anita Desai's Cry, the Peacock: A
Vindication of the Feminine": 138-49.
DUDT, CHARMAZEL. "A Sense of Disappointment: A Journey to the Self in Where Shall
We Go This Summer?": 179-84.
GULATI, VINOD BHUSHAN. "Structure in the Novels of Anita Desai": 104-17.
GUPTA, G.S. BALARAMA. "Anita Desai's Fire on the Mountain: A Fictional Metaphor of
Existentialist Philosophy": 185-88.
INAMDAR, F.A. "Anita Desai's Prose Style": 91-103.
KUMAR, SHIV K. "Desai's Games at Twilight: A View": 203-207.
MAINI, DARSHAN SINGH. "Anita Desai's Novels: An Evaluation": 118-137.
PRASAD, MADHUSUDAN. "The Novels of Anita Desai: A Study in Imagery": 54-77.
RAO, A.V. KRISHNA. "Voices in the City: A Study": 162-178.
RAO, RAMACHANDRA B. "Technique in the Novels of Anita Desai": 78-90.
SINGH, BRIJRAJ. "Desai's Clear Light of Day: A Study": 156-161.
VARADY, EVELYN DAMASHEK. "The West Views Anita Desai: American and British
Criticism of Games of Twilight and Other Stories": 194-202.
WEIR, ANN LOWRY. "The Illusions of Maya: Feminine Consciousness in Anita Desai's
Cry, the Peacock": 150-155.
SIVARAMAKRISHNA, M. "From Alienation to Mythic Acceptance: The Ordeal of
Consciousness in Anita Desai's Fiction": 17-30.
SRIVASTAVA, RAMESH K. "Anita Desai at Work: An Interview": 208-26
check pages
TRIPATHI, J.P. The Mind and Art of Anita Desai Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1987,
162pp.
UMA, ALLADI. "'I Have Had my Vision': Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse and Anita
Desai's Where Shall We Go This Summer" The Literary Criterion 22.3 (1987):73-7.
Examines the search for self realisation by the heroines of these two novels. Although written
50 years apart, their quests and resolutions are the same.
VARADY, EVELYN. "American and British Responses to Anita Desai's Games at Twilight"
Journal of Indian Writing in English 8.1&2 (1980):27-34. Reprinted in SINGH, KIRPAL
ed. Through Different Eyes: Foreign Responses to Indian Writing in English Calcutta:
Writers Workshop, 1984: 34-45.
Short stories do not get the critical attention given to novels. Desai is little known in the
US and her stories less so. Offers a US response to Games at Twilight assessing mostly
favourable British reviews. Notes repeat of material in :Private Tuition by Mr Bose” and
“Sale”. Suggests British resistance to and American lack of familiarity with Indian writing.
Foreign critics can assess treatments of non-Indian characters, and Desai’s American dialogue
fails. Strong on “vivid backdrop” and sensory images, some stories “lacked unified structure
or a well-developed conflict”. “Games at Twilight”, “Studies in the Park” and “Sale” are
emotionally moving. Looks for work that bridges “the gap between Indianness and
universality”.
WEIR, ANN LOWRY. "Anita Desai: Fire on the Mountain" WLWE 3.2 (November
1978):548-50. [review?]
JAMKHANDI, S.R. ed. "Anita Desai: The Woman and the Novelist" Journal of Indian
Writing in English 9.1 (January 1981).
JAMKHANDI, S.R. "The Artistic Effects of the Shifts in Points of View in Anita Desai's Cry
the Peacock":35-46.
PRASAD, HARI MOHAN. "Sound or Sense: A Study in Anita Desai's Bye Bye
Blackbird":58-66.
RAM, ATMA. "A View of Where Shall We Go This Summer" :74-80.
SHARMA, ATMA RAM. "A View of Where Shall We Go this Summer?":74-80.
SRIVASTAVA, R.K. "Voices of Artists in the City": 47-57.
Desani, G.V.
ARORA, SHANKAR MOAHN. "The Meaning Behind the 'Gesture': A Study of G.V.
Desani's All About H. Hatterr" Journal of Indian Writing in English, 18.2, (1990): 19-30.
Locates the book’s meaning in two interrelated issues, 1) the business of living one’s life, 2)
the matter of intercultural identity. Perceives its primary message is the joy of family life
unattained by Hatterr. Examines the basis for survival in this world contrasted by the continual
struggle between good and evil.
BARDOLPH, J. "Language Madness in Desani's All About H. Hatterr" Commonwealth 8.1
(1985):1-13. Analyses various modes of rhetorical formation and defines their function.
Locates his melange of language in Indianisms, collage, code switching and orality. Asserts
three purposes for Desani’s unique language mix, 1)entertainment, 2) expresses the writer’s
voice, 3) self-referentiality.
BURJOREE, D.M. "The Dialogue in G.V. Desani's All About H. Hatterr" WLWE 13
(1974):191-224. Identifies this work as a dialogue novel whose conversations are pivotal to
its structural integrity. Observes that the problem of the Eurasian is primarily cultural, not
biological. Offers the perspective that language can not perform its communicative function.
DESANI, G.V. "Difficulties of Communicating an Oriental to a Western Audience"
(REPRINTED IN Journal of Literature and Aesthetics 2.2&3 (1982):9-16.) in
NARASIMHAIAH, C.D. ed. Awakened Conscience: Studies in Commonwealth Literature,
New Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 1978 (also Hong Kong: Heinemann Asia, 1978): 401-407.
HARREX, S.C. "The Novel as Gesture" in NARASIMHAIAH, C.D. ed. Awakened
Conscience: Studies in Commonwealth Literature, New Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 1978 (also
Hong Kong: Heinemann Asia, 1978): 73-85.
MOORTHY, P. RAMA. “Culture as Tale: An Examination of Tangi and Hali “ The Literary
Criterion Vol. 14.1 (1980): 20-32.
Contrasts the Western masculine interpretation of death with the Indian feminine sensibility of
it. Indian concept of karuna compared to the Maori concept of aroha. Finds the thirty-three
chapters of Witi Ihimaera’s Tangi (1973) and the fifteen sections of Desani’s Hali (1950) to
be lamentations ending in a very similar state of aroha or karuna.
NAIK, M.K. "Colonial Experience in All About H. Hatterr" The Humanities Review 2.3&4
(1980):41-5. Employing both realism and symbolism, this novel explores several aspects of
colonialism. Beliram, Banerrji and Hatterr are only variations on the archetype of the colonial.
Probes the personality patterns constructed by the complex psychological disruption of the
colonial experience.
NAIK, M.K. "Colonial Experience in All about H. Hatterr" Commonwealth Novel in English
1.1 (January 1982):37-49. CHECK NO & YEAR (1&2? 1984?)
NAIK, M.K. "Form and Style in All About H. Hatterr" Karnatak University Journal:
Humanities 29 (1985-86):1-17.
NAIK, M.K. "The Method in His Madness: A Thematic Analysis of All About H. Hatterr"
Journal of Indian Writing in English 13.1 (1985):1-14. ALSO IN NAIK, M.K. Perspectives
on Indian Fiction in English New Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 1985:1-14 and NAIK,M.K.
Studies in Indian English Literature New Delhi:: Sterling, 1987: 1-33. Asserts the central
theme is the search for truth in this world. Correlates various themes and motifs. Finds a crazy,
surrealistic narrative based on comedy and situation.
NAIKAR, BASAVARAJ S. "All About H. Hatterr: A Philosophical Comedy" IN GUPTA,
G.S. BALARAMA., ed. Studies in Indian Fiction in English Gulbarga: JIWE Publications,
1987: 25-35.
NARASIMHAN, RAJI. “Desai versus Desani: Norms of Appreciation.” Indian Literature 16.
nos. 3&4 (1973): 180-4.
Indo-English writing counters colonialist denigration of ‘the native’, so Desani’s verbose
metaphysical intensities are valued for supporting the underdog, as is Desai’s Bye Bye
Blackbird. Voices in the City has a more “robust domestic relevance” but is overrated
because it sets Western acculturation above local experience. Such a ‘nationalist’ criticism
allows disregard of Desani’s hybridised binary of brown and white in which Hatterr
experiences “rockbottom” vairagya that resists religiosity and despair alike. His language is
lively and spontaneous, lying beyond the clichés of Indo-English writing.
NARASIMHAN, R. "The Strangeness of G.V. Desani" in Meenakshi Mukherjee, ed.
Considerations (1977): 102-10 and adapted from Narasimhan's Sensibility under Stress
(1976).
Interprets strangeness as enigma. Desani’s utilisation of the mock-comic mode has not been
appreciated by the modern Indian sensibility. Compares Hatterr to Ramaswamy as exact
opposites in style and approach.
The Indian sensibility finds it difficult to respond to Desani's irreverence. His linguistic virtuosity
frightens because of its wild, darting quality and its profuse allusions to both Eastern and
Western traditions. All About H. Hatterr covers the same metaphysical conundrums as Raja
Rao's The Serpent and the Rope, but goes beyond the usual 'East-West encounter' novels,
depicting unlettered racist whites and transcending nationalism. Desani anticipates the world of
psychedelia.
RAMAMOORTHY, P. "Culture as Tale: An Examination of Witi Ihimaera's Tangi and G.V.
Desani's Hali." The Literary Criterion 14, no.1 (1980): 20-32.
Compares Eastern and Western attitudes towards death. Western tragedy fights death
bravely while Eastern sensibility yields to death and sorrow, and karuna (compassion, pathos)
is the highest rasa. Eastern literature celebrates life by enduring sorrow. Tangi (meaning
funeral), a pionering novel by Witi Ihimaera, a Maori writer, celebrates aroha, an inclusive
love through uninhibited mourning. Hali, by G. V. Desani, a short poetic play, is highly
symbolic, yet profoundly human in coming to terms with dukkha, cosmic sorrow. The thirtythree chapters of Tangi and the fifteen sections of Hali are lamentations, each repetitive lament
a progressive discovery and realization of life. Both bend the English language to the native
sensibility.
RAMANUJAN, MOLLY. G.V. Desani: Writer and Worldview New Delhi: ArnoldHeinemann, 1980, 166 pp.; 1984, 172 pp.
The only full-length study by someone who has met Desani a number of times over the
years (the author of The Salt Doll as Shouri Daniels). Interesting biographical note, followed
by discussion of links between All About H. Hatterr (1948) and Forster, philsophy and the
Absurd, Dostoevsky’s Notes from the Underground, Camus, Sartre and Beckett.
Concentrates on ‘The Song to Ganga’ in Hatterr as crucial expression of visionary experience.
Desani's minor works are dealt with in the chapters "Kipling's Mother and Hali's Women" and
"Goan, meet a Samoan". Determines the writing to be entirely self-reflexive. Comprehensive
bibliography.
RIEMENSCHNEIDER, DIETER. "All About H. Hatterr and the Problem of Cultural
Alienation" The Literary Criterion 20.2 (1985):23-35. The problem of alienation is intensified
by the numerous expressions of a lack of communication in the text. Perceives the structure of
the book coheres in translating “the message of the practical East” into a comprehensible
statement. Claims an existential analysis answers the central quandary of the narrator’s quest.
SHARRAD, PAUL. "Musings on the Hats of Hatterr" ACLALS Bulletin 7th Series No. 4
(1986):79-87.
Suggests two contexts for reading Desani’s masterpiece: literature of Anglo-India,
meaning both colonial and racially mixed; and literary “Indianness”, grounded in classical
Sanskrit literature. Compares All about H. Hatterr (1948) to Rudyard Kipling’s Kim (1901)
and to Dandin’s Dasakumaracarita as an originary Sanskrit source. Desani simultaneously
confirms and undermines the authority of both Christian and Hindu dogma.
SRINATH, C.N. "G.V. Desani: All about H. Hatterr" Literary Criterion 9.3 (1970): 40-56.
Reissued in The Literary Landscape Delhi: Mittal Publications, 1986: 12-30.
Character study identifying the distinctive message of Hatterr in the description of a
metaphysical attitude to life as leela or play. Hatterr shows both zest for life and passive
acceptance of its contrasts. Makes comparison to Raja Rao’s The Cat and Shakespeare and
notes the importance of the ‘hymn’ to Ganga section. Reveals the author’s fusing of technique
and tone to express Hatterr’s attitude to life: a blend of the humourous, the grotesque and the
serious.
Deshpande, Gauri
VERMA, MONIKA. "Gauri Deshpande" in DWIVEDI, A.N. "Eves' Song: Contemporary
English Verse by Indian Women" Studies in Contemporary Indo-English Verse: A Collection
of Critical Essays. Vol. I Female Poets Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1985: 65-75.
VARMA, MONIKA. “Gauri Deshpande” Commonwealth Quarterly 9.28 (1984): 15-28.
Between Births works in two styles: delicate lyricism and assertive sincerity. Praises restraint
and attention to Indian reality, noting lapses into poeticising, dramatic excess, careless
punctuation and “feminine mushiness”. Evaluative critique favouring tight craft, “poetic
seriousness”, correspondence to reality, and repression of physical detail: generally wanting of
women poets less of “sights and thighs”.
Deshpande, Shashi
KING, ADELE. "Shashi Deshpande: Portraits of an Indian Woman" in KIRPAL, VINEY,
ed. & introd. The New Indian Novel in English: A Study of the 80s New Delhi: Allied
Publishers, 1990: 159-67.
DeSouza, Eunice
JUSSAWALLA, ADIL. “One Woman’s Poetry” JSAL 18.1 (1983):88-90.
Response to de Souza’s poetry fixates on Goa and the entertainment value of her satires on
Catholicism and Hindu beliefs. A dynamic of rejecting and wanting to belong to her sociocultural community obscures the central issue of the gender struggle. The poems wage war
with men to be accepted by them and also against the terms on which such acceptance would
be accorded. Their success lies in creating a “near terrible poetic persona” with elements of
the tragic stage, that wins respect if not liking.
SHARMA, S.P. "Eunice de Souza's Satire" Journal of Indian Writing in English 10.1&2
(1982):17-20.
Devi, Chitra
"Introducing...Chitrita Devi" The Indian Pen 48.4-6 (1987):9-10. lang? genre? author?
Dharmaraj, Lila
JAIN, SUNITA. "Leela Dharmaraj, Ira De and Tapati Mookerji" in DWIVEDI, A.N. "Eves'
Song: Contemporary English Verse by Indian Women" Studies in Contemporary Indo-English
Verse: A Collection of Critical Essays. Vol. I Female Poets Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot,
1985: 132-40.
Dutt, Michael Madhusudan
BOSE, AMALENDU. Michael Madhusudan Dutt New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi,1982, 94
pp.
Dutt, Toru
BOSE, AMALENDU. “Evaluation of Toru Dutt: A Starting Point” Commonwealth
Quarterly 3.12 (1979): 4-17.
Assessment of Dutt cannot rely on biographical material, only the image of the poet from the
poetry. Cites responses to P. Lal’s questionnaire to show her decline in popularity. Suggests
looking at her work in the frame of Taine’s race, milieu, moment.
Provides a bio-bibliography. Asks what experience Toru had of love and considers one poem
and her reading of Meredith without arriving at any real conclusion.
DWIVEDI, A.N. Toru Dutt New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1974.
DWIVEDI, A.N. "Toru Dutt and Her Poetry" in RAO, K.S. NARAYANA. ed. World
Literature Written in English 14.2 (1975):278-90.
DWIVEDI, A.N. Toru Dutt New Delhi: Arnold Heinemann, 1977, 168 pp. [same as 1974?
DWIVEDI, A.N. “Toru Dutt and Sarojini Naidu: A Comparative Approach” Commonwealth
Quarterly 3.9 (1978): 82-94.
Bio-bibliographic appreciation. Both are Romantic lyricists despite Naidu’s later work
being contemporary with Modernism. Notes dismissal of them by the Writers Workshop
critics. Naidu’s crafted “jewelled phrases” and Sapphic passion contrast with Dutt’s simple
style but remain limited and subordinate to her nationalist activity. Dutt had a wider range,
including narrative skills, but “wooden” blank verse.
DWIVEDI, A.N. “Toru Dutt and Sarojini Naidu” Commonwealth Quarterly 9.28 (1984):
82-94.
Bio-bibliographical outlines of each, locating Toru’s strength in her ballads and Sarojini’s in
perfecting her narrow lyric range. Both romantics, Sarojini swung more towards the Decadent
period. Toru showed promise of a wider talent. Looks at “Gold-mulched Hours” and “Green
leaves are Gold” as evidence of striking imagery
GOWDA, H.H.A. "Homage to Toru Dutt" The Indian P.E.N. 43. 9&10 (1977):6-10.
IYER, UMA. "Toru Dutt: A Major Indo-Anglian Poet" Siddha 13 (1979):38-47.
NAIR, K.R. RAMACHANDRAN. Three Indo-Anglian Poets: Henry Derozio, Toru Dutt
and Sarojini Naidu New Delhi: Sterling, 1987, 122 pp.
SETHNA, K.D. "A Word for Toru Dutt" Mother India 40.9 (1987):567-70.
SHARMA, I.K. "The Lotus: Toru's Testament of Faith" Journal of Indian Writing in English
16.1 (1988):14-19.
Ezekiel, Nissim
BLACKWELL, FRITZ. "Four Plays of Nissim Ezekiel" Journal of South Asian Literature 11,
no.3/4 (1976): 265-72.
Attempts a critical appraisal of the plays, which compare favourably with other Indian
plays available in English. Ezekiel's stylistic approach in Three Plays and Song of Deprivation
frankly admits itself as theater. Each play is an effective exposé of the hollowness people
contrive for themselves. Song of Deprivation is not as stageable as the earlier plays. Ezekiel's
characters are ditinct types, not individuals; the situation is dominant. The Sleepwalkers is his
best play; a ritualistic style is used to satirize the Indians who worship all things American.
CHAR, M. SREERAMA. Prayer Motif in Indian Poetry in English Calcutta: Writers
Workshop, 1988, 135 pp.
CHARI, JAGANMOHANA. "Poetics of the City: A Study of Nissim Ezekiel's Poetry"
Osmania Journal of English Studies 17 (1981):105-21.
CHINDHADE, SIRISH. "Rootedness in Ezekiel's Poetry: A Point of View" Poetry 12
(1986):37-54.
COPPOLA, CARLO. "Nissim Ezekiel: The Most Recent Poems" The Commonwealth in
Canada ed. Uma Parameswaran, Calcutta: The Writers Workshop, 1984, pp 158-73.
DAS, BIJAY KUMAR. "Critical Perspectives on Relationship and Latter-Day Psalms"
Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1987, vi + 55pp.
check: ed? title? contents?
DAS, BIJAY KUMAR. "The Poetry of Nissim Ezekiel" in DAS, BIJAY KUMAR ed.
Contemporary Indo-English Poetry Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1986: 28-40.
DAS, BIJAY KUMAR. "The Search after Reality: A Study of Ezekiel's Poems" Journal of
Indian Writing in English 10.1&2 (1982):10-14.
DWIVEDI, SURESH CHANDRA. ed. Perspectives on Nissim Ezekiel: Esays in Honour of
Rosemary C. Wilkinson New Delhi: K.M. Agencies, 1989, 280pp.
GARMAN, MICHAEL. "Nissim Ezekiel - Pilgrimage and Myth" Visvabharati Quarterly
38.1-2 (1972-3):93-111.
GOWDA, H.H. ANNIAH. "Nissim Ezekiel's Plays." Literary Half-Yearly 14, no.1 (1973):
11-15.
Ezekiel, primarily a poet, is a good dramatist as well, as is shown by Three Plays.
Nalini is the best, distinguished by the intensity of the dialogue; the final act of this three-act
play is in the nature of a choric commentary. The Sleepwalkers, though a farce, is tautly
constructed, and criticises Indian and American society, while Mariage Poem, a tragi-comedy
about marital breakdown, is true of a large number of families. [From Full Annots:A basic
retelling (in fractured English) of the plot-line of Nalini: A Comedy, with short summations of
Marriage Poem and The Sleepwalkers.
JOURNAL of Indian Writing in English 14.2 (1986) Special issue
ACHARYA, N.P. "Achievement and Failure in Nissim Ezekiel's Poetry" :73-90. Acharya
draws on previous critical works in his chronological analysis of the technique and styles to be
found in Ezekiel's body of work.
ANKLESARIA, HAVOVI. "On the Fringes of Journalism: The Prose of Nissim
Ezekiel":101-8. This approving critique of a less well known aspect of Ezekiel's writing
examines his literary and art reviews and concludes that Ezekiel displays a 'characteristic sense
of balance' in prose which has no pretensions to research and is free of rationalization.
ANKLESARIA, ZERIN. "Wit in the Poetry of Nissim Ezekiel":41-8.
Anklesaria concentrates primarily on the structure of Ezekiel's 'Sixty Poems' with an
examination of his use of metephor and analogy. [OK KJL]
BHAGWAT, CHARU. "Poet-Rascal-Clown of Hymns in Darkness":91-100. A caustic
critique of Hymns in Darkness which draws on English classicism in general and T. S. Eliot in
particular in contrast to what Bhagwat sees as Ezeliel's lack sincerity and self-exploration as
well as his inappropriate use of wit.
CHACKO, P.M. "Ezekiel's Family Poems":24-40.
Comments upon the confessional and intimate domestic nature of Ezekiel's family poems.
Chacko also examines Ezekiels journey of self-discovery through his poetry.
DAMODAR, G. "Search for Identity: An Estimate of Ezekiel's Poetry":58-64. In complete
contrast to Naik's article, Damodar finds that Ezekiel's poetry reveals a theme of a deep and
abiding commitment to both India and the city of Bombay.
DANI, N.D. "An Interview with Nissim Ezekiel":117-21.
DWIVEDI, A.N. "Modernity in Nissim Ezekiel's Poetry":65-72. A relatively unfocussed
examination of the technique and motifs used in Ezekiel's poems as evidence of 'modernity'.
GUHA, A.S. "Nissim Ezekiel's India":17-23.
Guha's article looks at the theme of an Indian reality in Ezekiel's poems in the context of his
awareness of both the human and social aspects of Indian society.
NAIK, M.K. "Nissim Ezekiel and Alienation":49-57. A not completely convincing argument
on the role of alienation in Ezekiel's poetry which seems to get caught up more in Ezekiel's use
of irony than any evidence of the struggle which the author feels should be taking place.
PATEL, TONI. "Is It Pleasant to Meet Mr. Ezekiel!":109-16.
PRASAD, B. N. "Latter-Day Psalms": 131-136
Prasad looks with approval at the metrical and mythical patterns in Ezekiel's poetry.
RAMAKRISHNA, D. "Ezekiel's Credo":1-16.
Ramakrishna examines a number of Ezekiel's letters, critical essays and interviews to gain an
insight into the creed behind his poetry. He concludes that Ezekiel's quest for the proper
communication of the meaning of life is based on his convictions of the extrinsic and intrinsic
aspects of literature.
RODRIGUES, SANTAN. "The Plays of Nissim Ezekiel":122-30.
Ezekiel is an excellent craftsman whose characters are caricatures. Description and direct
quotes. Evaluate Three Plays and Song of Deprivation, written during Ezekiel's peak period as
a poet. Ezekiel is a better poet than playwright; the plays depict only the banality of life, while
the poems grapple with the its big questions.
KARNANI, CHETAN. Nissim Ezekiel New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1973, 192 pp.
KHER, INDER NATH. "'That Message From Another Shore': The Esthetic Vision of Nissim
Ezekiel" Mahfil 8.4 (1972):17-28.
KHER, INDER NATH. "'That Message from Another Shore': The Esthetic Vision of Nissim
Ezekiel" in KULSHRESHTHA, CHIRANTAN., ed Contemporary Indian-English Verse: An
Evaluation New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1980: 150-64. Also Atlantic Highlands:
Humanities, 1981.
KHER, INDER NATH. "A Time to Change: The Early Poetry of Nissim Ezekiel" South
Asian Review 2 (1978):41-55.
KHULLAR, AJIT. "Old Psalms for New Times" Indian Literature 27.5 (1984):219-27.
KUMAR, SHIV K. "Poster Plays of Nissim Ezekiel" Journal of South Asian Literature 11.34 (1976):263-4.
KUMAR, VINODA & SHIV KUMAR. "The Indianness of Ezekiel's 'Indian English Poems':
An Analysis" Kunapipi 9.1 (1987):21-9.
MEHTA, P.P. "Nissim Ezekiel" in DWIVEDI, A.N ed. Studies in Contemporary IndoEnglish Verse Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1984: 210-15.
NABAR, VRINDA. "Domesticity and Drama: An Analysis of Nissim Ezekiel's MarriagePoem and Don't Call it Suicide." In Contemporary Indian Drama, edited by Pandey (1990),
75-81.
Ezekiel's contribution to Indian English drama is modest. Marriage Poem, in the
conventional theatriacl mode, with clear stage directions, is very stageable. The view of
marriage is equally dismal in Don't Call it Suicide, which shows the sham security of middle
class respectability. Nabar is unsatisfied with the dialogue, into which Indianisms intrude
without any justification, and the women characters, uniformly drab, stereotyped, and
unimaginative.
NAIR, K. R. RAMACHANDRAN. “Nissim Ezekiel’s ‘Bombay Poems’.” Triveni 59, no.3
(1990):65-74.
Claims his poetry attempts to harmonise the diverse and contradictory images of
contemporary urban culture. Lists the themes common to the Bombay poems. Reveals the
poet on a perpetual quest for identity and commitment in an urbanised milieu characterised by
dehumanisation and mass confusion.
NARAYAN, SHYAMALA A. "Nissim Ezekiel's Latter Day Psalms: A Study" in DAS,
BIJAY KUMAR ed. Contemporary Indo-English Poetry Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot,
1986: ??? reprint?
NARAYAN, SHYAMALA A. "Nissim Ezekiel's Latter-Day Psalms" Journal of Indian
Writing in English 13.1 (1985):31-38.
Looks appreciatively at the techniques, structures and themes employed by Ezekiel in LatterDay Psalms.
[Lever: The annotation is incomplete because the article is lacking - no argument, no claim, no
nothing except Look at this poem: it uses such and such rhyme scheme; it conveys his idea of
xyz; the next poem uses a completely different rhyme scheme.... Rhyme is the main technique
the critic refers to. The critic says: “Nissim Ezekiel ceaselessly experiments with technique;
‘Latter-Day Psalms’ is something new in his versification, as he has consciously modelled the
movement of his verse on the biblical psalms.” Uses irony in them. The poems in ‘Psalms’
show: “Ezekiel advocates involement in life, with all its good and evil.” Psalms “are
representative examples of Ezekiel’s art, with its wide-ranging experiments in form and
technique.” The ‘Psalms’ show Ezekiel’s attempts to come to terms with his complex heritage,
born a Jew in india with its cultural variety.” (statements with no expansion on them).
NARAYAN, SYAMALA A. "Ezekiel as Book Reviewer" Journal of South Asian Literature
11.3-4 (1976):273-82.
NARULA, S.C. "Negative Affirmation in Nissim Ezekiel's Hymns and Psalms" in KHER,
INDER NATH and CHRISTOPHER WISEMAN eds. Ariel 14.4 (1983): 57-76.
Follows Linda Hess and Inder Nath Kher in noting Ezekiel’s attention to “the here and now”,
looking indirectly through the “‘fever’ of the mind caused by the outrage of the world” to
“intimations of a vision of God” registered as existential quest and in terms of the paradox and
irony of human limitation and endless striving to go beyond. Faith (leavening a basically
humanist view) is approached out of unfaith, and the ego is propitiated and critiqued as both
power and obstacle.Thematic commentary framed by Old Testament Psalms
PAL, K.S. Ezekiel and Ramanujan: A Comparative Study Astha Prakashan, 1981.
PARANJAPE, MAKARANDA. “Nissim Ezekiel as Mystical Poet” Commonwealth
Quarterly 13.34 (1986-7) 1-6.
While not overtly spiritual, Ezekiel expresses an underlying but unresolved spiritual quest in his
work. Later work ironically exposes “the self-deceptions of a modern-day seeker”; early
poems catalogue obstacles in the poet’s way to self-realisation. “Declaration” and
“Encounter” (A Time to Change and Other Poems)
mark a transformation in understanding.
PARTHASARATHY, R. "Foregrounding as an Interpretative Device in Nissim Ezekiel's
'Night of the Scorpion'" The Literary Criterion 11.3 (1974):38-44.
RAGHUNANDAN, LAKSHMI, Contemporary Indian Poetry in English: with Special
Emphasis on Nissim Ezekiel, Kamala Das, R. Parthasarathy and A.K. Ramanujan, New
Delhi: Reliance Publishing House, 1990, 295pp.
RAHMAN, ANISUR. Form and Value in the Poetry of Nissim Ezekiel New Delhi: Abhinav
Publications, 1981, viii + 94 pp.
RAIZADA, HARISH. “Nissim Ezekiel’s Poetry of Love and Sex” in Madhusudan Prasad
(ed) Living Indian English Poets New Delhi: Sterling, 1989: 73-106.
Follows Iyengar in seeing Ezekiel as focussed on exploring all aspects of the bodymind exprience of sexuality. Both physical drive and sacramental celebration of beauty, sexual
love is a bulwark against the existential void, though the poet resists commitments because of
personal guilts or perceived insincerity in his lovers. Married love carries inherent limitations
because of different expectations
REDDY, P. BAYAPPA, Studies in Indian Writing in English with a Focus on Indian English
Drama, New Delhi: Prestige Books, 1990, 94pp.
"The Poet as Dramatist: Nissim Ezekiel Interviewed":13-19.
"Minor Joys and Sorrows: Ezekiel's Marriage Poem": 20-27.
RAO, R. RAJ. "Theme of Alienation in Nissim Ezekiel's Plays." In Contemporary Indian
Drama, edited by Pandey (1990), 82-91.
Alienation is a unifying theme running through all of Ezekiel's plays, whose intellectual
content surpasses their dramatic value. Rao examines Three Plays and the unpublished Who
Needs No Introduction and Song of Deprivation. Dress and language are recurring
instruments of alienation. Something inherent in our natures culminates in alienation from
society and each other. Ezekiel's characters are not round; they are types, who reveal why we
fail.
SAHA, SUBHAS CHANDRA. "The Indian Milieu and Ethos in Nissim Ezekiel's Poetry."
Literary Half Yearly 29.1 (1988) 84-91
Focusses on the motif of what it means for Ezekiel to be Indian with the contrasting and
conflicting realities which this encompasses.
SHAHANE, V.A. The Religious-Philosophical Strain in Nissim Ezekiel's Poetry" Journal of
South Asian Literature 11.3-4 (1976):253-61.
SINGH, S. "Journey into Self: Nissim Ezekiel's Recent Poetry" in SHAHANE, V.A. & M.
SIVARAMAKRISHNA, eds. "Contemporary Indian Poetry in English Special Number"
Osmania Journal of English Studies 13.1 (1977):29-43.
SINGH, SATYANARAIN. "Journey into Self: Nissim Ezekiel's Recent Poetry" in
SHAHANE, VASANT A. and SIVARAMKRISHNA, M. eds Indian Poetry in English: A
Critical Assessment Madras: Macmillan, 1980: 48-60. Also Atlantic Highlands: Humanities,
1981.
SINGH, SATYANARAIN. "Ramanujan and Ezekiel" in KULSHRESHTHA,
CHIRANTAN., ed Contemporary Indian-English Verse: An Evaluation New Delhi: ArnoldHeinemann, 1980: 165-74. Also Atlantic Highlands: Humanities, 1981.
SREENIVASAN, S. "The Self and Its Enchanted Circle: A Perspective on the Poetry of
Nissim Ezekiel" Littcrit 16.1&2 (1990): 81-87.
SREERMACHER, M. "The River's Argot in Three Indo-English Poets: A.K. Ramanujan,
K.N. Daruwalla and Nissim Ezekiel" Poetry 10 (1986):11-13.
TARANATH, RAJEEV. "Ezekiel's Nalini." In Indian Drama edited by Gowda, (1974), 11726.
A poet moving into playwriting is an interesting phenomenon, especially when he has
to face the peculiar problems of Indian-English theater. His material is seriously attenuated, as
he deals with English-speaking Indians, a very small class. Nalini is tightly knit. The two male
characters, Bharat and Raj, reveal different kinds of alienation--Raj's alienation touches
tragedy, while Bharat's is merely cerebral. Nalini is not an ordinary character, she is a dream
and a reality, an agent of evaluation. Ezekiel makes clever use of the bell; at the end of the
play, it acquires a kind of symbolism which is typical of the poet Ezekiel.
VAIDYANATHAN, RAMA. "Nissim Ezekiel on Indo-Anglian Fiction" Journal of Literature
and Aesthetics 2.2&3 (1982):17-19.
VERGHESE, C. PAUL. "The Poetry of Nissim Ezekiel." Indian Literature 15, no.1
(1972):63-75.
Close reading matching form and content (“Night of the Scorpion”, Poet, Lover,
Birdwatcher”). Primary concern is “man and his mind”, the meditative quest for self-integration
balanced by “sensory commitment to life”, aphoristic bareness by modulations of tone and
technical control. Probes illusion and desire for truth, aphoristic qualities moving to ironically
juxtaposed images. Simpler, more terse than Moraes.
WIELAND, JAMES. ""'Making Light of the Process': Nissim Ezekiel's Poetic Fictions"
Kunapipi 2.2 (1980):91-103.
WISEMAN, C. "The Development of Technique in the Poetry of Nissim Ezekiel: From
Formality to Informality" in MUKHERJEE, MEENAKSHI. ed. Considerations: Twelve
Studies of Indo-Anglian Writing New Delhi: Allied, 1977: 137-50. Perceives The Exact
Name (1965) is the key text in expanding his technical skills. Locates ‘In India’ as the
transitional poem and ‘Two Images’ and ‘In Retrospect’ as examples of his new free style
form. The Exact Name (1965) records the revolutionary change in his formal expertise.
WISEMAN, CHRISTOPHER. "The Development of Technique in the Poetry of Nissim
Ezekiel" in KULSHRESHTHA, CHIRANTAN., ed Contemporary Indian-English Verse: An
Evaluation New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1980: 133-49. Also Atlantic Highlands:
Humanities, 1981.Reprinted from MUKHERJEE,MEENAKSHI ed.Considerations: Twelve
Stidies of Indo-Anglian Writing New Delhi: Allied, 1977: 137-50.
Furtado, Joseph
AMANUDDIN, SYED. "Social Realism in the Poetry of Joseph Furtado" Journal of Indian
Writing in English 7.2 (1978):46-9.
FURTADO, PHILLIP. "Poet Joseph Furtado" Journal of South Asian Literature 18.1
(1983):68-70.
Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand
CASAMADA, PILAR. “The Autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi” in MCDERMOTT,
DOIREANN ed. Autobiographical and Biographical Writing in Commonwealth Literature
Barcelona: Sabadell, 1984:45-48.
Notes the Hindu emphasis on transcendental philosophy rather than history and Gandhi’s
reading of the Gita as outward figure for an inner duel, plus his attribution of autobiography to
Western thought. Biographical survey, noting contradictory aspects of Gandhi’s treatment of
his family and Koestler’s critique of satyagraha.
GUPTA, G.S. BALARAMA. "Gandhi, the Writer" in NAIK, M.K. ed. Perspectives on
Indian Prose in English New Delhi: Abhinav, 1982: 51-60. Also Atlantic Highlands:
Humanities, 1982.
RAO, K. RAGHAVENDRA. "Communication and Content in Gandhi's Hind Swaraj" in
NAIK, M.K. ed. Perspectives on Indian Prose in English New Delhi: Abhinav, 1982: 61-71.
Also Atlantic Highlands: Humanities, 1982.
SASTRY, L.S.R. "Gandhi as a Writer" Journal of Indian Writing in English 17.2 (1989): 3541.
VENKATESWARULU, I. "Gandhi and the Indo-English Novel: A Study in Influence" in
AMUR, G.S., PRASAD, V.R.N., NEMADE, B.V. & NIHALANI, N.H., eds. Indian
Readings in Commonwealth Literature New York: Apt; 1985: New Delhi: Sterling, 1985:5256.
Ghose, Sudin N.
KATAMBLE, V.D. "Village and City in the Balaram Tetralogy of Sudhin Ghose" The
Literary Half-yearly 23, no.1 (1982): 128-38.
Many Indian novels deal with the theme of village-city encounter; Ghose presents the
most revealing picture of the seamy side of city life, especially in the last two novels of his
tetralogy, where the narrator comes of age. The theme figures in the earlier novels, too. And
Gazelles Leaping has the child studying in a kindergarten in a rural pocket near Calcutta, but
the city intrudes in the shape of wounded refugees from the riots in Calcutta. In The Cradle of
the Clouds, which has a rural setting, the scales are weighted in favour of the traditional
Panditji as opposed to the modern city-dweller, though there are evil forces in the village too.
Ghose tends to simplify the village-city encounter in terms of innocence versus experience or
good versus evil.
MUKHERJEE, MEENAKSHI. "The Tractor and the Plough: The Contrasted Visions of
Sudhin Ghose and Mulk Raj Anand," Indian Literature 13, no.1 (1970): 88-101. Rept. in
Indian Literature of the Past Fifty Years, edited by C. D. Narasimhaiah. 1970: 121-32.
Details? Rept. in Considerations: Twelve Studies of Indo-Anglian Writing, edited by
Meenakshi Mukherjee. New Delhi: Allied, 1977: 111-21.
Compares Sudhin N. Ghose’s tetralogy of novels about a Bengali orphan with Mulk
Raj Anand’s trilogy about Lalu, a Punjabi peasant boy. Analyses the novels in terms of
language and structure. Both novelists deal with the theme of growth, but they represent two
opposite poles of Indian English fiction in their technique, attitudes towards the past, and use
of myth, and have diametrically opposed views of art. Ghose values tradition, myth and the
past; he is sceptical about progress and scoffs at the idea of India rivalling America or Russia;
Anand believes in progress with a capital ‘P’. Ghose builds his novels around myths, while
Anand’s use is confined to giving a new ending to the traditional story of Sita in Gauri. Ghose
uses fantasy and elements of Sanskrit storytelling (like Raja Rao), while Anand is realistic.
MUKHERJEE, MEENAKSHI. The Twice-Born Fiction: Themes and Techniques of the
Indian Novel in English. New Delhi: Arnold Heinemann, 1971. pp?
Ghose is one of the novelists analysed. [cross index]
NARAYAN, SHYAMALA A. Sudhin N. Ghose. “Indian Writers” Series, vol. 5. New Delhi:
Arnold-Heinemann, 1973, 156pp.
First full-length study of Ghose, who used Indain methods of storytelling a decade
before Raja Rao’s The Serpent and the Rope. Ghose uses digressions, quotations from
Sanskrit and other Indian languages, songs, folk tales and legends to enrich the texture of his
fiction. Following an introductory, mainly biographical chapter, Narayan devotes a chapter
each to the four novels, “Other Works” and “Ghose and Indian Storytelling”. Contains a
bibliography, which lists Ghose’s unpublished works also.
NARAYAN, SHYAMALA A. “Reality and Fantasy in the Novels of Sudhin N. ghose.” In
Aspects of Indian Writing in English, edited by M. K. Naik (1979): 162-71.
Fantasy is an integral part of Ghose’s fiction, giving rise to the impression that it is not
realistic. By comparing his tetralogy with The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian by Nirad
C. Chaudhuri, Narayan shows that most of his descriptions of life in Calcutta are based on
fact. Ghose’s primary intention is not realistic, but his portrait of life in India is authentic.
NARAYAN, SHYAMALA A. “Sudhin N. Ghose.” In Perspectives on Indian Fiction in
English, edited by M. K. Naik. (1985): pp?
Ghose introduced the literary heritage of India into the Indian English novel a decade
before Raja Rao. His tetralogy of novels employs traditional Indian methods of storytelling,
replete with verse ranging from classical sanskrit poetry to folk songs and Tagore’s lyrics. The
primary expository essay pleads for greater attention being devoted to Ghose.
NARAYAN, SHYAMALA A. Sudhin N. Ghose. Makers of Indian Literature. Series Delhi:
Sahitya Akademi, 1989, 83pp.
Study aimed at the general reader.
Ghosh, Amitav
KAPADIA, NOVY. "Imagination and Politics in Amitav Ghosh's The Shadow Lines" in
KIRPAL, VINEY, ed. & introd. The New Indian Novel in English: A Study of the 80s New
Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1990: ?.
KAUL, A.N. "Who is Afraid of Shadow Lines?" Indian Literature, 139, (1990): 88-93.
review?
NARAYAN, SHYAMALA A. "The Structure of Amitav Ghosh's The Circle of Reason"
Littcrit 614.1&2 (1989):43-54.
PRASAD, G.J.V. "The Unfolding of a Raga: Narrative Structure in The Circle of Reason" in
KIRPAL, VINEY, ed. & introd. The New Indian Novel in English: A Study of the 80s New
Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1990: 101-07.
Gokak, V.K.
SAJJAN, G.B. "Prof. V.K. Gokak as a Poet: A Tentative Assessment" Commonwealth
Quarterly 3.11 (1979):61-5.
Gokhale, Namita
MOHAN, DEVINDER. "Semiotics of Feminine Ideology and the Adaptation of Zola's
Naturalism in Namita Gokhale's Paro" in KIRPAL, VINEY, ed. & introd. The New Indian
Novel in English: A Study of the 80s New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1990: 131-46.
Gorwala, A. D.
MELWANI, M.D. "A.D. Gorwala's Short Fiction" Journal of Indian Writing in English 2.2
(1974):62-7.
Gupta, Rohini
RAIZADA, HARISH. "Chitra Pershad, Rohini Gupta and Dorothy Sinha" in DWIVEDI,
A.N. "Eves' Song: Contemporary English Verse by Indian Women" Studies in Contemporary
Indo-English Verse: A Collection of Critical Essays. Vol. I Female Poets Bareilly: Prakash
Book Depot, 1985:217-26.
Honnalgere, Gopal
SRIDHAR, S.N. "A Note on Honnalgere's Zen Tree and Wild Innocents" Journal of Indian
Writing in English 3.2 (1975):32-4.
Hossain, Attia
ANAND, MULK RAJ. “Profile of Attia Hosain” Commonwealth Quarterly 3.9 (1978): 112.
Personal account of her social background and literary formation with an appreciation of
Sunlight on a Broken Column.
Isvaran, Manjeri
GUPTA, G.S. BALARAMA. "A Note on Isvaran's No Anklet Bells for Her" Journal of the
Karnatak University: Humanities, 18 (1974):111-14.
GUPTA, G.S.B. "Just a Pot of Ashes: A Note on Isvaran's Immersion" The Rajasthan Journal
of English Studies: 1.1 (1975):29-32.
GUPTA, G.S.B. "The Poetry of Manjeri S. Isvaran" Journal of the Karnatak University:
Humanities 19 (1975):100-09.
GUPTA, G.S.BALARAMA. "A Little Sheaf of Letters from Venkataramani to Isvaran"
Littcrit 3.1 (1977):36-41.
NAIK, M.K. “Finding ‘The Mind’s Construction’: The Short Stories of Manerji Isvaran” in
NAIK, Studies in Indian English Literature New Delhi: Sterling, 1987: 55-67.
PANIKER, K. AYYAPPA. Manjeri S. Isvaran Madras: Macmillan India (Kerala Writers in
English Series), 1984.
Iyengar, K.R. Srinivasa
DWIVEDI, A.N. "Leaves From a Log: K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar" Indian Literature 24.1
(January-February 1981):133-5.
KANTAK, V.Y. "A Sitayana for Today" Indian Literature 129 (1989): 101-27. poetry?
Iyer, Rajam
VISWANATHAN, S. "Rajam Iyer's Vasudeva Sastry or True Greatness: Apologue or
Religious Novel?" Journal of Indian Writing in English 2.1: 49-53.[check year]
Jain, Sunita
JAIDKA, MANJU. "The Whimper and the Dream: The Poetry of Sunita Jain" Littcrit
14.1&2 (1989): 56-63. Also in Atma RAM ed. Contemporary Indian-English Poetry
Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1989: 32-39.
Jaggi, Satya Dev
SHARMA, URMILA. "From Chimney to Sky: Satya Dev Jaggi's Poetry" in DWIVEDI, A.N
ed. Studies in Contemporary Indo-English Verse Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1984:289300.
Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer
AGARWAL, R. "Forster, Jhabvala and Readers" Journal of Indian Writing in English 3.2
(1975):25-7.
Argues that Jhabvala's fictional portrayal of India is superior to the much admired
perspective displayed in Forster's 'A Passage to India'. Forster's Dr. Aziz lacks any familial
connection and this distinction allows Jhabvala's totally "authentic picture" of Indian family life
to produce a more discerning representation of India for her readers. Primarily concerned with
upholding family life as key factor in sociological accuracy of fictional treatments of Indian life.
AGARWAL, R. "Two Approaches to Jhabvala" Journal of Indian Writing in English 5.1
(1977):24-7.
Seeks to bring into perspective the rift between Indian and Western critical
perceptions of the value of Jhabvala's writing. Points to lack of discernment of author's
purpose as possible underlying factor for Indian criticism having little regard for Jhabvala.
Questions the noticeable difference in critical reception between Western and Indian
reviewers and critics.
AGARWAL, R.C. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: A Study of Her Fiction New Delhi: Sterling, 1990,
126pp.
AGARWAL, R.G. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: A Study of her Fiction New Delhi: Sterling, 1989,
132pp.
AGARWAL, RAMLAL. "A Critical Study of Heat and Dust" in GUPTA, G.S.
BALARAMA., ed. Studies in Indian Fiction in English Gulbarga: JIWE Publications, 1987:
53-60.
ALBERTAZZI, S. "R.P. Jhabvala's 'Mythology of Captivity'" Commonwealth 8.1 (1985):3144.
AMUR, G.S. "Marriage as Symbolic Strategy in Seeta, Esmond in India and The Serpent and
the Rope" Journal of Literature and Aesthetics 1.3 (1981):5- [who wrote Seeta?]
ASNANI, S.M. "Jhabvala's Novels: A Thematic Study" Journal of Indian Writing in English
2.1 (1974):38-47.
Asserts Jhabvala's early fictions contain acutely accurate insights into Indian life full of
paradoxes and contradictions accelerated by East-West tension. Elaborates on family life as
the central focus of Jhabvala's writing. Questions the effectiveness of sociological aspects of
fictions in respect of certain character types, especially grandmotherly figures and servants.
Often makes use of comparison to Jane Austen.
BAWER, BRUCE. "Passage to India: The Career of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala" NewC 6.4
(December 1987):5-19.
BLACKWELL, F. "Perception of the Guru in the Fiction of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala" Journal of
Indian Writing in English 5.2 (1977):6-13.
Traces the image of the guru through various treatments in several novels and short
stories. Analyses the character of the guru as it is reflected in the Western students
encountering the Eastern holy man. Pays particular attention to the sexual patterns common to
Jhabvala's fiction, characterised as skeptical and sardonic, about the swami figure.
BRADBURY, NICOLA. "Filming James" Essays in Criticism 29.4 (October 1979):293-301.
[Jhabvala?]
CHADHA, RAMESH. Cross-Cultural Interaction in Indian English Fiction: An Analysis of
the Novels of Ruth Jhabvala and Kamala Markandaya New Delhi: National Book
Organisation, 1988, xii + 166 pp.
CHADHA, RAMESH. "Heat and Dust and The Coffer Dams: A Comparative Study" Journal
of Indian writing in English 10.1&2 (1982):24-30.
Correlates many similarities in her examination of two novels by women writers based
on the breakdown of Western marriages in India and the woman's subsequent relationship
with an Indian male. Establishes the women characters as unfulfilled in conventional married
life due to differing outlooks and lack of mutual understanding. Reads as proto-feminist
criticism as yet not fully conversant with the theory and terminology now applied by that
critical practice.
CRANE, RALPH J. "Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: A Checklist of Primary and Secondary Sources"
Journal of Commonwealth Literature 20.1 (1985):171-203.
CRANE, RALPH S. "Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's Sky: Escape from the Heat and Dust?" Span
24 (1987):178-89.
CRONIN, RICHARD. "The Hill of Devi and Heat and Dust" EIC (April 1986):142-59.
DAVE, JAGDISH V. “Ruth Jhabvala’s Two-Stream Technique in ‘Heat and Dust ‘ “ Triveni
57.2 (1988): 75-80.
The two-stream technique combines the separate stories of Olivia and the narrator
into a single narrative frame centred on place. Discusses the question of the correct approach
to India by Europeans. Perceives Mrs. Jhabvala advocates a European love India from a
distance to maintain its romance.
DE SOUZA, EUNICE. "The Blinds Drawn and the Airconditioner On: The Novels of Ruth
Prawer Jhabvala" WLWE 17.1 (1978):219-24.
Accuses Jhabvala of lack of development in her writing skills noting a sameness of
style and stereotyping of characters. Asserts all Jhabvala's characters are reduced to onedimensionality without depth or objectivity in their depictions. Claims the author has evaded
any attempt at analysis of East/West differences and conflicts in values, philosophy and life
styles. Jhabvala's lack of sociological insight compared to more perceptive writing in Angus
Wilson's As If By Magic and Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea.
DE SOUZA, EUNICE. "The Expatriate Experience" in NARASIMHAIAH, C.D. ed.
Awakened Conscience: Studies in Commonwealth Literature, New Delhi: Sterling Publishers,
1978 (also Hong Kong: Heinemann Asia, 1978: 339-345
DUDT, CHARMAZEL. "Jhabvala's Fiction: The Passage From India" 159-64 in KesslerHarris, Alice & McBrien, William., eds Faith of a (Woman) Writer Westport CT:
Greenwood, 1988, ix + 350 pp.
EZEKIEL, NISSIM. "Cross-Cultural Encounter in Literature" Indian PEN 43.11-12
(1977):4-8.
GOONERATNE, YASMINE. "'Traditional' Elements in the fiction of Kamala Markandaya,
R.K. Narayan and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala" WLWE 15.1 (April 1976):121-34.
GOONERATNE, YASMINE. "Irony as an Instrument of Social and Self-analysis in Ruth
Prawer Jhabvala's Heat and Dust" New Literature Review 4 (1978):41-50.
Focuses on narrative strategy and questions whether the intense honesty and reliability
of the narrator shifts into a growing psychological imbalance causing total disintegration of the
personality in the novel's final pages. Examines the narrator's character concerned with
psychological investigation as an exercise in self-analysis or, in another approach,forms the
basis of an archetypal quest-figure. Deems this fiction entirely psychologically relevant to the
author's own mental condition and completely unsatiric in intent. Finds "Heat and Dust" boldly
self-reflexive and dominated by an ironic detachment.
GOONERATNE, YASMINE. "Ruth Jhabvala: Generating Heat and Light" Kunapipi 1
(1978): 115-29.
Takes the Indian literary community to task for their refusal to grant Mrs. Jhabvala the
serious critical treatment she deserves. The award of the Booker Prize in l975 has engendered
resentment rather than opened up substantive critical assessment. Extends earlier
considerations in thematic criticism by noting a deliberate change from early fiction based on
social satire to a new concern with loneliness and isolation as expressed in Heat and Dust and
the short story volume, How I Became a Holy Mother and Other Stories. Offers a humanistic
universalist approach extending the author's focus on 'India' to a wider context beyond
nationalism and regionalism.
GOONERATNE, YASMINE. "Film into Fiction: The Influence upon Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's
Fiction of Her Work for the Cinema, 1960-76" WLWE 18.2 (November 1979):368-86.
Suggests an extremely close interaction between the author's writing in novels, short
stories and film scripts during this decade and a half. Observes that Jhabvala's technical
improvements in fiction writing correlate to learned cinematic techniques. Specifically applies
the subjective camera technique to A New Dominion, especially its division into scenes rather
than chapters. Details the strict control of flashbacks as integral to the portraits of Olivia and
Ms. Rivers in Heat and Dust. Psychological critique centred on people's deliberate editing of
historical fact in such a way as to present a finished fiction to themselves acceptable as
sanctioned "historical truth".
GOONERATNE, YASMINE. "Satirical Semi-Colon: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's Screenplay for
Bombay Talkie" Journal of Indian Writing 8.1&2 (1980):78-81. Reprinted in SINGH,
KIRPAL ed. Through Different Eyes: Foreign Responses to Indian Writing in English
Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1984: 248-254.
Examines Jhabvala's scriptwriting abilities and locates her talent in proffering a selfreflexive analysis of the Bombay film industry. Contends that satire of the stock incidents of
the popular film works as the author's operative principle in 'Bombay Talkie'. Notices
structural similarities in 'Bombay Talkie'(1970) and the fiction of 'A New Dominion'(1972).
Also traces connections between Jane Austen's 'Northanger Abbey' and the 'Bombay Talkie'
script.
GOONERATNE, YASMINE. "Literary Influences on the Writing of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala"
in NANDAN, SATENDRA. ed. Language and Literature in Multicultural Contexts, Suva:
University of the South Pacific, 1983:141-168.
Analyses the adaptation of eighteenth-century British literary modes to Jhabvala’s
style. Austen, Sheridan and Goldsmith are detected behind early work (Amrita or To Whom
she Will, 1955; The Nature of Passion, 1956). Detailed character study of Amrita and Lalaji
in The Nature of Passion.
GOONERATNE, YASMINE. "Contemporary India in the Writing of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala"
Westerly 28.4 (December 1983):73-80.
GOONERATNE, YASMINE. Silence, Exile and Cunning: The Fiction of Ruth Prawer
Jhabvala London: Sangam Books, 1983, 325 pp.
GOONERATNE, YASMINE. "Apollo, Krishna, Superman: The Image of India in Ruth
Prawer Jhabvala's Ninth Novel" Ariel 15.2 (1984):109-117.
Reasserts the primacy of the author's "three backgrounds" as the focus to interpreting
the intent of In Search of Love and Beauty (1983). Connects the main character of Leo
Kellerman to previous representatives of the guru figure. Adopts a number of "victim"
positions for penetrating the psychological conditions of the major characters.
HAYBALL, CONNIE. "Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's India" Journal of Indian Writing in English
9.2 (1981):42-54.
Recapitulates earlier considerations of Jhabvala's fiction as offering satire of the Indian
middle class family.Finds many stock figures such as the Westernised Indian woman, the idle,
dilettantish artistic man and the swami common to much of Jhabvala's work. Contends
Jhabvala's fiction advertises a modern style Indian capitalism as the only possibility offering
change to the old India.
JHA, REKHA. The Novels of Kamala Markandaya and Ruth Jhabvala: A Study in EastWest Encounter, New Delhi: Prestige Publishers, 1990, 176pp.
JOSEPH, MARGARET, P. "Cinematic Technique in Heat and Dust" Journal of Literature
and Aesthetics 2.2&3 (1982):88-93.
KOHLI, D. "More Talking of Heat and Dust" The Indian Literary Review I.2 (1978):35-9.
MENON, K.P.K. "Parallel Plots in Heat and Dust" Littcrit 10.1 (1984):46-51.
MUKHERJEE, MEENAKSHI. "Inside the Outsider" in NARASIMHAIAH, C.D. ed.
Awakened Conscience: Studies in Commonwealth Literature, New Delhi: Sterling Publishers,
1978 (also Hong Kong: Heinemann Asia, 1978): 86-91.
MUKHERJEE, MEENAKSHI. "Journey's End for Jhabvala" in DHAWAN, R.K. ed.
Explorations in Modern Indo-English Fiction ed. R.K. Dhawan, Bahri Publishers,1982: 20813.
MUKHERJEE, NIRMAL. "Heat and Dust: A Tale of Two Women" Kakatiya Journal of
English Studies 8.1 (1978):120-39.
PRADHAN, N.S. "The Problem of Focus in Jhabvala's Heat and Dust" The Indian Literary
Review I.1 (1978):15-20.
RAGHAVAN, ELLEN WEAVER. "Irony in the Works of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala" DAI 45.9
(March 1985):2871A.
RANI, K.N. "A Note on Mrs. Jhabvala's Latest Novel Heat and Dust" Commonwealth
Quarterly 1.4 (1977):34-41.
ROY, EVANGELINE SHANTI. "The Nature of Passion as a Social Comedy" Littcrit
16.1&2 (1990): 70-80.
RUBIN, DAVID. "Ruth Jhabvala in India" Modern Fiction Studies 30.4 (Winter 1984):66983.
Disputes accepted opinions of Jhabvala as an Indian writer and a comic novelist of
manners. Classifies her as a non-Indian writer in the mainstream of English novelists such as
Paul Scott, John Masters and M. M. Kaye. Considers her a rather limited writer constrained
by flatness of tone, cynicism and pervasive desolation. Isolates the centre of her work in her
own status as a refugee based on the American title Travellers (1973), called A New
Dominion in England. Debates the appropriateness of Jhabvala's status in the circumstances of
her actual triple displacement, having been born in Germany (1927), then living in England
(1939-51), India(1951-75) and now resident in the USA (1975- ).
RUTHERFORD, A. & PETERSEN, K.H. "Heat and Dust: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's
Experience of India" WLWE 15.2 (November 1976):373-78.
Repeats the standard critical commentary surrounding Jhabvala's fiction. Details
technical aspects, especially lack of social concern, recurring character types and the use of a
cut and splice technique borrowed from cinematic scriptwriting. Assesses structural forms and
devices as the dominant factor in the author's work.
RUTHERFORD, A. "Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's Window on India" ACLALS Bulletin 4th
Series, No. 2 (1975):27-9.
Based on an interview with the author, recapitulates received opinion on Jhabvala's
fiction. Considers that Jhabvala basically examines the dilemma of people caught between
cultures,Westerners in India and Westernised Indians. Sociological analysis of women's
position has the author declaring that bourgeois values are overwhelmingly supported by the
majority of Indian women.
SAINI, RUPINDERJIT. "Economic Entrapment: A Study of Jhabvala's Householder" Journal
of Indian Writing in English 15.2 (1987):1-9.
SARMA, M.N. "Of Emigrants and Exiles: Changed Perspectives in Jhabvala's Fiction" Littcrit
3.2 (1977):36-41.
SAXENA, O.P. & SOLANKI, RAJINI. Geography of Jhabvala's Novels New Delhi:
Jainsons Publications, 1985, 165 pp.
SHAHANE, V.A. "An Artist's Experience of India: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's Fiction" The
Literary Criterion 12.2-3 (1976):47-62. Reprinted in MANUEL, M. & PANIKER,
AYYAPPA., eds. English and India: Essays Presented to Professor Samuel Mathai on his
Seventieth Birthday. Madras: Macmillan, 1978: 1-15.
SHAHANE, VASANT. "Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and the Indian Scene" The Journal of Indian
Writing in English 4.2 (1976) 21-4.
Claims Jhabvala's intense perceptions of India superior to any other European
perspective. Autobiographical details construct the author's awareness of India. Believes
Jhabvala's literary power exists because of her love for India.
SHAHANE, VASANT. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1976.
SHAHANE, V.A. "Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's A New Dominion" JCL 12.1 (1977):45-55.
Offers the view that Jhabvala is talented but limited and uses 'A New Dominion' to
explicate his perspective on her work. The guru figure and its interaction with Western
students emerges as the basis for coming to terms with the complexity of the East-West
encounter. Asserts a radical change in technique apparent in 'A New Dominion' compared to
earlier fictions based on a comedy of manners formula. Finds the author intent on the realism
of contemporary India in its social, cultural, religious, political and spiritual contexts.
V.A. SHAHANE, "An Artist's Experience of India: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's Fiction": 252268. Reprinted from The Literary Criterion in DWIVEDI, A.N. (ed) Studies in
Contemporary Indian Fiction in English, Allahabad: Kitab Mahal, 1987, pp.358
SINGH, BRIJRAJ. "Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: Heat and Dust" in PRADHAN, N.S. ed. Major
Indian Novels: An Evaluation New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1986: 192-222. Also Atlantic
Highlands, New Jersey: Humanities, 1986.
SOHI, HARINDER. "Ruth Jhabvala's Passage to India" PURBA 16.1 (April 1985):3-15.
STILES, PETER. "India and the Western Sensibility in the Fiction of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala",
unpublished MA dissertation, Macquarie University, 1979.
SUCHER, LAURA ELIZABETH. "Quest and Dis-Illusion: The Fiction of Ruth Prawer
Jhabvala" DAI 46.6 (December 1985):1624A
SUCHER, LAURIE. The Fiction of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: The Politics of Passion London:
Macmillan, 1989, 251pp.
SUMMERFIELD, H. "Holy Women and Unholy Men: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Confronts the
Non-Rational" Ariel 17.3 (1986):85-101.
VARMA, P.N. "A Note on the Novels of R. Prawer Jhabvala" RUSEng 5 (1971):87-96.
WILLIAMS, HAYDN M. "Mad Seekers, Doomed Lovers and Cemeteries in India: On R.P.
Jhabvala's Heat and Dust and A New Dominion" New Literature Review 15 (1988):11-20.
WILLIAMS, HAYDN MOORE. "R.K. Narayan and R. Prawer Jhabvala: Two Interpreters
of Modern India" Literature East and West 16.4 (April 1975):1136-54.
WILLIAMS, HAYDN. "Reactions to Entrapment in 'Backward Places' V.S. Naipaul's
Miguel Street and Ruth Jhabvala's A BAckward Place." In A Sense of Place in the New
Literatures in English edited by Peggy Nightingale, 68-84. St Lucia: U Queensland, 1986
"Colonial history does not make for stability of residence." Comparision of two emigré
writers, Naipaul 'returning' to his birthplace, Jhabvala 'adopting' a new country but depicting
displaced characters seeking return to some elusive 'home'. Miguel Street can be read as a
Joycean bildungsroman of escape (death and birth) and change (war and decolonization), a
comic treatment of madness and violence not unlike Under Milkwood in which Hat serves as
a Christ-like liberator for the disillusioned boy-writer. Jhabvala's figures escape to
responsibilities (Judy and Sudhir) or remain trapped in a sterile retreat from life (Etta and
Clarissa). The three women are seen as aspects of Jhabvala herself. Naipaul also charts the
shift from colourful squalor to shabby trap, though Jhabvala remains ironic about her
'backward place'. Text-based argument, with recourse to autobiographical works by both
writers. [From ‘Full Anotations: Assesses both works as preoccupied with exile and the
psychological connections to images and perceptions of 'home'. Claims these fictions meet in
a common theme of escape. Perceives textual meaning generated by the authors' focus on
psychological self-reflexivity.]
WILLIAMS, HAYDN MOORE. "Strangers in a Backward Place: Modern India in the
Fiction of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala" The Journal of Commonwealth Literature 6.1 (1971):53-64.
Investigates Jhabvala's early fictions within the context of the Hindu concept of the
four ashramas. Attempts to place the major characters of 'Get Ready for Battle', 'The Nature
of Passion', 'The Householder', 'A Backward Place', within a particular phase of the
ashramas. Brahminical moral evaluation serves as the testing material in the background of
Jhabvala's realistic portrayals of the complexity and universality of the Indian urban family
situation.
WILLIAMS, HAYDN MOORE. The Fiction of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Calcutta: Writers'
Workshop, 1973.
WINEGARTEN, RENEE. "Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: A Jewish Passage to India" Midstream
(March 1974):72-9.
Reiterates previous treatments of Anand's work as dominated by concern for the poor
and underprivileged trapped by India's class and caste systems. Closely examines the
character of Ananta and finds him a victim of rage and insanity, not of religious or political
creed, and his sacrifice is that of the unselfish man for humanity. Sociological analysis based on
economic determinism as fundamental principle in a capitalist society.
See also Kakatiya Journal of English Studues Vol. 11 No. 1 Spring 1977:85-92.
WINTERBERG, INGE. "'An Experience of India': Zu den IndienRomanen von Ruth Prawer
Jhabvala" Arcadia 17.2 (1982):171-94.
Arun Joshi (1939-1993)
Most studies of Joshi's novels concentrate on his themes. Devinder Mohan is not far off the
mark when he observes that The Foreigner, like the rest of Joshi's novels, suffers at the hands
of critics from abstract generalisations of themes which have no bearing on the form of the
novel, ... They talk about alienation, self-delusion, mode of anxiety, detachment solutions, the
interior "I" and the reflective insiders." Devinder Mohar himself has written about Joshi’s first
four novels, but his criticism has too much of Foucalt and Said for comfort. Tina Shettigara's
article on The Foreigner is one of the best studies of the novel, while A. Ramakrishna Rao and
Ramesh Shrivastava have presented fine analyses of Joshi's fourth novel, The Last Labyrinth.
BHATNAGAR, O. P. "Arun Joshi's The Foreigner: A Critique of East and West." WLWE 1,
no.2 (1973): 9-14.
The Foreigner presents a new way of looking at East-West confrontation.The working
out of personal problems against the background of cultures follows the pattern of Henry
James Born of a British mother and an Indian father, the orphaned Sindi, the hero, is brought
up in Kenya, and does not belong to any culture So he has the ideal perspective to view
problems from a human angle He presents a clear picture of the drawbacks of life in America,
as also the evils in Indian soceity
CHANDAR, K. M. "The Quest for Faith in Arun Joshi's The Last Labyrinth." In The Indian
Novel in English: Essays in Criticism, edited by Ravi Nandan Sinha and R. K. Sinha (Ranchi:
Ankit Publisher, 1987): 56-62.
Thematic study. The quest for a definite meaning in life has been Joshi's primary
preoccupation in all his novels. The protagonists of the first three novels attained some degree
of success. Som Bhaskar in The Last Labyrinth realises the need for something more than
material prosperity but completely fails to attain it. The novelist makes good symbolic use of
Aftab's house, with its labyrinths.
CHANDRA, SURESH. "The High Culture Fiction of Arun Joshi and Uma Vasudev," in
Culture and Criticism (Delhi: B. R. Publishing Corporation, 1987): 99-109.
Arun Joshi and Uma Vasudev deal with a class of people generally neglected by other
Indian-English novelists: the privileged executives in independent India who are next only to
the rulers and top industrialists. Suresh Chand makes no distinction between the characters of
Joshi--Rat Rathor of The Apprentice, Khemka in The Foreigner, and Billy Biswas of The
Strange Case of Billy Biswas, and the people depicted in Aruna Vasudev's The Song of
Anasuya. They all believe in "enjoying" life, which means staying in five-star hotels, drinking
expensive brands, and sleeping around.
DHAWAN, R.K. The Fictional World of Arun Joshi New Delhi: Classical Publishing Co,
1986, 255 pp.
DHAWAN, R. K. ed. The Fictional World of Arun Joshi. New Delhi: Classical Publishing
Company, 1986, 247pp.
Essays by 15 critics. Chapter 1 on "Writer and His Writing", Chapter 2 "Introduction",
Chapters 3-7, "Themes and Techniques", and Chapters 8-15 on individual novels. Contents:
(l) JOSHI, ARUN. "Towards Finding an Expression": 15-16. (2) DHAWAN, R. K. "The
Fictional World of Arun Joshi": 17-48. Explicatory, with summaries of his novels and short
stories. (3) BHATNAGAR, O. P. "The Art and Vision of Arun Joshi": 49-68. (4)
RAIZADA, HARISH. "Double Vision of Fantasy and Reality in Arun Joshi's Novels": 69103. (5) PATHAK, R. S. "Human Predicament and Meaninglessless in Arun Joshi's Novels":
104-142. Amplified version of "Arun Joshi's Novels: An Indeterminate Search for Meaning in
Life," in Arun Joshi: A Study of His Fiction, edited by N. Radhakrishnan
(Gandhigram,Tamilnadu: Gandhigram Rural Institute, 1984): 44-63 (6) MATHUR, O. P. and
G. RAI, "Arun Joshi and the Labyrinth of Life": 143-54. (7) GURUPRASAD, THAKUR.
"The Lost Lonely Questers of Arun Joshi's Fiction": 155-67. (8) JHA, MOHAN. "The
Foreigner: A Study in Innocence and Experience": 168-75. (9) RADHA, K. "From
Detachment to Involvement: The Case of Sindi Oberoi": 176-85. Reprinted as "From
Detachment to Involvement: The Career of the Chief Protagonist of Arun Joshi's The
Foreigner." In Contemporary Indian Fiction in English, edited by K. Ayyappa Paniker
(Trivandrum: University of Kerala, 1987): 81-90. Traces the development in the character of
Sindi, who begins with no attachment to parents or country. His relationship with June marks a
breaking down of the barriers of detachment. It is the impassioned plea of Muthu, a poor man
in Bombay, which makes Sindi give up his indifference. Briefly compares Sindi with the
protagonists of The Outsider by Camus and Kamala Markandaya's The Nowhere Man. (10)
PREMPATI, D. "The Strange Case of Billy Biswas: A Serious Response to a Big Challenge":
186-93. (ll) MOHAN, DEVINDER. "The Image of Fire in The Strange Case of Billy
Biswas": 194-209. See MOHAN above. (12) ABRAHAM, JOY. "Vision and Technique in
The Appprentice": 210-22. Novelists like Joshi and Anita Desai are trying new paths,
testifying to the vitality of Indian English fiction. Abraham analyses the narrative pattern of The
Aprentice in tabular form. (13) REDDY, V. GOPAL. "The Apprentice: An Existential Study":
223-30. Thematic approach. Ratan's alienation is two-fold; he is alienated from society, and
later from his true self when he conforms to the false values of the marketplace. Opines that
The Apprentice is influenced by Camus's The Fall. (14) PRASAD, HARI MOHAN. "The
Crisis of Consciousness: The Last Labyrinth": 231-39. (15) SHARMA, SHAM SUNDER.
"The Two Worlds in The Last Labyrinth": 240-48.
A.N. DWIVEDI, "The Novels of Arun Joshi: A Critical Study": 309-318. in DWIVEDI,
A.N. (ed) Studies in Contemporary Indian Fiction in English, Allahabad: Kitab Mahal, 1987,
pp.358
DUTTA, PADMA. "Problems of Individuation: A Critique of Arun Joshi's Use of Symbols
and Archetypes in The Last Labyrinth" Journal of Indian Writing in English, 18.1, (1990): 3140.
HEGDE, M.G. "Arun Joshi's Lala Shri Ram: A Study" Journal of Indian Writing in English
17.2 (1989): 18-22.
IYENGAR, K.R.SRINIVASA. "The Fiction of Arun Joshi" The Humanities Review 3.2:
(1981):39-40.
JAIN, J. "Foreigners and Strangers: Arun Joshi's Heroes" Journal of Indian Writing in English
5.1 (1977):52-7.
JAIN, JASBIR. "Foreigners and Strangers: Arun Joshi's Heroes." JIWE 5, no.1 (1977): 5357.
Joshi's heroes are lonely men in search of a meaning in life. None of them is religious,
but they are humble in learning the lessons life teaches them. Ratan Rathor, of The Apprentice,
embodies the world of material values which his predecessors Sindi Oberoi (The Foreigner)
and Billy Biswas (The Strange Case of Billy Biswas) reject, but he is engaged in the same
quest.
JAMKHANDI, SUDHAKAR R. "Arun Joshi: An Emerging Voice in Indian English
Literature" Literature East & West 6.1-4 (1985):36-44.
JAMKHANDI, SUDHAKAR R. "Arun Joshi: An Emerging Voice in Indian English
Literature" The Literary Endeavour 6.1-4 (1986):36-44.
JAMKHANDI, SUDHAKAR R. "Arun Joshi: An Emerging Voice in Indian English
Literature." The Literary Endeavour 6, no.1 (1986): 37-44.
Brief survey of Joshi's four novels. All have well-educated, alienated heroes. The
Foreigner is about involvement and detachment. The Stranee Case of Billy Biswas reads like a
suspense novel, with Romesh Sahai tracing the whereabouts of Billy, who disappears,
rejecting urban society. The Apprentice, a confessional novel, can be read as a
bildungsroman. The Last Labyrinth is a love story, the labyrinth mirrors the hero's mental
tribulations in his pursuit of Anuradha.
MATHUR, O.P. and RAI, G. "The Existential Note in Arun Joshi's The Strange Case of Billy
Biswas and The Apprentice" Commonwealth Quarterly 17 (1980):30-41.
MATHUR, O.P. "From Existentialism to Karmayog: A Study of Arun Joshi's The Foreigner"
in SRIVASTAVA, AVADESH K. ed. Alien Voice: Perspectives on Commonwealth
Literature Lucknow: Print House, 1981: 107-15. Also Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey:
Humanities, 1982.
MATHUR, O. P. and G. RAI. "The Existential Note in Arun Joshi's The Strange Case of
Billy Biswas and The Apprentice." Commonwealth Quarterly no.17 (1980): 30-41.
MATHUR, O. P. and G. RAI. "From Existentialism to Karmayog: A Study of Arun Joshi's
The Foreigner." In Alien Voice (1981), edited by Srivastava: 107-115.
Sindi Oberoi, the hero of The Foreigner, begins as an existentialist hero, in the
tradition of Sartre. But later on, his experience of India changes him; he realises that his
salvation lies in following the Bhagavad-Gita, the Hindu text advocating karmayoga, that is,
disinterested action. The Foreigner is a study of a soul working towards liberation.
MEITEI, MANI. "The Strange Case of Billy Biswas: Awareness of Worlds Within Worlds"
New Quest, 2.2, (1990): 9-20.
MEITEI, M. MANI. "The Strange Case of Billy Biswas: Awareness of Worlds within
Worlds." The Quest 4, no.2 (1990): 9-20.
Advocates an "archetypal criticism" to discover the underlying mythological patterns.
Through the experiences of Billy, Joshi shows that there is something in the world beyond
human knowledge.The ideas of Jung and Freud are employed to make Billy's psychology
credible. The tribal girl Bilasia is the essence of the primitive force, and when Billy gives up his
parents and wife to live with her in the forest, he is fulfilling his inner urge for the primitive life.
Billy should not be seen as a Western alienated hero; he is in touch with the root of Indian
culture.
MOHAN, DEVINDER. "Arun Joshi: The Foreigner" in PRADHAN, N.S. ed. Major Indian
Novels: An Evaluation New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1986: 174-91. Also Atlantic
Highlands, New Jersey: Humanities, 1986.
MOHAN, DEVINDER. "The Language of the Splintered Mirror: The Fiction of Arun Joshi."
Ariel 14, no.4 (1983): 20-33.
Structuralist approach. Joshi's fictional voice maintains a dialogue betweeen what
Edward Said calls "molestation and authority". Mohan invokes Foucalt to show that Joshi's
language seeks the "extremity of silence, the silence of void, vacancy and death." Death and
madness are recurring presentational images in his work. The narrator finds himself in the
shattered mirror, looking deformed and distorted in each fragmented piece.
MOHAN, DEVINDER. "Arun Joshi: The Foreigner." In Major Indian Novels, edited by N.
S. Pradhan (New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann,1985): 174-91.
Uses the critical formulations of Michel Foucalt in The Order of Things and The
Archeologv of Knowledge to analyse The Foreigner. Joshi presents an image of Death by
making it a fictional object as well as the manifestation of the presence which manipulates the
events and the characters. The protagonist, Sindi Oberoi, is both the object and metaphor of
man's unnameable madness, who maintains what Foucalt calls "finitude". He is also the signifier
of the author's structural point of view. The novel starts with Babu Khemka's death, and
Death as event is transformed as an aesthetic sign of its "presentational presence" (Susanne
Langer's phrase).
MOHAN, DEVINDER. "The Image of Fire in The Strange Case of Billy Biswas." In The
Fictional World of Arun Joshie, edited by R. K. Dhawan (New Delhi: Classical Publishing
Company,1986): 194-209.
Structurali analysis. Joshi is concerned with creating an aesthetic sign of man' s search
for a spiritual fulcrum. The image of the glow of fire on the top of a distant rock, Chandtola,
becomes the central signifying sign of the network of various signifiers represented by the
characters of binary nature and culture, tribal world and Western civilization, and the Jungian
signifiers of anima and animus integrated within the Hindu taxonomy of rituals and rites. The
narrator, Romesh Sahai, is like Melville's Ishmael in revealing the sustained balance of the
fictional discourse by experiencing and interpreting it.
MOHAN, DEVINDER."Beyond the Litany of Wants: Contexts of Arun Joshi's Fiction
towards The Last Labyrinth." In The New Indian Novel in English, edited by Viney Kirpal
(New Delhi:Allied Publishers, 1990): 83-90.
Arun Joshi's fictional voice is the voice of the "molestation" (Edward Said's phrase) of
the modern historical consciousness of Indianism. As in his other novels, Joshi presents an
authentic vision of contemporary Indian man in a multicultural society, his economic needs
clashing with traditional values. Som Bhaskar, the hero of The Last Labyrinth, cannot get out
of the labyrinth of the self; even his love for Anuradha, who embodies the Jungian anima, fails
to help him.
NARASIMHAIAH, SANJAY. "Arun Joshi: The Last Labyrinth" The Literary Criterion 16.2
(1981):81-9.
NARASIMHAIAH, SANJAY. "Arun Joshi's The Last Labyrinth." The Literary Criterion 16,
no.2 (1981): 81-89.
Close reading of the novel, concentrating on the protagonist Som Bhaskar, a
contemporary Western educated affluent Indian searching for meaning in life. Bhaskar does
not fall into the conventional pattern of the hero, with different phases, one being an
improvement on the other. The spirit of place is conspicuous by its absence. The symbolic
dimension is responsible for the novel's success.
PADMA. T. "Problems of Individuation: A Critique of Arun Joshi's Use of Symbols and
Archetypes in The Last Labyrinth." JIWE 18, no.1 (1990): 31-39.
Psychological approach. In Joshi's novels, incidents are gauged more as traumas in the
psyche than as agents for social change. The protagonist Som Bhaskar's career in The Last
labyrinth is a masterly blending of the Jungian concepts individuation, Shadow, Persona, and
Anima. Archetypes (Anurad saving him from spiritual death, matched by Geeta's saving him
from physical death, for intance) and symbols (the labyrinth) provide useful interpretative
clues.
PATNAIK, BIBUDHENDRA N. "What is Strange in The Strange Case of Billy Biswas."
Graybook no.3 (1973): 17-24.
Examines the character of Billy. The narrator, his friend Romi, introduces him as a
"unique" man. Joshi prepares us for his abrupt disappearance from civilized urban life by
recounting his earlier visions of a different lifestyle. When Billy is just fourteen, he watches a
dance by tribals, and has a vision of a girl in his arms. This image, symbolic of the primal force,
returns to him again and again, though he grows up to lead a conventional life as a professor of
anthropology at Delhi. The break in his life comes when he visits an old temple dedicated to
Fate. The novelist shows that this other world is not simply a hallucination of Billy’s mind by
making the narrator feel the "other presence" in the temple of Fate, as he sits talking to Billy,
now living with the tribals in the forest. The novelist establishes a relationship between Billy,
the legendary sculptor-king, the glowing of a mountain peak Chandtola and the "presence", to
make Billy a credible but unusual character.
PRASAD, H.M. Arun Joshi New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1986, 118 pp.
PRASAD, H. M. Arun Joshi. New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1986. Indian Writers Series.
118pp.
Prasad's study of Joshi's novels (four had been published to date) reveals that the
central experience of his fiction is crisis and quest his leit motif. All his heroes are picaroes and
pilgrims. Prasad devotes a chapter to each novel: "From Alienation to Arrival: The Foreigner",
"The Primitive Pilgrim: The Strange Case of Billy Biswas", "Innocence, Experience and
Expiation: The Apprentice", and "The Pilgrim's Progress: The Last Labyrinth".
PRASAD, MADHUSUDAN. "Arun Joshi: The Novelist." Indian Literature 24, no.4 (1981):
103-114. Reprinted "Arun Joshi," in Indian English Novelists, edited by Prasad (1982): 5161.
The technically superb novels of Arun Joshi handle serious themes dexterously.
Prasad's study is primarily thematic, with a few comments about language thrown in: The
Foreigner reminds one of Camus's The Outsider, but thematically the two novels do not have
anything in common; The Strange Case of Billv Biswas explores the significance of the
primitive life; and The Apprentice, inspired by Camus's novel The Fall, is a study of belief in
karma and the purification of the soul.
PRASAD, V. V. N. RAJENDRA. "Arun Joshi: Self as Labyrinth." The Self, the Family and
Society in Five Indian Novelists (New Delh Prestige Books, 1990): 108-29.
Prasad's analysis follows Rame K. Srivastava and A. Ramakrishna Rao's. The
exploration of the self, likened to a labyrinth, is the main theme of Joshi's novels. The usual
themes of Indian-English fiction, such as East-West encounter or rural India, do not appear.
The word "labyrinth" and its analogues occur frequently in Joshi's texts. Reminiscence is the
major fictional device. In The Foreigner, the word "foreign", and its substantive forms, provide
an inclusive metaphor that governs the narrative. Joshi's novels present an authentic picture of
life in India, and the crisis of character faced by modern man.
PRASAD, MADHUSUDAN. "Arun Joshi: The Novelist" Indian Literature 24.4 (July-August
1981):103-14.
PRASAD, V.V.N. RAJENDRA, “Arun Joshi: Self as Labyrinth” in The Self, Family and
Society in Five Indian Novelists, New Delhi: Prestige Books, 1990:108-129.
RADHAKRISHNAN, N. ed. Arun Joshi: A Study of His Fiction Gandhigram: Gandhigram
Royal Institute, 1984, 79 pp.
RADHAKRISHNAN, N. ed. Arun Joshi: A Study of His Fiction. Gandhigram (Tamilnadu,
India): Gandhigram Rural Institute, 1984. 79pp. First published as a special issue of Scholar
Critic.
Contents: (1) "T. S. Eliot's Shadow on The Foreigner," S. Rangachari: 1-8. (2)
"Cornering Arun Joshi: A Critical Perspective on The Last Labyrinth," Madhusudan Prasad:
9-19. (3) "The Crisis of Conscience: A Thematic Analysis of The Last Labyrinth," Hari
Mohan Prasad: 20-29. (4) "The Art and Vision of Arun Joshi," O. P. Bhatnagar: 30-43. (5)
"Arun Joshi's Novels: An Indeterminate Search for Meaning Life," R. S. Pathak: 44-63. (6)
"The Apprentice: An Overview," M. S. Prabhakaran: 64-67. (7) "The Short Stories of Arun
Joshi," M. G. Gopalakrishnan: 68-73. (8) "The Women Characters of Arun Joshi," N.
Radhakrishnan: 74-79.
RAO, A. RAMAKRISHNA. “Arun Joshi’s Voids and Labyrinths”The Literary Endeavour
2.2 (1982): 11-17.
Joshi creates an aesthetic pattern of dreams and visions rather than working in realism. The
Last Labyrinth continues the “great therapeutic process” of soul scraping/healing of earlier
books. Short thematic reading.
RAO, A.RAMAKRISHNA. "The Image of Labyrinth in Borges, Durrell and Joshi." Glimpses
of Indo-English Fiction, edited by O. P .Saxena (1985) vol.3: 17-28.
According to Gabriel Josipovici, "From the cunning passages, contrived corridors and
issues of Gerontion, through the mazes of Kafka, Proust, Beckett, Borges and RobbeGrillet,
the labyrinth has been the favourite image of modern literature." Rao points out that in
Borges's Labyrinths and Lawrence Durrell's The Dark Labyrinth, labyrinths are voids
emerging out of the human thirst to know and vindicate oneself. In Joshi's The Last Labyrinth,
the image of labyrinth is juxtaposed with the image of void, and both images are used
frequently. The labyrinth is associated with the mysterious Anuradha, "a labyrinthine woman,
at once young and old."
ROSS, ROBERT. "The Clash of Opposites in Arun Joshi's The Last Labvrinth." The Literary
Criterion 25.2 (1990): 1-9.
In each of novels, Joshi creates an anti-hero who, like his Western counterpart, stands
overlooking the abyss of his time and place. But his protagonists have to come to terms not
only with the native heritage, but also the Western influence on it, the clash of opposing
traditions. Joshi's achievement in The Last Labyrinth lies in bringing together the disparate
parts of the hero's experiences. This clash of opposites finally imprisons Som Bhaskar in the
labyrinth of his own mind.
SHARMA, D.R. "Arun Joshi and his Reflective Insiders" Literature East and West 21.1-4
(1977):100-111.
SHARMA, D.R. "The Fictional World of Arun Joshi" The Indian P.E.N. 43.9&10 (1977):15.
SHARMA, D. R. "The Fictional World of Arun Joshi." The Indian P.E.N. 43, no.9/10
(September-October 1977): 1-5.
It is not correct to treat Joshi's heroes as the Indian kinsmen of the Western
existentialist "outsiders". In their persistent quest for decent alternatives in an amoral world,
Joshi's protagonists are reflective insiders. Joshi resembles Manohar Malgonkar in his social
satire and fictional technique, the major difference being that Malgonkar's action is "out there",
while the action in Joshi is primarily in the psychic arena of his characters. Joshi's protagonists
strive for an enduring dialogue with life. Sindi of The Foreigner realises that detachment
"consisted in getting involved with the world." In The Strange Case of Billy Biswas, Billy opts
out of the prevailing social order when he finds it impossible to change it. Joshi's third novel,
The Apprentice, is a confessional novel, which explores the evil in the protagonist as well as
the horror of an imperfect social order.
SHARMA, D R. "Arun Joshi and His Reflective Insiders." Literature East and West no. 21
(1977): 100-109.
Somewhat amplified version of "The Fictional World of Arun Joshi" (see item).
SHETTIGARA, TINA. "Arun Joshi's The Foreigner: The Protagonist in Search of Meaning."
In Cultural Reflections, edited by Paul Sharrad, Honolulu: East West Centre, 1981: pp.50-58.
The central characters of Joshi's novels are all individuals in some way alienated from
the world around them. The protagonist of The Strange Case of Billy Biswas is the most
extraordinary of Joshi's heroes; Billy, an anthropologist, is overcome by his primordial urge to
be free of the veneer of urban society, and disappears. Ratan Rathor, of The Apprentice, is
"Mr Ordinary" who is corrupted by the material world. Som Bhaskar, a rich businessman, the
protagonist of Joshi's fourth novel, The Last Labyrinth, is subject to the craving of a nameless
desire. He is obsessed by Anuradha, a mysterious character in this novel of enigmas. The
novel's structure is as labyrinthine as the processes of Som Bhaskar's mind. Though the
treatment is growingly sophisticated, Joshi's interest has always been the alienated individual,
present as Sindi Oberoi, the protagonist-narrator of his first novel, The Foreigner. The
Foreigner is constructed on two cross-cutting time spans, in America and in New Delhi. Sindi
observes with objectivity the culture of both societies, but the novel should not be treatbd as
one of "East West encounter"; Sindi's quest is for peace and the meaning of life, not for
cultural roots. The thematic concerns of this novel indicate that Joshi is interested in more
deeply universal human problems than the East-West theme, as his later novels show.
SRINATH, C.N. "Crisis of Identity: Assertion and Withdrawal in Naipaul and Arun Joshi"
The Literary Criterion 14.1 (1980):33-41. Reprinted in The Literary Landscape Delhi:
Mittal Publications, 1986: 60-69.
SRINATH, C. N. "The Fiction of Arun Joshi: The Novel of Interior Landscape." The
Literary Criterion 12, nos.2-3 (1976): 115-33. Reprinted in The Literary Landscape
(Delhi: Mittal Publications, 1986): 40-59.
Leavisite. Presents evaluations of Joshi’s first three novels in terms of theme and
treatment. Srinath examines various aspects--characterization, structure, and language. The
Foreigner shows a remarkable degree of maturity and technical competence in its original
treatment of the theme of east-west encounter. The protagonist of The Strange Case of Billy
Biswas, Joshi's second novel, is aware of a region beyond the frontiers of ordinary human
consciousness. Joshi's craftsmanship is excellent. Billy realizes that the price of making the
choice (he disappears from civilized urban society) is terrible, but the price of not making it is
even more terrible. Ratan Rathor, in The Apprentice, shows the price paid for not choosing-moral corruption. Joshi's sense of the concrete, and his eye on situation a character, enable
him to avoid the pitfalls of a thesis novel. Rathor is Everyman, and his story reveals the utter
degeneration of modern Indian society.
SRINATH, C. N. "Crisis of Identity: Assertion and Withdrawal in Naipaul and Arun Joshi."
The Literary Criterion 14, no.1 (1980): 33-41. Reprinted in The Literarv Landscape (New
Delhi: Mitt Publishers, 1986): 60-69.
Compares V.S. Naipaul's A House for Mr Biswas and Arun Joshi's The Strange
Case of Billy Biswas. The central theme of both novels is the crisis of identity; in Naipaul, the
crisis is one of assertion, the supreme manifestation of which is Mr Biswas wanting to acquire
a house. Naipaul successfully presents a protagonist who is detestable but dignified and gains
our sympathy. In Joshi's novel, the crisis manifests itself in surrender to primitive forces. Billy
Biswas, a Ph.D in anthropology from an American university, son of a Supreme Court judge,
renounces his entire past, his parents, wife and child, to lead the life of a tribal in the forest.
Joshi makes Billy's action credible by showing us his seemingly eccentric but inwardly rich life
through his letters to his girl friend Tuula, and the way he argues with his father about judging
people who act under extraordinary circumstances. Both novels are distinguished by the
appropriateness of their styles that suit the nature of the tensions of their central characters.
SRIVASTAVA, RAMESH K. "The Theme of Alienation in Arun Joshi' Novels." Ken:
Journal of English Studies and Creative Writing 1 (1982-3): 13-24. Reprinted in Six Indian
Novelists in English (Amritsar: Guru Nanak Dev University, 1987): 311-25.
Shows how Joshi’s protagonists are alienated from society, family and self. Sindi Oberoi
learns the need for right action as well as detachment through the deaths of his friends; Billy
Biswas finds his true self in primitive nature; Ratan Rathor compromises with society and
realises the futility of inauthentic life. Joshi uses animal images to show disaffected inner states.
He is not necessarily detached from society, since his depiction of its evils is a sign of social
concern.
SRIVASTAVA, RAMESH K. "Intricate Alleys in Arun Joshi's The Last Labyrinth." The
Indian Journal of English Studies no.28 (1989): 5-12.
Srivastava analyses the various levels on which the title can be operative. On the
surface, it alludes to the last of the labyrinths in Lal Haveli, a crumbling mansion in Benares.
The sacred city of Benares itself is like a labyrinth, so is the protagonist Bhaskar's life.
Srivastava shows that even the structure of the novel is labyrinthine, in his fine analysis of the
connotations of "labyrinth" in this novel. Joshi has used the word metaphorically in earlier
novels like The Foreigner and The Strange Case of Billy Biswas also.
SRIVASTAVA, RAMESH K. "Intricate Alleys in Arun Joshi's The Last Labyrinth" The
Indian Journal of English Studies 27 (1989): 5-12.
WALTER, INNA. "Arun Joshi's Vision of Life, Love, God and Death in The Last Labyrinth."
Studies in Indian Fiction in English, edited by G. S. Balarama Gupta (Gulbarga: JIWE
Publications, 1987): 46-52.
Joshi's fiction is concerned with deep philosophical questions. In The Last rabyrinth,
Joshi uses the persona of Som Bhaskar, a thirty-five-year-old millionaire. Walters describes
the various experiences of Bhaskar, and his attempts to comprehend love, religious belief, and
death.
WALTER, INNA. "Arun Joshi's Vision of Life, Love, God and Death in The Last Labyrinth"
in SINHA, R.K. & SINHA, RAVI NANDAN., eds. The Indian Novel in English: Essays in
Criticism Ranchi: Ankit Publishers, 1987: 56-62.
Joshi, Shiv Kumar
BHATTA, S.K. "Shiv Kumar Joshi's English Play He Never Slept So Long." Littcrit 3, no.2
(1977): 43-45.
The play is like a pageant without much suspense or a climax. The main characters are
imaginary--Jay and Vijay (doorkeepers of God Vishnu condemned to human birth) and
Mahakal--Time. They witness various incidents from the life of Mahatma Gandhi. The third
act is an imaginary trial of Gandhi; Jay and Vijay are told that they can be released from
earthly existence if someone else is willing to take their place, and they appeal to Gandhiji and
Martin Luther King. Bhatta feels that with its good English and modern theatrical techniques,
the play can be a success on stage.
Jussawalla, Adil
AMUR, G.S. "The Poetry of Exile: An Introduction to Adil Jussawalla" Osmania Journal of
English Studies 13 (1977) reprinted in SHAHANE, VASANT A. and
SIVARAMKRISHNA, M. eds Indian Poetry in English: A Critical Assessment Madras:
Macmillan, 1980: 61-71. Also Atlantic Highlands: Humanities, 1981.
ANKLESARIA, HAVOVI. "Exile and Disintegration in the Poetry of Adil Jussawalla" in
DAS, BIJAY KUMAR ed. Contemporary Indo-English Poetry Bareilly: Prakash Book
Depot, 1986: 91-101.
RAO, N.M. “The Poetry of Adil Jussawalla” in PRASAD, MADHUSUDHAN ed. Living
Indian English Poets New Delhi: Sterling, 1989: 148-62.
Jussawalla concentrates on personal experience, drawing on education in both India
and England. early work (Land’s End, 1962) is imagist with ironic notes, introduces mythic
resonance into ‘still life’ descriptions and deals anti-romantically, like the Movement poets,
with the poor. “Land’s End” presents the primeval power of the sea and the mystery of life.
Surveys poems about cities and time, noting the despairing insignificance of of lovers before
such immensities. Missing Person (1975) sketches an identity crisis of Kafkaesque quality
with Confessional touches, echoes of a colonial problematic and the modern bourgeois
dilemma set against a return to India.
SHAHANE, VASANT A. "The Poetry of Adil Jussawala" in DWIVEDI, A.N ed. Studies in
Contemporary Indo-English Verse Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1984:23-28.
Kailasam. T.P.
BHATTA, S.K. "Kailasam's English Plays" in Perspectives on Indian Drama in English, edited
by NAIK, M.K. & S. MOKASHI-PUNEKAR, 86-97. Madras: OUP, 1977.
Kailasam's six published plays in English make an important contribution to Indian
English drama, though this language is marred by excessive rhetoric and alliteration, and his
blank verse is not consistently effective.
MALAGI, R.A. "The Curse or Karna." In Perspectives on Indian Drama in English, edited by
NAIK, M.K. & S. MOKASHI-PUNEKAR, 98-114. Madras: OUP, 1977.
Almost all Kailasam's Kannada plays are social comedies, but his English plays are
tragedies with mythological heroes. Kailasam wanders far from the Mahabharata in his best
play, Karna, which reveals a supreme sense of dramatic form.
Kalia, Mamta
DUBEY, SURESH CHANDRA. "Roshen Alkazi and Mamta Kalia" in DWIVEDI, A.N.
"Eves' Song: Contemporary English Verse by Indian Women" Studies in Contemporary IndoEnglish Verse: A Collection of Critical Essays. Vol. I Female Poets Bareilly: Prakash Book
Depot, 1985: 201-16.
Kannan, Lakshmi
RAY, LILA. "Lakshmi Kannan" Commonwealth Quarterly 13 (1980):89-97.
RAY, LILA. "Lakshmi Kannan" in DWIVEDI, A.N. "Eves' Song: Contemporary English
Verse by Indian Women" Studies in Contemporary Indo-English Verse: A Collection of
Critical Essays. Vol. I Female Poets Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1985: 112-19.
Karnad, Girish
GOWDA, H.H. ANNIAH. "Indian Plays and Poems in English: Karnad's Tughlaq and
Ramanujan's Relations" Literary Half-Yearly 14.1 (1973):3-10.
NAIK, M.K. “The Limits of Human Power: A Comparative Study of Tughlaq and Caligula”
in Studies in Indian English Literature New Delhi: Sterling, 1987: 136-145.
RAMAMURTI, K.S. "Indian Drama in English with Special Reference to Tughlaq" Littcrit 8
(1980):9-22.
REDDY, P. BAYAPPA, "The Theatrical Representation of History: Girish Karnad's
Tughlaq", Studies in Indian Writing in English with a Focus on Indian English Drama, New
Delhi: Prestige Books, 1990: 44-51.
Katrak,K.D.
RAIZADA, HARISH. "'Poetry for Itself': The Poetry of K.D. Katrak" in DWIVEDI, A.N
ed. Studies in Contemporary Indo-English Verse Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1984:35-44.
Kolatkar, Arun
AMIRTHANAYAGAM, GUY. "Kolatkar's Jejuri: A Pilgrimage into the Past and the
Present" 177-85 in Amirthanayagam, Guy & Harrex, Syd C., eds. Only Connect: Literary
Perspectives East & West Adelaide: Centre for Research in the New Literatures in English,
1981: Honolulu: East-West Center, 1981, xiii + 335.
CHAR, M. SREERAMA. Prayer Motif in Indian Poetry in English Calcutta: Writers
Workshop, 1988, 135 pp.
Concentrates on A.K. Ramanujan, Arun Kolatkar, Nissim Ezekiel & Keki N. Daruwalla.
DESAI, S.K. "Arun Kolatkar's Jejuri: A House of God" LCrit 15.1 (1980):47-59.
KANADEY, V.R. "Arun Kolatkar's Poetry: An Exile's Pilgrimage" in PRASAD, R.C. &
SHARMA, R.K., eds. Modern Studies and Other Essays in Honour of Dr R.K. Sinha New
Delhi: Vikas, 1987: 141-6.
NABAR, V. "Kolatkar: A Bilingual Poet" ACLALS Bulletin 4th Series 5: 80-4.
NAIK, M.K. "Arun Kolatkar and the Three Value Systems" Littcrit 7.1 (1981):31-9.
NAIK, M.K. "Arun Kolatkar and the Three Value-Systems" in DWIVEDI, A.N ed. Studies
in Contemporary Indo-English Verse Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1984:35-44.
NEMADE, BALCHANDRA. "Arun Kolatkar and Bilingual Poetry" in AMUR, G.S.,
PRASAD, V.R.N., NEMADE, B.V. & NIHALANI, N.H., eds. Indian Readings in
Commonwealth Literature New York: Apt; 1985: New Delhi: Sterling, 1985: 71-86.
PRASAD, MADHUSUDAN. "Correspondence through Gestures: The Poetry of Arun
Kolatkar" The Literary Half-Yearly 24.1 (1983):88-111. Reissued in WLWE 28.2 (Autumn
1988):134-44. Reprinted in PRASAD, Madhusudhan (ed.) Living Indian English Poets
New Delhi: Sterling (1989): 119-42.
Kolatkar’s small output shows variety of tone, colloquial language and hard imagistic
concision. “The Boatride”, an early uncollected poem, is contrasted to Daruwalla’s “Boat
Ride along the Ganges”. Sides with Naik’s and Harrex’s readings against criticism of “Jejuri”,
asserting its valid engagement with modern scepticism about jaded religious faith and “what is
dead but yet alive in Indian society.” Notes importance of the protagonist’s ironically
observing voice and acceptance of the banal thing for what it is free of idealisation. The
desacralised temple visit contrasts to the sacralised railway station, suugesting the detached
irreverence has, after all, been affected by the pilgrimage.
RAMAKRISHNAN, E.V. "Jejuri: The Search For Place" Journal of Indian Writing in
English 6.1 (1978):16-20.
SATYANARAYANA, M.R. "Jejuri: Arun Kolatkar's Waste Land" in SHAHANE,
VASANT A. and SIVARAMKRISHNA, M. eds Indian Poetry in English: A Critical
Assessment Madras: Macmillan, 1980: 99-115. Also Atlantic Highlands: Humanities, 1981.
SINHA, PRASHANTA K. "A Vision of Disintegration: A Glance at Some of Kolatkar's
Translations of His Poems" Poetry 12 (1986):16-20.
SIVARAMAKRISHNA, M. “Arun Kolatkar’s ‘Jejuri’: An Appreciation” Triveni 48.1
(1979): 53-57.
The poem, while base in material detail of Indian life, deals with the universal contemporary
problem : “the decline of myth and the inevitable sterility of mond and spirit which is the
immediate consequence”. The secular attitude of the work sets up ironic tensions with the
religious material, showing decadence in priests and harsh reality amongst the poor. Although
debunking, it is not finally irreverent, balancing temple and station/ mythic and historical time.
SMITH, KAREN. “A Study of Arun Kolatkar’s Jejuri” Commonwealth Quarterly 3.12
(1979): 20-32.
Close reading of the poem, considering the creative process from opening impersonality,
drawing the reader into the poetic situation, generating a sense of movement and the quest
motif, with quick cinematic fixes on images and a move into ambiguity mixing animate and
inanimate, time and timelessness in playful ironies. The sceptic narrator is identified as
Manohar and his failure to find answers in the ‘demonic’ landscape/temple could also be his
own failing as modern seeker. Sliding from the portentous mythic into fleeting moments of
potential epiphany (the butterfly), the sequence move from dry stones to silent stone gods to
stones as building blocks of happiness, and Chaitanya serves as a linking figure of enigmatic
promise. Notes the pairing of temple and railway station “immersed in a stupour of
timelessness” and the contrastive play of materialism and spirituality and a tendency to surreal
images.
Krishnamurti
RAMAMOORTHY, P. "J. Krishnamurti's Commentaries on Living: The Classic as a Vision
of Clarity" Literary Criterion 15.2 (1980):1-11.
TARINAYYA, M. "Krishnamurti's Beyond Violence: A Utopian Dream Vision" in
SRIVASTAVA, AVADESH K. ed. Alien Voice: Perspectives on Commonwealth Literature
Lucknow: Print House, 1981: 116-27. Also Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey: Humanities,
1982.
Kumar, Shiv
ASNANI, SHYAM. "The Poetry of Shiv Kumar: A Critical Study" in RAM, ATMA. ed.
Contemporary Indian-English Poetry Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1989: 64-78.
BIRJE-PATIL, J. "Resonant Bones: The Poetry of Shiv K. Kumar" World Literature Today
51, no.4 (1977):543-48. Reprinted in Contemporary Indian-English Verse: An Evaluation
edited by Chirantan Kulshreshtha, 227-42. New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1980. Also
Atlantic Highlands: Humanities, 1981.
DWIVEDI, A.N. “Shiv K. Kumar’s Poetry: A Thematic Study” Journal of English Studies
15.1 (1984): 6-12.
Critics praise Kumar’s “finished form, the tense diction and the arresting imagery”.
While the sensuality may irritate some, the irony and wit is compelling, and head and heart are
balanced in treating a limited range of themes: love, sex, marriage, family, death as an
alternative to unfulfilled desire. Sex and religion seem to fuse as substitute for traditional
religious morality. Kumar has a Western rationalist outlook reliant on contrast.
MATHUR, O.P. "'The Same Route as My Ancestors Took': a Study of the Indian sensibility
in Shiv K. Kumar's Works" in DWIVEDI, A.N ed. Studies in Contemporary Indo-English
Verse Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1984:35-44.
PARANJAPE, MAKARAND. "Nude Before God" Journal of Indian Writing in English 15.2
(1987):49-51. review?
RAO, G.J. CHINNESWARA. "The Poetry of Shiv K. Kumar: an Adventure in Irony."
Chandrabhaga 2 (Winter 1979):44-50.
Good poetry engages with both language and experience. Kumar's verse rises above
Indian English poetic pastiche in its wit and irony, but lacks "moral awareness". Sharp
naturalism is accepting rather than satiric of banality. Reviews Woodpeckers with reference to
Subterfuges.
RAO, K.R. "Masks and Subterfuges: A Study of Shiv K. Kumar's Poetry" Commonwealth
Quarterly 21 (1981):47-51.
SHARMA, K. GODABARI. "The Scholar as a Poet: Some Reflections on the Poetry of Shiv
K. Kumar" in DAS, BIJAY KUMAR ed. Contemporary Indo-English Poetry Bareilly:
Prakash Book Depot, 1986: 50-56.
SIVARAMAKRISHNA, M. "'Beyond the Empiric Point': The Poetry of Shiv K. Kumar" in
RAO, K.S. NARAYANA. ed. World Literature Written in English 14.2 (1975):371-84.
SRIVASTAVA, N. "Articulating the Silent: the Poetry of Shiv K. Kumar" Journal of Indian
Writing in English 6.2 (1978):1-12.
VAIDYANATHAN, T.G. "Between Kali and Cordelia: The Poetry of Shiv K. Kumar." In
"Contemporary Indian Poetry in English Special Number" edited by V.A.Shahane & M.
Sivaramakrishna, Osmania Journal of English Studies 13, no.1 (1977): 61-83. Reprinted in
Indian Poetry in English: A Critical Assessment, edited by V.A.Shahane & M.
Sivaramakrishna, 99-115. Madras: Macmillan, 1980: Also Atlantic Highlands: Humanities,
1981.
Kumar moves from early narcissism ("Suicide," "Nerves") to "troubled maturity"
("Lear to Cordelia", "An Indian Mango Vendor"), figuring a quest for fulfilling love faced by its
death or perversion in modern life. Marriage and infidelity alike fail to provide the ideal.
Despite their darkness, the poems echo Lowell more than Plath, with moments of Lawrentian
sensuality set against "a deeply Indo-English religious nostalgia". Kumar's struggling fusion of
cynicism and celebration, religion and sexuality (attaining atypical tranquility in "The Sun
Temple at Konarak") is read against Fanon's view of the alienated 'native intellectual' and
Larkin's "agnostic piety". Women are reduced to elemental sexuality and divinised, "abolishing
the need for reciprocity in human relationships" and prompting then deadening sexual drive
(comparsion is made between "Kali" and K.D. Katrak's "The Kitchen Door"). Kumar is
caught between cold Cordelia and distant Kali.
VENKATACHARI, K. "Trapfalls in the Sky" Indian Literature 177 (1988): 91-9.
Lakshmi, Vijay
GUPTA, G.S. BALARAMA. "Vijay Lakshmi's Distances: An Appreciatory Note" The Quest
1.1 (1987):66-9. genre?
Lal, P.
KUMAR, P. SHIV. “On the Verge of the Numinous: Some Notes of P.Lal’s Poetry” in
PRASAD, MADHUSUDHAN ed. Living Indian English Poets New Delhi: Sterling,
1989:107-118.
Lal’s poetry has been eclipsed by his critical and promotional work. It offers “a sense
of the numinous, concretised through a sensuous apprehension of the physical surroundings”.
Criticises Lal for castigating early romantic writing while himself producing romantic lyricism,
though his is different from Aurobindo’s in seeking the moment of immediate passionate
engagement with life, at which poetry takes on the aura of prayer.
KWAN-TERRY, JOHN. "The Silence of Truth: The Poetry of P. Lal" Journal of Indian
Writing in English 8.1&2 (1980):167-77. Reprinted in SINGH, KIRPAL ed. Through
Different Eyes: Foreign Responses to Indian Writing in English Calcutta: Writers
Workshop, 1984: 234-247.
Explication of theme by close commentary. Love is “the definition of being” and the
“com-passion” of love for God, nature or another person is Lal’s source for poetry. Man’s
struggle against time and self via contact with other creatures gives limited satisfaction and
intimation of higher solace. Though satirising modern man’s imperfections, Lal is not cynical,
showing tendencies to mysticism and a “cultivated toleration and detachment”, perhaps
because he does not suffer the pangs of his subjects, relying rather on a refined Eliotian poetic
attitude.
MURTHY, P.V.S.N. "Nature, Myth and Love in P. Lal's Poetry" Journal of Indian Writing in
English 10. 1&2 (1982):1-6.
NATH, SURESH. "P. Lal's Poetry: The Holy Trinity of Nature, Love and Man" in
DWIVEDI, A.N ed. Studies in Contemporary Indo-English Verse Bareilly: Prakash Book
Depot, 1984:234-42.
RIEMENSCHNEIDER, DIETER. “Modern Indo-English Poetry and P; Lal’s ‘Manifesto’”
Commonwealth Quarterly 1.5 (1977): 3-16.
Outlines the critical debate around Lal’s declared break with romanticism and public
preaching in verse and his favouring of concrete experience and a private lyric voice, modern
but resisting mass popularity. Checks the validity of Lal’s prescription with samples from
Ezekiel, Das, Erulkar and Lal. Ezekiel uses familiar
SHARMA, LALIT M. "The Man and the Metropolis: P. Lal's Calcutta" in RAM, ATMA. ed.
Contemporary Indian-English Poetry Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1989: 93-102.
SINGH, KIRPAL. "The Dialectics of Grace: Some Notes on the Poetry of P. Lal" in
KULSHRESHTHA, CHIRANTAN., ed Contemporary Indian-English Verse: An Evaluation
New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1980: 243-9. Also Atlantic Highlands: Humanities, 1981.
Laxman, R.K.
RAO, R. RAJ. "The Hotel Riviera: An Indian Novel" new Quest 74 (1989): 117-22.
Madhaviah, A.
PARAMESWARAN, UMA. "A. Madhaviah 1872-1925: An Assessment" JCL 21.1
(1986):222-39.
Mahapatra, Jayanta
ALEXANDER, MEENA. "Jayanta Mahapatra: A Poetry of Decreation" JCL 18.1
(1983):42-47.
DAS, BIJAY KUMAR. "Critical Perspectives on Relationship and Latter-Day Psalms"
Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1987, vi + 55pp.
check: ed? title? contents?
DAS, BIJOY KUMAR. "Journey Into the Unknown: Jayanta Mahapatra's Relationship" The
Humanities Review 5.1&2 (1983):5-7.
DEVY, G.N. “Rites and Signs: A Note on Jayanta Mahapatra’s Poetic Sensibility” in
Madhusudan Prasad (ed) Living Indian English Poets New Delhi: Sterling, 1989: 1-12.
Mahapatra’s copious work resisted critical response until relationship (1980). Critics
still praise or deprecate his indefinable resonances/obscurity. Cites Devy’s 1986 focus on
decentred identity (in Prasad, below) and notes key motifs (nature, seasons, women, temples,
myht, history, time, suffering) and a “sad, serene, wisely ironic” voice that emerges more
clearly when speculation replaces narrative (“Hunger”). The ironic imagination alternates and
blends with symbolic romanticism (“A Rain of Rites”) suggesting both artistic elevation and the
fragmentary limits of enunciation through an evocative “Poetry of communion” rather than of
communication. Notes a tradition of IWE poems on parents and ancestors and Mahapatra’s
exploration of the theme of growing old.
MISRA, SOUBHAGYA K. “The Largest Circle: A Reading of Jayanta Mahapatra’s
Relationship” The Literary Endeavour 9.1-4 (1987-8): 30-48.
Notes lack of critical reponse to his difficult symbolist style “deriving unique effects from an
almost dream-like association of images and motifs drawn from Indian history, myth and folklore”. Relationship extends Mahapatra’s work from individual human concerns to
philosophising in “tragic somlemnity” on Time and Death, envisioning a possible transformation
of life through love to build a new society. Compares the pilgrimage form to Whitman, Eliot’s ‘
Four Quartets’ and Neruda’s epic. Traces the stages of the poem from facing the inevitability
of ‘stony’ death to finding more fluid ways of conceiving it. Sections 4, 5 and 6 explore
entering dream to envision a beyond, while 7 looks towards ideal love through acceptance of
bodily existence in time, the temple serving as an indicator of beatific vision. Textual
commentary groujnded in theme and imagery.
MOHAN, DEVINDER. Jayanta Mahapatra New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1987, 97 pp.
MOHANTY, NIRANJAN, "Patterns of Awareness: A Study in 'Relationship'," Littcrit,
15.1&2 (1989): 44-56.
MOHANTY, NIRANJAN. "Patterns of Awareness: A Study of Jayanta Mahapatra's
Relationships" Littcrit, 15.1, (1990): 44-56.
MOHANTY, NIRANJAN. "Recollection as Redemption: The Poetry of Jayanta Mahapatra"
Poetry 10 (1985):24-40.
MOHANTY, NIRANJAN. "Relationship: A Study" Poetry 12.1 (1987):1-18.
MOHANTY, NIRANJAN. "Sex, Power and Beyond: A Study in the Poetry of Jayanta
Mahapatra" The Quest 1.1 (1987): 36-54.
Values Mahapatra for taking sexuality beyond sex to "life giving force" via indirection
authorised by Anandavardhana as auchitya (propriety) and obliqueness. Poems mix romantic
redemption through recollection with modern awareness of death and inadequacy. Love
entails abhiman, combining ecstasy of union with fear of separation and projecting a
transcendant bliss. Passing reference to Sidney, Marvell and the saint-poets, Tagore and
Jibananda Das and extended commentary on imagery.
MOHANTY, NIRANJAN. "The Theme-Song of Life: The Poetry of Jayanta Mahapatra" in
DAS, BIJAY KUMAR ed. Contemporary Indo-English Poetry Bareilly: Prakash Book
Depot, 1986: 64-86.
PANIKER, K. AYAPPA. "The Poetry of Jayanta Mahapatra" in SHAHANE, VASANT A.
and SIVARAMKRISHNA, M. eds Indian Poetry in English: A Critical Assessment Madras:
Macmillan, 1980, 184 pp. Also Atlantic Highlands: Humanities, 1981: 84-98.
PANIKER, K. AYYAPPA. "The Poetry of Jayanta Mahapatra" in SHAHANE, V.A. & M.
SIVARAMAKRISHNA, eds. "Contemporary Indian Poetry in English Special Number"
Osmania Journal of English Studies 13.1 (1977):117-38
PERRY, JOHN OLIVER. "Neither Alien nor Postmodern; Jayanta Mahapatra's Poetry from
India" KR 8.4 (Fall 1986):55-66.
PRASAD, MADHUSUDAN ed. The Poetry of Jayanta Mahapatra New Delhi: Sterling
Publishers, 1986, viii + 303 pp.
KING, BRUCE.
SIMMS, NORMAN.
PERRY, JOHN OLIVER.
KENNEDY, ALAN.
NAIK, M.K.
DESAI, S.K.
ALEXANDER, MEENA.
DEVY, G.N.
SUNDARI, G.
RAMAMURTI, K.S.
SHAHANE, VASANT A.
CORSERI, GARY.
KHULLAR, AJIT.
SYAL, PUSHPINDER.
PRASAD, MADHUSUDAN.
MOHANTY, NIRANJAN.
DAVID, P.C.
INAMDAR, F.A.
SWAIN, RABINDRA K.
DUTTA, UJJAL.
Interview with Norman Simms.
PRASAD, MADHUSUDAN. "'Caught in the Currents of Time': A Study in the Poetry of
Jayanta Mahapatra" in DWIVEDI, A.N ed. Studies in Contemporary Indo-English Verse
Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1984:89-122.
PRASAD, MADHUSUDAN. '"Echoes of a Bruised Presence": Images of Women in the
Poetry of Jayanta Mahapatra" WLWE 28.2 (Autumn 1988):367-78.
PRASAD, S.M. "Quest for Roots in the Poetry of Jayanta Mahapatra" Journal of Indian
Writing in English 17.1 (1989): 22-32.
RAMAKRISHNAN, E.V. "Landscape as Destiny: Jayanta Mahapatra's Poetry" in DAS,
BIJAY KUMAR ed. Contemporary Indo-English Poetry Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot,
1986: 102-10.
RAMAMURTI, K.S. & SUNDARI, G. "Song of the Past: An Interpretation of the Poetry of
Jayanta Mahapatra" Littcrit 10.1 (1984):15-27.
RAO, A.V. KRISHNA. "The Recent Poetry of Jayanta Mahpatra: An Assessment"
ACLALS Bulletin 7th Series No. 2 (1986):67-76.
STACHNIEWSKI, JOHN. "Life Signs in the Poetry of Jayanta Mahapatra" The Indian
Literary Review 4.2 (1986):79-84.
SWAIN, RABINDRA K. "Life Signs: An Essay-Review" The Literary Endeavour 6.1-4
(1986):133-42. (check date)
TARINAYYA, M. "Jayanta Mahapatra's A Letter to Kazuko Shiraishi in Tokyo: An
Analysis" The Literary Criterion 20.3 (1985): 60-69.
Criticism should move toward the writer’s “conscience” - “the honest desire to be true
to one’s experience of the complexities and challenges of life”. Mahapatra’s idea of the poem
as “testament” has it “breaking forth an experience into a relationship with the reader”. The
reader has difficulty overcoming the initial impression of commonness and can find the
language of subjective rendering hard too. The private colloquial voice of a letter is
transformed by “deautomatizing” image links (rain-hunger) that move us from literal and social
detail to symbolic or metaphysical levels of meaning. Spiralling moralising commentary starting
in close reading, seeing the poem as reflecting on civilisation and religion in modern India
(objectified through the eyes of the Tokyo addressee) and the poet’s isolation and
responsibility arising from the death by tetanus of Mahapatra’s servant girl.
Mahapatra, Laxmi Narayan.
RUSSELL, A. "Poetry is Experience Imaged: A Study of the Poetry of Laxmi Narayan
Mahapatra" The Quest 1.2 (1988):51-60.
SINGH, R.K. "L.N. Mahapatra: Attuned to a Different Interval", The Quest 1.1 (1987):30-5.
Malgonkar, Manohar
ABIDI, S.Z.H. Manohar Malgonkar's 'A Bend in the Ganges' Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot,
1984, 84 pp.
ABIDI, S.Z.H. “Call of Blood: Theme of Revenge in Manohar Malgonkar’s A BEND IN
THE GANGES” PURBA 14.1 (1983):71-79.
Counters G.S. Amur’s claim that the revenge element is a failing in Bend, arguing its thematic
and structural centrality. Analyses different kinds of revenge, showing how some serve to
move the plot and others reveal character change and give unity to the whole.
AITHAL, S. KRISHNAMOORTHY & RASMI AITHAL. "The British and Anglo-Indian
Encounter in Malgonkar's Combat of Shadows" Italia Francescana 9.1 (Winter 1982):54-7.
AMUR, G.S. "Manohar Malgonkar and the Problems of the Indian Novelist in English" in
MOHAN, RAMESH, ed. Indian Writing in English Bombay: Orient Longman, 1978: 37-46.
AMUR, G.S. Manohar Malgonkar New York: Humanities, 1973, 155 pp.
ARULANDRAM, H.G.S. "A Bend in the Ganges: A Study in Violence" Rajasthan Journal of
English Studies 6 (1977):12-16.
ASNANI, S.M. "A Study of the Novels of Manohar Malgonkar" The Literary Half-yearly
16.2 (1975):71-89
P.D. CHATURVEDI, "Manohar Malgonkar: The Novelist and his Point of View": 279-297.
in DWIVEDI, A.N. (ed) Studies in Contemporary Indian Fiction in English, Allahabad: Kitab
Mahal, 1987, pp.358
COWASJEE, S. "The Princes in Indian Fiction" Kakatiya Journal of English Studies 2.1
(1977):48-70. 1) Offers extensive political-historical documentation to the situation of the
princely (sp?) ruling class and their states and traces their fictional literary history. 2)
Compares the thematic concerns of Anand’s Private Life of an Indian Prince (1953) with
Malgonkar’s The Princes (1963). Valorizes Anand’s work as the finest achievement of his
writing career and claims that “Malgonkar gives evidence of having been influenced by
Anand”. 3) Finds Anand’s portrayal of princely character dominated by his emotional life
allows the focus to fall upon the individual and the predicament whereas Malgonkar permits
the historical to intrude upon the individual’s fictional development.
DAYANADA, JAMES Y. Manohar Malgonkar New York: Twayne, 1975.
DAYANADA, JAMES Y. "The Image of Women in Manohar Malgonkar's Novels" Journal
of South Asian Literature 12.3-4 (1977):109-13.
DAYANANDA, J.Y. Manohar Malgonkar ?? (1974?)
DAYANANDA, Y.J. "Manohar Malgonkar on his Novel The Princes: An Interview" JCL
9.3 (1975):21-8. [interview?]
DWIVEDI, A.N. The Historian as Novelist: Manohar Malgonkar" in NAIK, M.K.
Perspectives on Indian Fiction in English New Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 1985: 136-49.
JAIN, JASBIR. “Vishnu and Shiva: Symbols of Dualtiy in A Bend in the Ganges” Journal of
Indian Writing in English 3.1 (1975): 21-32.
Substitution of Vishnu and Shiva as household gods indicates not only the father-son rift but
the interpenetrating duality of human life. Hari (Vishnu) worships Shiva and is killed by
Vishnudutt (though Shiva is ‘the destroyer’). Gandhi is presented as both saint and traitor.
Traces other paradoxes.
JANAKIRAM, ALUR. “Social Reality in the Short Stories of R.K.Narayan and Manohar
Malgonkar” PURBA 19.2 (1988): 45-58.
The IWE short story is mostly a post-Independence phenomenon. Considers Narayan’s 35year output up to Malgudi Days (1982) and Malgonkar’s more concentrated publications to
Rumble Tumble (1977). Cite Narayan’s view of stories as a diversion from the hard work of
novels and arising our of characters undergoing a crisis of spirit, noting the variety of
characters, ironic turns of events and ordinary everyday situations in which comedy arises
from people being unable to adapt to social change, even though there is an underlying
impression that traditional wisdom will continue to inform Indian life. Malgonkar deals in war,
jungles and mining, using more dramatic action and opportunistic chicanery, cinematic
montage and a sharper irony.
JAYASHRI, I. "Women Versus Tradition in the Novels of Manohar Malgonkar" Triveni 45.2
(1976):73-80.
JHA, MOHAN, "Malgonkar's Female Characters: A Study" The Quest 1.2 (1988): 6-22.
JHA, MOHAN. "Malgonkar's Open Season: A Critique" in PRASAD, R.C. & SHARMA,
R.K., eds. Modern Studies and Other Essays in Honour of Dr R.K. Sinha New Delhi: Vikas,
1987: 239-46.
MATHUR, P.S. "A Touch of Tar: Anglo-Indian Encounter in Malgonkar's Combat of
Shadows" The Indian Literary Review I.12 & II.1 (1980):22-9.
PANDEYA, VIJAYANAND. "R.K. Narayan and Manohar Malgonkar: A Comparative
Appraisal" The Quest 1.1 (1987):7-10.
PARAMESWARAN, UMA. "Manohar Malgonkar as a Historical Novelist" in RAO, K.S.
NARAYANA. ed. World Literature Written in English 14.2 (1975):329-38.
PRADHAN, N.S. "Manohar Malgonkar: A Bend in the Ganges" in PRADHAN, N.S. ed.
Major Indian Novels: An Evaluation New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1986: 135-54. Also
Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey: Humanities, 1986.
RAJAGOPALACHARY,M. “Malgonkar’s Meditation on History: “The Devil’s Wind”
Triveni 55.2 (1986): 53-8. Claims The Devil’s Wind (1972) reassesses the history of the
Sepoy Revolt of 1857 and the role of Nana Saheb. Probes the psychological state of Saheb.
Compares it to John Masters’ Nightrunners of Bengal (1969).
RAJAGOPALACHARY, M. The Novels of Manohar Malgonkar: A Study in the Quest for
Fulfilment New Delhi: Prestige, 1989, 102pp.
RAO, D.S. "Open Season: Manohar Malgonkar" Indian Literature 24.1 (January February
1981):142-7.
REDDY, P. BAYAPPA, "The Novelist as Short Story Writer: Manohar Malgonkar" in
Studies in Indian Writing in English with a Focus on Indian English Drama, New Delhi:
Prestige Books, 1990: 52-60.
ROTHFORK, JOHN. "Gandhi and Non-Violence in Manohar Malgonkar's A Bend in the
Ganges" Chandrabhaga 12 (1984):41-70.
SIRCAR, ARJYA. “Symbolism in Manohar Malgonkar’s The Princes” Commonwealth
Quarterly 13.34 (1986-7) 40-45..
Claims Malgonkar’s use of symbols is more integral than Anand’s and others’. In The
Princes symbolic moments of choice show the apparent separation of father and son to be
illusory. The episodes concerning the maharani and Kamala are, however, not successful.
STEINVORTH, KLAUS. "Mulk Raj Anand's Private Life of an Indian Prince and Manohar
Malgonkar's The Princes" LHY 14.1 (1973):76-91.
WILLIAMS, H.M. "Manohar Malgonkar's The Captains and the Kings'" Journal of Indian
Writing in English 8.1&2 (1980):35-44.
Malik, Keshav
BANDOPADHYAY, M. "The Poetry of Keshav Malik" Journal of Indian Writing in English
2.1 (1974):58-60.
IYENGAR, K.R.SRINIVASA. ""Vibrant Intensity" Indian Literature, 135, (1990): 161-64.
On The Cut-off Point review?
KANNAN, LAKSHMI. "Keshav Malik: The Total Poet" in DWIVEDI, A.N ed. Studies in
Contemporary Indo-English Verse Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1984:152-62.
RAJA, P. "All Eyes, All Ears: The Poetry of Keshav Malik" The Literary Endeavour 4.1&2
(1982):51-57.
Samples poems mostly from Rippled Shadow to assemble Malik’s views of poetic art as a
pessimistic but unavoidable struggle to find order and understanding in chaotic life. The
suffering rationalist is accompanied by the activist and the ascetic for whom poetry is an
individual, direct, unpolished free-verse response to life’s variety.
RAJA, P. “The Poetry of Keshav Malik” Triveni 52.1 (1983): 55-61.
Quotes Malik’s views on poetry, noting his variety of subjects and viewpoints and the poems’
sincerity. His poetry is an agonistic, pessimistic struggle to make sense of life, accepting
mortality and advocating activist resistance to social evils and freedom of artistic expression.
He uses a direct, natural voice and clinical imagery. Comparison to Subramanya Bharati and
Tamil siddha poets.
SRIVASTAVA, NARSINGH. “The Poetry of Keshav Malik: A Critical introduction” in
PRASAD, MADHUSUDHAN ed. Living Indian English Poets New Delhi: Sterling, 1989:
241-49.
Praised for his sense of sound and design, Malik is characterised by his concern for
the inner self rather than society or nature. Surveys The Lake Surface and Other Poems
(1961), noting influences from Shelley and Stephen Spender and the visionary search beyond
surfaces. Rippled Shadow (1961) offers “mood pieces” tending to the cerebral but with
compelling rhythms. Storm Warning ( takes up larger themes with ideas anchored in painterly
shapes. Poems (1971) continues Malik’s romantic strain (Rimbaud and Yeats) but often fails
to strike a balance between objective control and subjective introspection.
Marath, S. Menon
ELIAS, MOHAMED. "Landscape of Nostalgia in Menon Marath's The Wound of Spring"
The Indian Literary Review I.9 (1980):21-5.
ELIAS, MOHAMMED. Menon Marath Madras: Macmillan (India) Kerala Writers in English
Series, 1984.
ONEMEM, SUSAN. "Janu: Marath's Rhetoric of Possibility" The Literary Criterion, 25.4,
(1990): 22-30.
Markandaya, Kamala (b.1924)
Some good studies of Markandaya appeared even before 1970: Uma Parameswaran's "India
for the Western Reader: A Study of Kamala Markandaya's Novels," The Texas Quarterly
no.11 (1968): 231-47; Shiv K. Kumar's "Tradition and Change in the Novels of Kamala
Markandaya," Books Abroad 43, no.4 (1969): 508-13, reprinted in Kakatiya Journal of
English Studies 3, no.1 (1978): 85-96; K. R. Chandrasekharan's "East and West in the
Novels of Kamala Markandaya," Critical Essays on Indian Writing in English, edited by M.
K. Naik et al (Dharwar, 1968, second edition Madras Macmillan, 1977): 62-85; K. S.
Narayana Rao has written extensively on the earlier novels of Markandaya; his doctoral thesis
(Pennsylvania State University, 1968) was on "The New Harvest: Indian Novel in English in
the Post-Independence Era, Woman at Work: Kamala Markandaya." There seems to be a
consensus of critical opinion regarding the literary merit of her first novel, Nectar in A Sieve,
regarded as her best. Her tenth novel, Pleasure City (1982), which reveals a new direction in
theme and linguistic style, has received very little attention. Reactions to Two Virgins show the
cultural divide in literary evaluation: non-Indian critics, like Alice Drum, Roberta Rubinst, and
H M Williams (see below), value it highly, while Indian critics generally condemn it outright.
Nissim Ezekiel's review labelled the characters "puppets, manufactured for those who know
nothing about India", Uma Parameswaran declares, "It is not a convincing novel", Margaret P.
Joseph finds it "a disappointing book", Srivastava finds the style uninteresting, while M. K.
Naik feels that "the theme of the adolescent's loss of innocence could not perhaps be handled
more crudely than here."
Bibliography
"Kamala Markandaya: A Bibliography," comp. SUSHEELA N. RAO World Literature
Written in English 20, no.2 (Autumn lg81): 344-50.
Criticism
ABIDI, S.Z.H. Kamala Markandaya's 'Nectar in a Sieve' Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot,
1977, 127 pp.
ADKINS, J.F. "Kamala Markandaya: Indo-Anglian Conflict as Unity" Journal of South Asian
Literature 10.1 (1974):89-102.
AFZAL-KHAN, FAWZIA. "Genre and Ideology in the novels of Four contemporary IndoAnglian novelists: R.K. Narayan, Anita Desai, Kamala Markandaya and Salman Rushdie"
DAI 47.4 (October 1986):1328A.
APPASWAMY, S. P. "The Golden Honeycomb: A Saga of Princely Life in India." JIWE
6,no.2 (1978): 56-63.
Mainly descriptive, with a paragraph analysing the linguistic style. The novel presents a
more truthful picture of the Raj's dealings with princely India than Anand's Private Life of an
Indian Prince or Malgonkar's The Princes. Markandaya brings out the shrewdness of the
British policy, which would give a prince the kind of education calculated to make him an
English country gentleman, out of touch with the Indian reality. Events, such as the Delhi
Durbar, are presented from a multiple point of view. Women did not have a place in public
life, but their overpowering influence is presented well by Markandaya.
ARGYLE, BARRY. "Kamala Markandaya's Nectar in a Sieve." Ariel 4, no.1 (1973): 35-45.
Reprinted in The Literarv Half-Yearly 15, no.1 (1974): 73-84.
Reading Nectar in a Sieve as a sociological document diverts attention from its
organisation as a novel, the sensibility that informs it, and the moral intelligence that controls
the sensibility, aspects which are brought out well in Argyle's close reading of the text. The
fact that life is circular, not linear, controls the organisation of this story of a simple woman.
The novel begins with Rukmani, the narrator, an old woman recalling her experiences of the
night. Eighteen of the novel's thirty chapters contain in their first sentence a reference to time;
in the first sentence of the other twelve chapters, there is a reference to journeys, that is,
movement in time. Argyle pays great attention to the words on the page, and demonstrates
how carefully crafted the novel is.
AITHAL, S KRISHNAMOORTHY and RASHMI AITHAL. "East-West Encounter in Four
Indo-English Novels." In Alien Voice: Perspectives on Commonwealth Literature, edited by
Avadhesh K. Srivastava (Lucknow: Print House, 1981): 84-100. ACLALS Bulletin Sixth
Series, no.1 (1982): 1-16.
Examines the variety of treatment of the theme in Kamala Markandaya's Some Inner
Fury (1955), Manohar Malgonkar's Combat of Shadows (1962), Raja Rao's The Serpent
and the Rope (1960) and Anita Desai's Bye-Bve Blackbird (1971). In Some Inner Furv, the
encounter is between a Hindu girl Mira and an Englishman in the nineteen-forties. Despite
wide differences in race and culture, they love each other deeply, but are wrenched apart by
political forces.
AITHAL, S. K. "Indo-British Encounter in Kamala Markandaya's Novels." Journal of South
Asian Literature 22, no.2 (1987): 49-59.
Thematic study. Markandaya examines Indo-British encounter through various
characters, situations, settings and points of view, people face insurmountable difficulties in
mutual understanding and love. Aithal examines four novels: Some Inner Fury, set in preindependence India, Possession which shows that the Englishwoman Caroline Bell has not
given up her possessive attitude towards India even after independence, The Coffer Dams
where the contact is based on Indian importation of Western science and technology to build
a huge dam, and The Nowhere Man which is set in England and shows the racial
discrimination faced by an Indian immigrant there.
ASNANI, SHYAM M. "Quest for Identity Theme in Three Commonwealth Novels." Alien
Voice, edited by Srivastava (1981): 128-36.
The three novels, Achebe's No Loneer at Ease, Naipaul's A House for Mr Biswas
and Kamala Markandaya's The Nowhere Man depict the tragic world of the assimilé, and
each of the three protagonists is equally helpless before the inexorable demands of the world
around him, though the first two novels are set in the colonial world, while the eponymous
hero of the third is an Indian emmigrant in England.
ASNANI, S.M. "Character and Technique in Kamala Markandaya's Novels" RUSEng 11
(1978):66-74.
BADAL, R.K. Kamala Markandaya (??)
BALASWAMY, P. "The Distorted and Distortive Mirror of Kamala Markandaya" Criticle
(October 1977):20-28.
BANERJI, NIROJ. Kamala Markandaya: A Critical Study. Allahabad: Kitab Mahal, 1990,
168pp.
Generally repeats received opinion, so most of the leading critics on Markandaya are
quoted. Contains a bibliography of secondary sources, and a letter from Markandaya, where
she states, "I do not think of myself as--I do not think I am--an expatriate writer."
CHADHA, RAMESH. "Heat and Dust and The Coffer Dams: A Comparative Study."
WLWE 10, no.1/2 (1982): 24-30.
Jhabvala's and Markandaya's novels have similar stories, and deal with man-woman
relationships. The heroes of both novels are work conscious; they take their wives for granted,
and treat them as objects. In the beginning, both Olivia (Heat and Dust) and Helen Clinton
(The Coffer Dams) are devoted wives. But they are non-conformists, and are attracted by
India, and take Indian lovers.
CHADHA, RAMESH. "Heat and Dust and The Coffer Dams: A Comparative Study" Journal
of Indian writing in English 10.1&2 (1982):24-30. [check if same]
CHADHA, RAMESH. Cross-Cultural Interaction in Indian English Fiction: An Analysis of
the Novels of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and Kamala Markandaya. New Delhi: National Book
Organization, 1988, xii +166pp.
Based on a doctoral thesis. Examines cross cultural interaction in the two novelists by
comparing novels with similar themes. Thus the second chapter, "The Interplay" examines
Markandaya's Nectar in a Sieve and Some Inner Fury and Jhabvala's Esmond in India.
Chapter 3, "Getting Ready for Battle", deals with Markandaya's The Coffer Dams and The
Nowhere Man and Jhabvala's A Backward Place while the next chapter, "And Never the
Twain Shall Meet" (Kipling misquoted) compares Jhabvala's New Dominion and Heat and
Dust with Markandaya's Possession. The bibliography lists critical articles on Jhabvala and
Markandaya.
CHADHA, RAMESH. "Cross-Cultural Interaction in Markandaya's Pleasure City." The
New Indian Novel in Enelish, edited by Viney Kirpal (New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1990):
57-64.
Cross-Cultural interaction is the major theme of the novel, and the novelist reveals her
absolute integrity as an artist by not taking sides. Markandaya employs a new style and
narrative technique, first used in The Coffer Dams, which also presented Indo-British
encounter at a construction site. There are Forsterian echoes in Pleasure City in the picnic to
the caves, but the conclusion is quite different.
CHATTERJEE, ARUNDHATI. "Rukmani, The Mother Figure in Nectar in a Sieve." Studies
in Indian Fiction in English, edited by G. S. Balarama Gupta (Gulbarga: JIWE Publication,
1987): 85-92.
Rukmani is the axis around whom all the other characters revolve. She has
transcended limited physical identities to represent the universal mother figure. Chatterjee
presents a panegyric, she does not question the value of "the spirit of acceptance".
CHAUHAN, P. S. "Kamala Markandaya: Sense and Sensibility." The Literary Criterion 12,
no.2/3 (1976): 134-47.
Chauhan feels that Markandaya suffers from critical apathy. (He does not seem to be
aware of any criticism other than S. C. Harrex's study of the sense of identity in the novels of
Markandaya, which, he feels, ignores the multiple variety of the life of her fiction.) Chauahan
attempts a rapid survey of the eight novels published to date, and praises her creative moral
vision. The chief appeal of Markandaya's fiction lies in its fable. She portrays man as a victim,
but he is never an inconsequential person. She writes of modern India with a marvellous
historical vision of the Western influences at work. Chauhan devotes much attention to The
Coffer Dams, her "finest portrayal of cultural contrasts."
DALE, JAMES. "Kamala Markandaya and the Outsider." In Individual and Community in
Comnmonwealth Literature, edited by Daniel Massa (Malta:Old University Press, 1979):
188-95.
The fundamental pattern in many of Markandaya's novels is that of conflict between
England and India, studied in terms of human relationship. In Nectar in a Sieve, the alien figure
is the white doctor, Kenny. In Some Inner Fury, the outsider is Roshan Merchant, a Parsee,
who moves with equal ease in both East and West. Possession shows East-West encounter of
a very unusual kind, and Anasuya, the detached narrator, is the "permanent outsider" as she
calls herself. In The Coffer Dams, Helen Clinton is not like the other British wives; she
identifies herself increasingly with the exploited tribals who have been thrust aside by both
British and Indians in the name of the great dam. She is drawn into the action, and is not a
mere observer. In The Nowhere Man, Srinivas stands and suffers alone, the quintessential
outsider, despite the support of his friend Mrs Pickering.
DALE, JAMES. "Sexual Politics in the Novels of Kamala Markandaya" WLWE 21.2
(Summer 1982):336-41.
DRUM, ALICE. "Kamala Markandaya’s Modern Quest Tale." WLWE 22, no.2 (1983):
323-32.
Markandaya uses the changing world of a modern Indian village to give fresh
treatment to a familiar literary theme--coming of age. In its presentation of the initiation theme,
Two Virgins follows the structural pattern of the quest tale with its three divisions: the going
forth, the adventure, the return. The journey to the city, and the broadened perspective it
provides on home and self enable the heroine Saroja to win her battle against fear and
immaturity. Saroja has to face societal and personal problems. The distinction of Two Virgins
lies in the author's use of language and the wit and humour with which she presents the
characters and their society. The style is particularly suited to the young heroine.
Markandaya's particular stress is on Saroja's developing awareness of sexuality, a theme that
has rarely been treated with the understanding and sensitivity that Markandaya employs.
EZEKIEL, NISSIM. "Two Virgins by Kamala Markandaya." Illustrated Weekly of India, 15
June, 1975. Reprinted NISSIM EZEKIEL, Selected Prose (Delhi: Oxford University Pres,
1992): 144-46.
A book review, condemning it as "an Indian novel for non-Indian readers". The
language is generally simple, but is "a starved, dessicated simplicity." Stereotypes of character
and situation fill the novel. All the characters are "puppets manufactured for the entertainment
of those who know nothing about India. A puppet show satisfies them. Particularly if a little bit
of sex is thrown in from time to time."
GEETHA, P. "Kamala Markandaya: An Interpretation." Commonwealth Quarterly no.9
(1978): 96-109.
Markandaya's novels generally deal with the modernisation of India. Geetha briefly
surveys the leading images in some of Markandaya's novels. The paddy fields and Rukmani's
garden reflect the fluctuations of Rukmani's own life in Nectar in a Sieve. In A Handful of
Rice,the city is referred to as a "black god" and Apu's house there becomes a symbol of town
life. In The Coffer Dams, the conflict is between primitive man and the modern machine, and
the dam has symbolic overtones. The image of a house is at the centre of the narrative pattern
of The Nowhere Man.
GOONERATNE, YASMINE. "'Traditional' Elements in the fiction of Kamala Markandaya,
R.K. Narayan and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala" WLWE 15.1 (April 1976):121-34.
HARREX, S. C. "A Sense of Identity: The Novels of Kamala Markandaya." Journal of
Commonwealth Literature 6, no.1 (1971): 65-78. Reprinted as "A Sense of Identity: The
Early Novels of Kamala Markandaya," in The Fire and the Offering: The EnElish-Language
Novel of India, 1935-1970. (Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1977) Vol.I, pp.245-261.
Kamala Markandaya's first five novels deal with different predicaments of identity.
Two main directions are discernible in the literary quest for identity, the philosophical (Raja
Rao) and the sociological (Anand). In A Silence of Desire and Possession, the quest is in
philosophical terms. An enigmatic swami symbolizes an alternative to the modern materialistic
way of life. A Silence of Desire shows a marriage where the husband feels his identity
threatened by his wife's devotion to a swami. Possession is an allegory of imperialism, where
the frames of reference are traditional contemplative India and the active, possessive West.
Markandaya's other three novels stress the social, economic, and political determinants of
human identity. In Nectar in a Sieve, the identity of the peasant is threatened because of
industrialization and the loss of his land. In A Handful of Rice, the quest for identity is seen in
terms of urban poverty. In Some Inner Fury, the dilemma of identity is due to the political
background, as the struggle for independence enters a violent phase. K A. Abbas explores
this theme skilfully in his short story,"The Man Who Did Not Want to Remember". The sense
of identity in Markandaya's novels is more affirmative in the philosophical rather than the
sociological context.
JAIN, JASBIR "The Novels of Kamala Markandaya." Indian Literature 18, no.2 (1975): 3643.
In the novels of Kamala Markandaya, two sets of values exist side by side. There are
some characters who travel both worlds, absorbing the human and elemental in both. Valmiki
in Possession is divided between two worlds: Caroline's material ome and the Swamy's
spiritual one. By the end of the novel, he has become strong and independent, helped by the
Swamy's visit to the West. Kenny in Nectar in a Sieve and Helen in The Coffer Dams are
other characters who can go across the racial divide to the world of Indian labourers. In The
Nowhere Man, there are two worlds, one of white superiority and racial hatred represented
by Fred Fletcher, and the other of abject integration with British society represented by
Laxman. But there is also a third world, inhabited by human beings, frail and fallible; Srinivas,
his wife Vasantha and Mrs Pickering belong to this world. In Two Virgins, the two worlds of
Lalitha and Saroja do not meet to give rise to a third world, it is Saroja's world which
metamorphoses into a new force
JAIN, N. K. "Kamala Markandaya: Nectar in a Sieve." Major Indian Novels, edited by N.
S. Pradhan (New Delhi:Arnold-Heinemann, 1985):74-89. Also Atlantic Highlands, New
Jersey: Humanities, 1986, xii + 266
Examines the narrative technique of the novel in relation to its theme and style. A large
part of the success of the novel is due to the choice of Rukmani, a literate peasant woman, as
protagonist and narrator. The simple, unadorned prose accords with the nature of the
narrator. Nectar in a Sieve presents an authentic picture of village life in transition. Kenny, the
white doctor, provides the spokesman for modernity.
JAMEELA BEGUM, A. "Glimpses of Indian Women in Kamala Markadaya's Novels."
Commonwealth Quarterly no.36 (1987): 17-23.
In exploring the female consciousness of Indian women, Markandaya fuses her own
imaginative conception of traditional images with the changing realities of existence. Begum
declares that it is unfair to dismiss Markandaya as a writer "reacting not to a specific village in
India but to the Western audience's image of an Indian village" (Shyamala Venkateswaran's
words). Markandaya writes about rural women in Nectar in a Sieve and Two Virgins, and the
economically independent urban woman in Some Inner Fury and Possession. Her spirituality is
stressed in The Nowhere Man.
JHA, RAMA. "Kamala Markandaya: An Overview" Perspectives of Indian Fiction in English,
edited by M. K. Naik (1985): 161-73.
Expository, tracing Markandaya's development as a novelist by analysing he novels
chronologically. The novels focus on the changinging socio economic scene in India. Her
characters are memorable, especially women like Rukmini and Sarojini, whose strength lies in
acceptance.
JHA, REKHA. The Novels of Kamala Markandaya and Ruth Jhabvala: A Study in EastWest Encounter, New Delhi: Prestige Publishers, 1990, 176pp.
JOSEPH, MARGARET P. Kamala Markandaya. Indian Writers Series. New Delhi: Arnold
Heinemann, 1980, 224pp.
Best book length study of various aspects of Kamala Markandaya's fictional art. After
general evaluations of the novels (pp l5-106), Joseph examines Markandaya's art of
characterization (pp.107-156), and her use of language (pp.157-210),with a fine analysis of
Markandaya's imagery. She also examines Markandaya's attempts to write "the literature of
concern".
KATAMBLE, V. D. "Kamala Markandaya's The Coffer Dams: An Apology for Technoindustrialization of Rural India." Littcrit no.20/21 (1985): 54-62. [11.1&2 check]
Thematic study. The Coffer Dams is a fine presentation of the theme of conflict and
reconciliation between man and machine; East-West encounter is ancillary to the main theme.
Building a huge dam entails displacing the simple tribals. The old tribal chief initially opposes
the dam, for it means the loss of a traditional way of life. But the new generation represented
by Bashiam, an educated tribal, welcomes technological progress. The novelist clearly shows
the complexity of labour problems, and the ruthlessness of the powerful dam builders, but
ends on a note of optimism.
KRUPAKAR, B. "Race Relations and The Nowhere Man." The Literary Endeavour 2,
no.2/3 (1981): 21-25.
The novel is not a study of being rootless, it is the human drama of an individual
shaped and identified within a community. Srinivas is not faced by the cultural or metaphysical
problems experienced by Rama in the Serpent and the Rope. The aged Indian immigrant has
no ties left in India, but British racists cannot accept his presence in England, which he has
made his home for 50 years. The racism of Fred Fletcher is offset by the humane conduct of
Mrs Pickering and Dr Radcliffe.
KUMAR, PREM. "Conflict and Resolution in the Novels of Kamala Markandaya." World
Literature Today 60, no.1 (1986): 22-27.
The clash of values is a distinctive characteristic of Markandaya's novels. In her first
novel, Nectar in a Sieve, it is rural-agricultural versus industrial-commercial. In Some Inner
Fury the clash is political, imperialism versus self rule, rather than racial. In A Silence of Desire
the clash between tradition and modernity takes the form of a conflict between spiritual faith
and scientific reason. Possession presents the East-West conflict in an original way. In A
Handful of Rice, the conflict is social and economic; Ravi finds it impossible to provide for his
family by honorable means. In The Coffer Dams, the tension between traditional life and
technological progress runs parallel to the theme of racial tension. In The Nowhere Man,
Srinivas finds himself cut off from both cultures--British and Indian. In Two Virgins, the clash
between traditional/rural and modern/urban values is part of young Saroja's maturation. The
Golden Honeycomb shows East-west encounter during the Raj. In her latest novel Shalimar
(published in Britain as Pleasure City) the collision between primitive innocence and
technological progress has none of the racial tension of The Coffer Dams.
KUMAR, PREM. "From Confrontation to Reconciliation: Kamala Markandaya's Evolution
as a Novelist" IFR 14.2 (Summer 1987):84-8.
KUMAR, S.K. "Tradition and Change in the Novels of Kamala Markandaya" Kakatiya
Journal of English Studies 8.1 (1978):85-97.
MACDERMOTT, DOIREANN. "An Indian in England: Markandaya's The Nowhere Man,"
in A Passage to Nowhere, edited by Doireann MacDermott and Susan Ballyn (1986).
MACDERMOTT, DOIREANN. "Variations on a Princely Theme: Kamala Markandaya's
The Golden Honeycomb," in Crisis and Creativity in the New Literatures in English, edted by
Geoffrey Davis and Hena Maes-Jelinek (1990).
MARKANDAYA, KAMALA,"One Pair of Eyes: Some Random Reflections" IN NIVEN,
ALASTAIR (ed) The Commonwealth Writer Overseas Brussels: Didier, 1976:23-32.
MARKANDAYA, KAMALA. "Why Do We Write in English?" Adam 355-60 (1971):42-3.
MENON, K. MADHAVI. "The Vision in Kamala Markandaya's The Nowhere Man."
Commonwealth Quarterly no.34 (1986): 24-37.
Markandaya's primary concern has been with the individual in the matrix of a given
culture. The Nowhere Man reveals Markandaya's concern with cultural values in the context
of racial hatred in Britain, after the fall of the empire. Markandaya highlights the strength of
human commitment and love even in the midst of racial hatred. Menon briefly compares
Srinivas, an expatriate, with Biswas (Naipaul's A House for Mr Biswas) and Cross Damon
(Richard Wright's The Outsider).
MUKHERJEE, DHURJATI. "Jibananda: A Wish, edited by K. Ayyappa Paniker
(Trivandrum: University of Kerala, 1987): 76-80.
Considers The Nowhere Man to be Markandaya's best novel. The hero, Srinivas, is
capable of infinite adaptation. The "nowhere man" is also everyman, the aging loner.
Markandaya makes Srinivas's battle with loneliness sufficiently dramatic without lapsing into
surrealistic presentation, as in Samuel Beckett. Nandakumar feels that Willie and Winnie of
Beckett's Happy Days are the distant inspiration for Srinivas and Mrs Pickering. The
Nowhere Man has the same tinge of black humour as Beckett's play about age and loneliness.
NANDAKUMAR, PREMA. "Swim Against the Tide: Srinivas in The Nowhere Man."
Contemporary Indian Fiction in Engl (1976): 87-97.
NEDELJKOVIC, MARYVONNE. "The Role of Women in Kamala Markandaya's Novel,
Nectar in a Sieve." Commonwealth 8, no.1 (1985): 31-44.
Kamala Markandaya's novels show that she would like Indian women to free
themselves from oppressive tradition and acquire new dignity based on Indian culure.
Rukmani, a poor though literate peasant woman, is the narrator and protagonist of Nectar in a
Sieve. Though she believes in traditional values like Dativratya (devotion to husband) she
wants society to change its treatment of women. Her relationship with Kenny, the English
doctor, is complex; village gossip believes they are having an affair. Rukmani is not unfaithful,
but she feels vaguely guilty; for her friendship with Kenny is only the manifestation of her
craving for a change in the Indian woman's condition.
PARAMESWARAN, UMA. "Native-Aliens and Expatriates--Kamala Markandaya and
Balachandra Rajan." A Study of Representative Indo-English Novelists. (New Delhi: Vikas,
1976): 85-140.
Parameswaran notes three stages in the growth of the Indian English novel. The third
stage produced writers who are so anglicised in their outlook that they lose touch with their
roots. Both novelists have been overpraised by non-Indian critics and over-denounced by
Indian critics. Parameswaran rigorously examines Markandaya's first eight novels with regard
to structure, dialogue, sociological verity and use of symbols; this critic is particularly good at
analysing characterisation. In terms of style, the first five novels are remarkable for their simple
and effective language, while a note of experimentation with prose style is present in The
Coffer Dams (1969) and later novels. Parameswaran discerns a pattern--as long as one has
roots, one survives, and the delineation of the roots of different classes of society is
Markandaya's continuing theme. The Coffer Dams and The Nowhere Man are powerful
novels which deal with the problems of expatriation, in different contexts.
POLLARD, ARTHUR. "Kamala Markandaya's The Golden Honeycomb." JIWE 8, no.1/2
(1980): 22-26. Reprinted in Through Different Eyes,edited by Kirpal Singh. (Calcutta: Writers
Workshop, 1984): 27-33.
Markandaya's novel shows British-Indian relations from the Indian angle, just as Paul
Scott's Raj Quartet presented it from the British angle. Another important theme is princely
India. Markandaya brings a greater subtlety to this theme than Anand (Private Life of an
Indian Prince) or Malgonkar (The Princes). A leading concern of the novel is with the failure
to show understanding, and one of Markandaya's strengths is that she can create sympathy for
characters like the Maharajah and Sir Arthur Copeland, while never concealing her real
condemnation of them for lack of sensitivity. Markandaya is on the whole succcessful in
presenting the richness and contrasts that are India. Though the novel is the tale of Bawajiraj
and his son Rabi, it is dominated by women
PRASAD, MADHUSUDAN. ed. Perspectives on Kamala Markandaya. Ghaziabad:Vimal
Prakashan, 1984, xxxiv-269pp.
Contains eighteen essays on various aspects of Markandaya's work.
1. Introduction MADHUSUDAN PRASAD i-xxxiv. Detailed introduction to the first nine
novels, taking due note of the comments of various critics. Examines Markandaya's tragic
vision, her humanism and social concern, craftsmanship, plot structure, narrative technique,
and prose style. Though she uses imagery and symbolism, she is not an imagist novelist like
Anita Desai. Prasad praises her gift for characterization, and points out a weakness in her
work--she is too conscious of a Western audience, and her detailed explanations and
descriptions can be irritating for the Indian reader.
2. Continuity and Change in the Novels of Kamala Markandaya A.V. KRISHNA RAO. 127. See RAO, A.V KRISHNA above, p.l.
3. Victims and Virgins: Some Characters in Kamala Markandaya's Novels. HAYDN M
WILLIAMS: 28-36. Reprinted in WILLIAMS, HAYDN MOORE, Galaxy of Indian
Writing in English (Delhi: Akshat Publications, 1987):30-38. Williams analyses the first eight
novels. The most memorable characters are victims. Markandaya takes her characters from a
wide spectrum: Indian peasants, students, film producers, Indian emigrés in England, English
engineers and their wives on contract service in India, English working class types from pubs.
Her women are peculiarly memorable. There is little humour in Markandaya. Williams
considers the movement from the tragic despair of Nectar in a Sieve to the angry satire of The
Nowhere Man a decline. The Nowhere Man is a cry of protest against the inhumanity of
racism, she does not attempt to analyse the causes of racial conflict. The portrayal of Srinivas,
the protagonist, a victim, is quite successful, but all the other characters, including Mrs
Pickering, are two-dimensional. Williams reserves special praise for Two Virgins, and its
heroine Saroja.
4. East-West Confrontation in the Novels of Kamala Markandaya. HARISH RAIZADA. 3770.
5. Kamala Markandaya's Style. RAMESH K.SRIVASTAVA. 71-92. See SRIVASTAVA,
Six Indian Novelists. (1987) above.
6. The Mask That Does Not Hide: A Perspective on Nectar in a Sieve, P.SHIV KUMAR.
93-97.
7. The Fictional Epic on Indian Life: A Study in Theme and Technique of Nectar in a Sieve,
HARI MOHAN PRASAD. 98-104.
8. Some Inner Fury: A Critical Perspective, S.KRISHNA SHARMA. 105-118.
9. A Silence of Desire: A Closer View. EDWIN THUMBOO. 119-149. See THUMBOO,
"A Silence of Desire" JIWE no.8 (1980) above.
10. Possession: A Consideration, C. V. VENUGOPAL. 150-53.
11. A Tryst with Conscience: A Handful of Rice K.VENKATA REDDY. 154-62. See
REDDY, Major Indian Novelists (1990) below.
12. The Coffer Dams: A Critical Study. K.MADHAVI MENON AND A.V.KRISHNA
RAO. 163-85.
13. The Nowhere Man: An Analysis. V.RANGAN. 186-97.
14. Two Virgins: A Problem Novel. K. S. RAMAMURTI. 198-207. See RAMAMURTI,
"Two Virgins" Littcrit 7, no.2 (1981) above.
15 The Golden Honeycomb: A Critcal Appraisal. A. N. DWIVEDI. 208-220.
16. Image and Symbol Pattern in Kamala Markandaya's Novels. F. A. INAMDAR. 221239. Inamdar discerns a common image pattern underlying all of Markandaya's novels: house
imagery (which branches into images of the tannery in Nectar in a Sieve), city imagery, jungle
imagery, imagery of animals and insects, and imagery of darkness and light which merges into
colour imagery. Isolated images occur in later novels, like cycle imagery (A Handful of Rice),
the mask (The Golden Honeycomb), and characters as images (The Nowhere Man).
17. Kamala Markandaya's Narrative Technique. S.Z.H.ABIDI. 240-47. Kamala
Markandaya employs the first person narrative in Nectar in a Sieve and Some Inner Fury,with
the central character as narrator. Possession, too, is in the first person, but the narrator
Anasuya is only a minor participant in the action. The later six novels all employ the omniscient
author techniaque, but differ in subtle manipulations of the point of view. Markandaya's novels
generally follow a chronological narrative, though there are occasional flashbacks
18. Structure in the Novels of Kamala Markandaya. V. B. GUBATI. 248-62. Studies the
structure of Markandaya's novels in terms of the motifs, dynamic and static, and the leitmotifs.
The majority of the motifs in Nectar in a Sieve are static; the leitmotif "nothing" conveys the
idea of the futility of the poor man's struggle, and links up with the title. In Some Inner Fury,
the leitmotif is violence, "fury". A Silence of Desire has a well knit structure dominated by
static motifs. The structure of Possession is weak because of the choice of narrator, though
the leitmotif "possession" throws light on all relationships in the novel. Unity of structure is
achieved in A Handful of Rice through the leitmotif "rice". Static motifs underlying the plot and
characterisation make The Nowhere Man an organic whole. Gulati feels that the structure of
the next three novels is loose.
Bibliography. 263-66.
PRASAD, HARI MOHAN. "The Quintessence of Kamala Markandaya's Art."
Commonwealth Quarterlv no.9 (1978): 173-85.
Overview of her novels, in terms of theme and language. Nectar in a Sieve presents a
ruthlessly realistic picture of rural poverty. A Handful of Rice is another variant of this theme of
hunger, in an urban setting. Two Virgins is about the growing up of Saroja. Possession, The
Coffer Dams, and The Nowhere Man are explications of East-West encounter In narration or
language, Markandaya has little proneness to experimentation.
RAMAMURTI. K. S "Kamala MarkandayaJs Two Virgins: A Problem Novel." Litcrit 7,
no.2 (1981): 36-45.
Two Virgins does not live up to the standards set by Markandaya's earlier novels. It
has no well-defined central theme, and the language is dull and monotonous. The action of this
picaresque novel is linear, little dependent on character or environment. There is no sharp
differentiation in character between the narrator Saroja and her elder sister Lalitha. The
vagueness of the location and the strange names detract from the realism of the narrative. It
reveals the author's excessive preoccupation with sex in its coarsest form. Two Virgins is an
interesting study on the themes of escape and initiation. Another merit of the novel is its use of
symbols.
RAO, A V. KRISHNA. "Kamala Markandaya and the Novel of Sensibility." The IndoAnglian Novel and the Changing Tradition. (Mysore: Rao and Raghavan, 1972): 50-67.
Rao presents an analysis of the way the first four novels of Kamala Markandaya
reflect the consciousness of change, and the strange and inescapable ways it has come to
shape the character of individuals. Markandaya has evolved a fictional technique which keeps
in perfect balance the reality of the world outside and that of the individual within. Unlike Mulk
Raj Anand, she lets her characters grow into society. She presents a complex pattern of
interaction between the individual and the aggregate of humanity in terms of symbols,
especially in A Silence of Desire and possession.
RAO, A. V. KRISHNA. "Continuity and Change in the Novels of Kamala Markandaya."
Perspectives on Kamala Markandava, edited by Madhusudhan Prasad (Ghaziabad: Vimal
Prakashan, 1984): 1-25.
Primarily thematic study, though Rao pays attention to linguistic style and plot
structure. Markandaya's accent is on the drama of life, not ideology. She explores the impact
of change in terms of human psychology. Her fiction reveals cultural continuity in the midst of
social, economic and political change in modern India. The first three novels are preoccupied
with the national self-image in various foci. Possession, the fourth novel, probes an alien
onslaught on the autochthonic cultural matrix. The Nowhere Man (like The Coffer Dams) also
deals with racial relations. Markandaya's narrative technigue in this novel set in England is
much more impressive than in Some Inner Fury. Rao considers The Golden Honeycomb, her
ninth novel, her best. It is a fine exploration of the "predicament of identity" (an aspect
examined by S. C. HARREX (see item?)).
RAO, A.V. KRISHNA. "The Novels of Kamala Markandaya: A Study": 213-251. in
DWIVEDI, A.N. (ed) Studies in Contemporary Indian Fiction in English, Allahabad: Kitab
Mahal, 1987, pp.358
RAO, A V. KRISHNA. "The Golden Honeycomb: A Brief Study." Studies in Indian Fiction
in English, edited by G. S. Balarama Gupta (Gulbarga: JIWE Publications, 1987): 77-84.
Feels that the lack of ideological commitment in Markandaya's fiction makes it more
authentic as a mirror of society. Considers The Golden Honeycomb (1977) her magnum
opus. Rao praises its structure (it has two subplots addition to the mainplot), its language, and
the thorough research of history that has gone into this tale of princely India.
RAO, K. S. NARAYANA. "Some Notes on the Plots of Kamala Markanday Novels."
Indian Literature 13, no.1 (1970): 102-12.
Rao draws up a chronological table of the first five novels, in the sequence of their
actions (specific references to the time period can be found in all except Nectar in a Sieve)
and the likely order of their writing (Nectar in a Sieve, the third novel she wrote, was the first
to be published). Rao identifies some common characteristics of plot and character. All novels
feature single stars, or, at the most, two leading characters. The central character is trapped in
a situation. The ending is not conclusive and has a tantalizing quality. Each novel has at least
one "alien" character, and, with the exception of Some Inner Furv, a "freak", such as an
albino, a dwarf, or a cripple.
RAO, K. S. NARAYANA. "The Novels of Kamala Markandaya: A Contemporary IndoAnglian Novelist." Literature East and West 15, no.2 (1971): 209-218.
Survey of her first five novels , in terms of the themes, plot, and structure. East-West
relations is a dominant theme, so is the conflict between the rich and the poor. Other important
themes are those of love, marriage and sex, and the triumph of the spirit over suffering and
death. The characters tend to be types rather than individuals, though they show a greater
degree of individuality in her fifth novel, A Handful of Rice. The novels generally have a
circular structure; Markandaya handles first person narration and the omniscient author
technique with equal facility.
RAO, K. S. NARAYANA. "Love, Sex, Marriage and Morality in Kamala Markandaya's
Novels" Osmania Journal of English Studies no.10 (1973): 69-77.
There is a steady increase of emphasis on love, marriage, and sex as we go from the
first novel to the fifth. India is shown in a state of flux, and Markandaya's tone is never
didactic. Nectar in a Sieve shows the love between the partners in an arranged marriage,
while Some Inner Fury is a study of romantic passion. A Silence of Desire shows a stable
marriage threatened by the lack of communication between Dandekar and his wife. Thoughts
and metaphors of sex brood over Possession, a novel without marriage, or love. A Handful of
Rice has many explicit passages, and libido is an active force in the story.
RAO, K. S. NARAYANA. "Religious Elements in Kamala Markandaya's Novels." Ariel 8,
no.1 (1977): 35-43.
Self-exiled writers like Raja Rao and Kamala Markandaya take great pride in India's
spiritual heritage. Markandaya is basically a secular writer, but two of her novels contain the
character of a Hindu holy man, symbolizing the ancient spiritual wisdom of India. A Silence of
Desire is the story of Dandekar who puts his carnal pleasures and personal comforts above
spiritual values; the tulasi plant is an apt symbol. Possession affirms the supremacy of spiritual
powers over material forces. Valmiki, the hero, gives up his life of fame and money in the
West and returns to the Swamy, his spiritual guru. Islam is mentioned only marginally in her
novels. Some Inner Fury, A Handful of Rice, and Two Virgins deal briefly with Christians, but
religion is not a major theme in these novels.
RAO, SUSHEELA N. "A Bibliography of Kamala Markandaya" World Literature Written in
English 20.2 (Autumn 1981):344-50.
RAO, SUSHEELA N. "England in the Novels of Kamala Markandaya." JIWE 15, no.1
(1987): 1-10.
Markandaya's portrayal of England is generally unfavourable. Rao looks at four later
novels. In The Coffer Dams, the British, building a dam, are shown as unsympathetic and
insensitive to Indians. The Nowhere Man shows that the British do not tolerate the cultural
and religious heritage of the Indian immigrant in England. In Two Virgins, British influence is
represented by two characters, the Christian headmistress of the missionary school, and the
English-educated film maker Gupta, and both are instrumental in ruining Lalitha. The Golden
Honeycomb goes back in time to reveal the political and economic exploitation of India during
the Raj.
REDDY, P. BAYAPPA, "Rural Life Shaken to its Roots: Kamala Markandaya's Nectar in a
Sieve"" IN Studies in Indian Writing in English with a Focus on Indian English Drama, New
Delhi: Prestige Books, 1990: 61-69.
REDDY. K. VENKATA. "A Classic of the Hunger theme: Nectar in a Sieve." Major Indian
Novelists: Mulk Raj Anand, R. K. Narayan, Raja Rao, Bhabani Bhattacharva, Kamala
Markandaya. (New Delhi: Prestige Books, 1990): 78-86.
Thematic. Hunger is presented in its most gruesome form, it eats into the vitals of
human moral values. Reddy states, without any sustained analysis, that Markandaya's
portrayal is better than Bhattacharya's in So Many Hungers!.
REDDY, K. VENKATA. "A Tryst with Conscience: A Handful of Rice." Major Indian
Novelists (1990): 87-96. First published in Perspectives on Kamala Markandaya, edited by
Madhusudan Prasad (Ghaziababd: Vimal Prakashan, 1984): 154-62.
Thematic. A Handful of Rice is also concerned chiefly with hunger. Ravi, the
protagonist, finds it difficult to earn a living by honest means. Markandaya's language in this
novel has simplicity and precision, the word "rice" recurs like a motif throughout the novel.
RUBENSTEIN, ROBERTA. "Kamala Markandaya's Two Virgins." WLWE no.13 (1974):
225-30.
Analyses the novel in terms of theme, language, and structure, and values it very
highly, "it satisfies one aesthetic, emotional and intellectual yearnings." Considers it an authentic
picture of life in a traditional post-Gandhi Indian village, with the archetypal theme of the
journey from innocence to experience of not only the narrator Saroja, but also her old sister
Lalitha. Praises Markandaya's "unfailing eye for detail both physical and psychological", and
the remarkable quality of the tone of the novel, a gentle, compassionate irony.
SARMA, S. KRISHNA. "Two Recent novels of Kamala Markandaya" Triveni 45.3
(1976):28-35.
SHIMER,DOROTHY BLAIR."Sociological Imagery in the Novels of Kamala Markandaya."
WLWE 14, no.2 (1975): 357-70.
In a seminar paper, "On Images" (East-West Centre, Honolulu, August 1973),
Markandaya talked about images in the sociological sense, the conceptions one class or
culture has formed about the other, and called for the literature of concern to break down
these distorted images. Shimer shows that the conscious use of sociological imagery increases
as Markandaya's writing matures. The major emphases are on socio-economic (class/caste),
East-West relations and concepts, and race and colour and sexual stereotypes. Markandaya
utiizes imagery with mastery in both the sociological and literary sense; especialy in the later
novels, imagery is used to attack social injustice.
SRIVASTAVA, RAMESH K. Six Indian Novelists in English. Amritsar: Guru Nanak Dev
University, 1987, 359pp.
Essays, many of them first published in 1980, on Raja Rao, R. K. Narayan, Kamala
Markandaya, Bhabani Bhattacharya, Anita Desai and Arun Joshi. The biggest section of the
book is devoted to Kamala Markandaya, and Nectar in a Sieve receives a lot of attention,
from various perspectives.
"Significance of the Title: Nectar in a Sieve." Six Indian Novelists: 89-93.
The title of the novel, taken from Coleridge, is significant because the protagonist
Rukmani and her husband continue to work ceaselessly with alternating hope and fear. The
title is suggestive of Western materialistic philosophy, where it is not possible to work without
hope. But Rukmani is sustained by her faith; she is like a karmayogi, following the precepts of
the Gita, living without "nectar", the hope of the fruit of action.
"A Village in Transition in Markandaya's Nectar in a Sieve": 94-110.
First published in Punjab Journal of English Studies, (1986): 101-14.
Nectar in a Sieve is a genuine novel of rural life delineating the miserable plight of the
landless farmer. Some critics (Hari Mohan Prasad, N. K. Jain, Uma Parameswaran, and S. I.
Hemenways) give it more praise than it deserves, while M. K. Naik feels convinced that
"Rukmani's village exists only in the expatriate imagination of her creator". Srivastava examines
various incidents and characters, and concludes that Markandaya's picture is comprehensive,
though some details are inaccurate because of the city-bred novelist's poor knowledge of rural
life.
"Symbolism in Markandaya's Nectar in a Sieve": 111-22. First published in Indian Scholar 2,
no.1 (1980): 1-14.
Symbolism in Markandaya is not something consciously superimposed, she handles it
with great sophistication; words and images are transformed into symbols by a process of
crystallization. Srivastava examines the various symbols (the light and the dark, the tannery,
the rain, garden and snake, stone and the lingam, symbol of fertility) which build up the
dominant and antithetical concepts of "home and not home". Compares rain symbolism with
Hemingway's, and light and dark with Hawthorne's in The Scarlet Letter.
"The Pattern of Hope and Fear in Markandaya~s Nectar in a Sieve": 123-33. First published
in Indian Journal of English Studies no.20 (1980): 125-32.
Coleridge's quotation, from which the title is derived, points to a basic pattern of hope
and fear which by its rhythmic movement unites all the incidents of the novel. The pattern
begins with Rukmani's parental home, and is evident within chapters, and sometimes within the
same paragraph. It is operative in Markandaya's depiction of nature, and also in characters.
"Markandaya's Nectar in a Seive as a Tragedy": 134-44. First published in Indian Journal of
English Studies, no. 23 (1983): 103-112.
Nectar in a Sieve does not conform to the Aristotlean concept of tragedy. It is, in the
words of Northrop Frye, "low-mimetic tragedy" or domestic tragedy, which evokes pathos,
and has an elegiac mood. Nathan's endurance is not without dignity. Markandaya conveys the
helpnessness of human beings before divine forces.
"Limitations of Markandaya in Nectar in a Sieve": 145-54.
Markandaya's depiction of rural life is, on the whole, impressive, though she has
grossly mismanaged details at a number of places. Srivastava points out many instances of
misrepresentation, such as her description of Diwali (which has many elements of the north
Indian festival Holi), the village's easy acceptance of Ira's illegitimate baby, or the unrealistic
description of Nathan breaking stones at the quarry.
"Markandaya's A Handful of Rice: A Study": 155-80.
Analyses various aspects of the novel--the theme and title, the structure,and the
character of the protagonist Ravi. Srivastava takes cognizance of the views of earlier critics,
like Margaret Joseph, A. V. Krishna Rao, Uma Parameswaran, and K. Venkata Reddy,
though he does not always agree with them.
"Symbolic Triumvirate: Bicycle Chain, Sari and Tin Trunk in Markandaya's A Handful of
Rice": 180-94.
When the protagonist Ravi breaks into Apu's house at the beginning of the novel, they
fasten his anklen with a bicycle chain; his arms are bound in a woman's sari and tied to a tin
trunk. These three symbolize the controlling factors of Ravi's life. The bicycle chain symbolizes
the obstacles in Ravi's way, and is associated with images of the iron bars of Apu's house, the
grilles of the rice godown, and the police whistle. The sari is associated with Nalini,
symbolizing family and contentment. The tin trunk, the traditional repository of precious
household possessions, suggests economic wellbeing, including rice, shortage of which is a
potent symbol of poverty in the novel.
"Markandaya's Style": 195-220. First published in Perspectives on Kamala Markandava,
edited by Madhusudan Prasad (Ghaziabad: Vimal Prakashan, 1984): 71-92.
Srivastava presents a comprehensive analysis of Markandaya's style, with illustrations,
most of them from the first six novels. Markandaya has a perfect command over English, and
uses it with grace and pliability. She sometimes uses "the technigue of objective epitome" to
convey the subjective condition of a character through a few objective details. She is good at
descriptions, recreating not just the sights, but also the sounds and smells. Similes and
metaphors abound in her work, with imagery drawn from various walks of life. Symbols are
widely used. Light humnour is almost nonexistent, but she makes good use of irony.
Markandaya never uses Indian proverbs and idioms. Occasionally her style becomes bookish
and mannered. Srivastava takes note of the changes in Markandaya's style from her first
novel, Nectar in a Sieve (1954), to her ninth The Golden Honeycomb (1977) which reveals
the maturity born of twenty years of writing. The Coffer Dams marks a major shift in her style
(PARAMESWARAN has also commented on this, (see item?)). Srivastava finds the style of
Two Virgins (1973) uninteresting, "sensationalism and sexual overtones do not add to the
credit of the author".
SINGH, R. S. "Soulful East and Ratiocinative West: Kamala Markandaya." Indian Novel in
English: A Critical Study (1977): 136-48.
Thematic study. Markandaya is above all concerned with the impact of the West.
Three novels, Nectar in a Sieve, Some Inner Fury, and Possession have women narrators and
circular plots. Singh discerns an autobiographical element in Possession and Some Inner Fury.
Markandaya is a novelist of "average emotion" who avoids the depiction of violence.
THUMBOO, EDWIN. "Kamala Markandaya's A Silence of Desire." JIWE 8, no.1/2
(1980): 108-36. Reprinted in Through Different Eves, edited by Kirpal Singh (Calcutta:
Writers Workshop, 1984): 151-91.
A Silence of Desire is built around issues relating to tradition and change, faith and a
scepticism attached to a modern, Western-derived attitude. The theme is introduced as a
domestic problem. The tension in A Silence of Desire is between the deeply held faith of
Sarojini, and the rational explanation and behaviour of her husband Dandekar. Markandaya is
too mature a novelist to offer a bald disquisition between "faith and reason". By the judicious
employment of description, summary and scene--almost all of which involve Dandekar--she
succeeds in translating the set of ideas into the action and consciousness of her characters.
The novelist does not depict the pressures on Sarojini, Thumboo assumes that their nondramatisation accords with her image as a traditional wife.
VARMA, R. M. "The Bi-Cultural World of Kamala Markandaya's Novels." Some Aspects
of Indo-English Fiction (New Delhi: Jainsons Publishers, 1985): 32-66.
Two cultural worlds, belonging to two distinct races, are set in opposition to each
other. Varma describes various aspects (such as "overlordship and serfdom" "changing India",
"the Indian in England") of this love-hate relationship delineated in the nine novels of
Markandaya.
VENKATESWARAN, SHYAMALA. "The Language of Kamala Markandaya's Novels."
The Literary Criterion 9, no.3 (1970): 57-67.
Novelists like Raja Rao, Anand, and Bhattacharya translate the idiom of Indian
languages while depicting rural India. Markandaya makes no attempt to do so, probably
because her Indian village is not particularised, her peasants do not speak any specific Indian
language. The sophisticated English used by Rukmani, the village woman in Nectar in a Sieve,
or by the poor Ravi in A Handful of Rice, cannot reflect their sensibility. Her descriptions
betray Markandaya's ignorance of village India. She gets many details of village life wrong,
suggesting that she is reacting not to a specific village in India but to the Western audience's
image of an Indian village.
WALI, S.K. Kamala Markandaya: 'Nectar in a Sieve', A Stylistic Study Jaipur: Printwell
Publishers, 1987, x + 136 pp.
WEIR, ANN LOWRY. "Worlds Apart?--Feminine Consciousness in Markandaya's Nectar
in a Sieve and The Coffer Dams." CIEFL Bulletin 13, no.2 (1977): 71-85.
Analyses the characters of Rukmani and Helen to show how these two, so different
from each other in terms of race and class, project the same feminine consciousness. Both
realize that the incursion of technology (the tannery and the dam) will completely alter the local
people's lives, and not necessarily for the better. Nectar in a Sieve, a chronicle of village life,
revolves around the narrator Rukmani, a literate peasant woman; we get few insights into the
mentalities of other characters. Markandaya often incorporates elements of her own thought
and background into the village setting, and sometimes Rukmani's credibilty as a character is
adversely affected. The centre of The Coffer Dams is the construction of the dam, and Helen
is one of four leading characters. For the first time in her fiction, Markandaya attempts to give
characterization of Westerners "from the inside". Both novels have a tragic tone: Rukmani
suffers physically, from lack of food and shelter, while Helen, and her Indian lover Bashiam
suffer emotionally and psychologically.
WILLIAMS, HAYDN MOORE. Studies in Modern Indian Fiction in English 2 Vols.
Calcutta: Writers' Workshop, 1973. Volume 2: Govind Desani and Others [ Markandaya,
Malgonkar]
Mehrotra, Arvind Krishna
DA GAMA ROSE, R. "Inside the Enclosures of Arvind Krishna Mehrotra" Kavi 5
(1977):36-8.
PADHI, BIBHU PRASAD. “Looking into the Poetry of Arvind Krishna Mehrotra” in
PRASAD, MADHUSUDHAN. ed. Living Indian English Poets New Delhi: Sterling, 1989:
163-74.
Even in their most fantastic moods, the poems are “an arranged set of gestures”,
precisely ordered. Intellect blends with playful riddles, pain with detachment. There is a
general movement from “passionate metaphorising” to statement. Mehrotra is troubled by
limitations of time and failure to invent strategies for forgetting or creating new possibilities; his
experiment is a protest against the hallucinatory domination of facts/things that are his means of
apprehending life. Notes the recurrent map images and charges his obscurity with overtaxing
readers’ intelligence and sympathy. Poems leap and run in a play of images rather than
connecting into a sense of direction.
PRASAD, MADHUSUDAN. "A Clearer Picture of Time: The Poetry of Arvind Krishna
Mehrotra" Literary Half-Yearly 23.1(January 1982):17-35.
RAMACHAR, M. “Arvind Krishna Mehrotra’s ‘The Sale’: Imagery and Movement” The
Literary Endeavour 2.2 (1982): 27-33.
The salesman’s urgent monologue contains “sharply incoherent” images that cohere into a
symbol of the world. Descriptive explication.
SHASTRI, N.P. "Image as an Immoderate Drug: The Poetry of A.K. Mehrotra" Osmania
Journal 13.1 (1977): 139-147 reprinted in SHAHANE, VASANT A. and
SIVARAMKRISHNA, M. eds Indian Poetry in English: A Critical Assessment Madras:
Macmillan, 1980, 184 pp. Also Atlantic Highlands: Humanities, 1981: 116-24.
Close readings from The Nine Enclosures (1976) noting ironic contrasts between
commercialism and cultural decline, sterility and renewal as part of Mehrotra’s quest for “a
metaphor which embodies the contemporary predicament” of secularised society. Images of
fragmentation surround a hint of mysticism (caves). The collection is uneven in tone and lapses
into obscurity, a cataloguing of sensory impressions, “imagistic novelty” substituting for mythic
or intellectual depth.
Mehta, Ved
PHILIP, DAVID SCOTT. Perceiving India Through the Works of Nirad C. Chaudhuri, R.K.
Narayan and Ved Mehta New Delhi: Sterling, 1986, vi + 184 pp.
PHILIP, DAVID SCOTT. Perceiving India Through the Works of Nirad C. Chaudhuri, R.K.
Narayan and Ved Mehta New Delhi: Sterling, 1986, vi + 184 pp.
SONTAG, FREDERICK. "The Self-Centered Author" New Quest 76 (1989): 29-33.
A note on The Stolen Light by a teacher at Pomona College.
Menen, Aubrey
ELIAS, MOHAMED. "The Poetics of Aubrey Menen's Genesis" The Literary Criterion 20.3
(1985):17-25.
ELIAS, MOHAMED. “Aubrey Menen and Kamala Das: Angli-Dravidian Revolt against
Aryan Myths”Jadavpur Journal of Comparative Literature 24 (1986): 124-133..
Menen in his Rama Retold and Das in her My Story and verse recreate traditional Hindu
myths to focus on outlaws and adultresses. Both South Indian (and related), they create a
pure Dravidian space (crossed in Das with Whitman and western writing and in both cases by
a sense of racial alienation) opposed to the corrupt urban North and its Aryan hierarchised
aggression. Das’s ambivalent relations with Krishna indicate both fear of male and Aryan
domination and confidence that Dravidian/Nayar blood can contain their conquests.
Biographical, cultural and thematic approach.
Menezes, Armando
BHASKER, W.W.S. "Armando Menezes the Writer" Journal of South Asian Literature 18.1
(1983):71-81.
[BHASKER or BHASKAR?]
Menon, R. Ravindranath
SHARMA, G.V.L.N. "R. Ravindranath Menon's Poetry" in DWIVEDI, A.N ed. Studies in
Contemporary Indo-English Verse Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1984:275-88.
Modayil, Anna Sujatha
RAO, G. NAGESWARA. "Anna Sujatha Modayil" in DWIVEDI, A.N. "Eves' Song:
Contemporary English Verse by Indian Women" Studies in Contemporary Indo-English
Verse: A Collection of Critical Essays. Vol. I Female Poets Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot,
1985: 31-39.
Mohanti, Prafulla
MISHRA, GANESHWAR. “How does and Indian Village Speak: A Study of the Form of
Prafulla Mohanti’s My Village, My Life” in MCDERMOTT, DOIREANN ed.
Autobiographical and Biographical Writing in Commonwealth Literature Barcelona: Sabadell,
1984:157-162.
Chaudhuri’s autobiography is for a European audience and out of touch with village life
(especially family relationships). Mohanti’s translated conversations with Orissa villagers
produce amore authentic picture echoing episodic and dialogue forms of puranic and folk
traditions.
Mohanty, Niranjan
SHARMA, GHANSHIAM. "Niranjan Mohanty's Bloody Game: A Deconstructive Analysis"
Poetry 13.1 (1988):33-48.
Mokashi-Punekar, Shankar
LAL, ANANDA. "Shankar Mokashi-Punekar: Some Notes on His Poetry" in DWIVEDI,
A.N ed. Studies in Contemporary Indo-English Verse Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot,
1984:301-14.
Mookerji, Tapati
JAIN, SUNITA. "Leela Dharmaraj, Ira De and Tapati Mookerji" in DWIVEDI, A.N. "Eves'
Song: Contemporary English Verse by Indian Women" Studies in Contemporary Indo-English
Verse: A Collection of Critical Essays. Vol. I Female Poets Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot,
1985: 132-40.
Moraes, Dom
DE SOUZA, EUNICE. "The Expatriate Experience" in NARASIMHAIAH, C.D. ed.
Awakened Conscience: Studies in Commonwealth Literature, New Delhi: Sterling Publishers,
1978: 339-345 (also Hong Kong: Heinemann Asia, 1978).
KHULLAR, AJIT. "Willed Alienation" Indian Literature 131 (1989): 137-45.
MOLLINGER, ROBERT N. "Dom Moraes' Vision: From Dream to Nightmare" Creative
Moment 3.2 (1974):5-11.
MOLLINGER, ROBERT N. "Psychic Images and Poetic Technique in Dom Moraes'
Poetry" in RAO, K.S. NARAYANA. ed. World Literature Written in English 14.2
(1975):322-8.
RAO, R. RAJ. "Dom Moraes: A Craftsman to his Bones" New Quest, 83, (1990): 314-316.
review?
SAHA, SUBHAS. "Dom Moraes: A Re-Assessment of His Poetry" in DWIVEDI, A.N ed.
Studies in Contemporary Indo-English Verse Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1984:72-81.
Mukherjee, Bharati
PARAMESWARAN, UMA. "Foreignness of Spirit: The World of Bharati Mukherjee's
Novels" Journal of Indian Writing in English 13.2 (1985):7-11.
Murti, K.V.S.
RANI, K. NIRUPA. "Inflash and Orchestra: A Note on K.V.S. Murti's Muse" in DWIVEDI,
A.N ed. Studies in Contemporary Indo-English Verse Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot,
1984:191-209.
Nagarajan, K.
JAGADISAN, S. "Chidambaram: A Vision." JIWE 4, no.2 (1976): 29-31.
Chidambaram: A Chronicle Play (1955) was written for the silver jubilee celebrations
of the Annamalai University, and is ideally suited for the occasion. The play falls into fourteen
episodes, each highlighting a significant event in the history of the town of Chidambaram. The
time Spirit guides a modern student on a journey through the ages, and a host of characters,
legendary and historical, put in brief appearances. There is no conflict or action in the usual
sense of the term. The focal figure of Siva (Nataraja, the Cosmic Dancer) lends unity of tone
and action to the play.
KRISHNAMURTHI, M.G. "The Chronicles of Kedaram: A Question of Form"Indian
Writing Today 4 (1970):27-31.
MENON, K.P.K. Nagarajan's Writings: An Introduction Madras: Emerald Publishers, 1985,
52 pp.
PARAMESWARAN, UMA. "K. Nagarajan's Athawar House: A Study" in GUPTA, G.S.
BALARAMA., ed. Studies in Indian Fiction in English Gulbarga: JIWE Publications, 1987:
142-51.
RAMACHANDRAIAH, P. "The Uses of Chronicle: A Study of the Narrative Method of K.
Nagarajan's Chronicles of Kedaram" The Literary Criterion 22.1 (1987):18-22
Nagpal B.R.
NAIR N. RAMACHANDRAN. "Varied Textures" Littcrit 14.1&2 (1989): 84-7.
review?
genre?
Nahal, Chaman
BELLIAPPA, K.C. "The Elusive Classic: Khushwant Singh's Train to Pakistan and Chaman
Nahal's Azadi," The Literary Criterion 15, no.2 (1980): 62-73.
Modern writing tends to produce only minor classics by T.S. Eliot's definitions; we
need Kermode's "plurality of interpretations" plus ideals of authoritative evocation of setting
and comprehensiveness of vision as criteria. Train to Pakistan and Azadi are potential classics.
The former, however, is a sociological period-piece with romantic interest in which only Iqbal
is credibly portrayed. Sides with Kulshrestha in downgrading the novel. Nahal, however,
achieves "comprehensiveness of vision" and dramatizes the meaning of azadi in complex and
human terms (Lala Kanshi Ram provides the focus) that transcend journalistic documentary.
The novel points the irony that azadi, though it produces heroism and kindness, results in
anything but freedom for the suffering people. Nahal avoids simplistic bias, offering multiple
perspectives lamenting the violence but noting a new national dignity. There are flaws in
"loose" passages, unrealized structural potential and unconvincing scenes of intimacy, but the
book meets the criteria of a regional classic.
DEV, JAI. "Form in the Novels of Chaman Nahal" PURBA 16.1 (April 1985):25-9.
DHAWAN, R.K. ed. Three Contemporary Novelists: Khushwant Singh, Chaman Nahal ,
Salman Rushdie New Delhi: Classical Publishing Co, 1986, x + 230 pp.
JHA, MOHAN. "Azadi: A Search for Identity": 117-127.
KIRPAL, VINEY. "The Indian Exile and The English Queens": 139-47.
RADHA, K. "The English in Azadi and The Crown and the Loincloth": 148-71.
RAMAMURTI, K.S. "Azadi: Point of View as Technique": 128-38.
GUPTA, SUBHADRA SEN. "Chaman Nahal: From Tragedy to Satire" IndH 29.2
(1980):19-24.
IYENGAR, K.R. SRINIVASA. "The Crown and the Loincloth" The Literary Criterion 16.3
(1981):76-9.
JHA, MOHAN. "Chaman Nahal's Azadi: A Search for Identity." in Studies in Indian Fiction
in English edited by G.S. Balarama Gupta, 36-45. Gulbarga: JIWE, 1987.
Appreciation of "this chronicle novel" whise "grisly macabre atmosphere...has its own
sharp appeal." Outlines plot, characters and structure (dense blocks of detail and slow-paced
moves between present and past sometimes disorient the reader), stressing its dramatic vigour
and its vision of the "urge for survival", though Arun us found to withdraw into disillusionment
and his father into frustrated anonymity, Despite lifes' bleak prospects, examples of kindness
and tolerance and allusions to Kurukshtra and Tagore underline the worth of commitment to
truth and reason and the ideal of freedom as a condition of human dignity.
JHA, RAMA. "The Fiction of Chaman Nahal" The Humanities Review 3.2(1981):33-9.
KIRPAL, VINEY. "The Uncommitted Indian Middle Classes: An Analysis of Nahal's The
English Queen's" in PRASAD, R.C. & SHARMA, R.K., eds. Modern Studies and Other
Essays in Honour of Dr R.K. Sinha New Delhi: Vikas, 1987: 247-51.
MATHUR, O.P. "The Novels of Chaman Nahal: A Penultimate View": 319-333. in
DWIVEDI, A.N. (ed) Studies in Contemporary Indian Fiction in English, Allahabad:
Kitab Mahal, 1987, pp.358
Nahal repeatedly denied that a first-rate Indian work could be written in English but
modified his claim over twenty years. Surveys output, from stories (The Weird Dance, 1965)
to The Crown and the Loincloth 1981). Nahal is a consistent affirmer of human potential
and is informed by the Gita. The satiric exception is The English Queens (1979) though this
still favours authenticity over artificiality. In The Crown and the Loincloth Nahal attempts a
panoramic treatment of Gandhi as both man and symbol but the focus slips across this wide
cast of characters, some individually memorable. In his work "It is the individual's grasping for
understanding and fulfilment that vivifies the social and political"
RADHA, K. "The English in Chaman Nahal's Azadi." Littcrit 9, no.1 (1983):31-36.
Nahal appears to make no direct comment on the British in India. He distances his
characters from his own voice. Lala Kanshi Ram is ambivalent towards the Raj, admiring its
impartial order but criticizing its abandonment of the people to Partition violence. Baljit
Raizada is altogether hostile, and Sergeant Davidson criticizes both imperialism and its hasty
withdrawal. The consistency of negative response implies authorial sanction.
RAO, PARVATI N. "Curate's Egg: Chaman Nahal's Azadi" Indian Literary Review VI.1-3
(1989): 48-51.
SHARMA, D.R. "The Novels of Chaman Nahal" Journal of Indian Writing in English 7.1
1979: 13-18. Also in The Indian P.E.N. 45.1&2: 1-5.
Evaluative synopsis of My True Faces (1973), Azadi (1975) and Into Another Dawn
(1977). The first contrives a happy ending to a 'Mahabharata' of marital conflict with a moral
about abandoning tradition for rootless westernisation. The second is Nahal's magnum opus,
its vision reaching further historically than other Partition novels, its humanism transcending
sectarian views as the central character learns to see suffering in a wider perspective. The third
work is flawed by a pontificating tone and overly neat contrasts of India and America. Nahal
uses the Punjabi colloquialisms of Anand and Khushwant Singh and presents naturalistic
details but also captures the rhythm of Indian life within affirmation of human freedoms.
SINGH, LAKHMIR. "Chaman Nahal: Azadi" in PRADHAN, N.S. ed. Major Indian Novels:
An Evaluation New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1986: 223-41. Also Atlantic Highlands, New
Jersey: Humanities, 1986.
Brief survey of writing in Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and English demonstrating the lasting
impact of Partition. Chaman Nahal's Azadi best approaches the epical scope of that time,
blending historical events with a wide range of complex human perspectives on them. Outlines
the plot and structure, its developing of tension ("The Lull") followed by violent relocation
conflict ("The Storm") and the humiliations of resettlement ("The Aftermath"). Nahal does not
romanticize communal brutality or bureaucratic indifference; naturalistic detail is impartially
presented, including occasional humane gestures. Everyone is a victim of the upheavals of
freedom (azadi). Young Arun's self-discovery through two romances doesn't sit well against
the historical tragedy, which focusses overall on the breakup of composite Punjabi culture and
identity.
SRINATH, C.N. "The Writer as Historical Witness: Khushwant Singh's Train to Pakistan and
Chaman Nahal's Azadi" The Literary Criterion, 25.2, (1990): 58-66.
Historical reportage requires imaginative colouring in fiction. Singh’s novel errs on the
side of objective panorama and the rhetorical, whereas Azadi’s focus on Lala Kanshi Ram
connects character closely to place and humanises the suffering through sympathetic portrayal.
Singh’s train, as “time and consciousness” allows both sensationalism and the detachment
necssary to comptemplate horror. Contrasts the tender and bestial love affairs between Hindu
and Muslim in the two books, Juggat Singh’s tough shallowness not preparing us for his selfsacrifice. Both works are free of political bias, but one looks at ghastly events and the other at
emotional consequences of loss.
TALTY, JACK. "Chaman Nahal's Azadi" 65-78 in Goodwin, K.L., ed. Commonwealth
Literature in the Curriculum St Lucia: SPACLALS, 1980, 140 pp.
Notes to guide classroom teaching of the text in an Australian setting: historical
background, characterisation, relevance to contemporary migrations/wars etc. A key thread is
locating the tone in relation to the complexities of character and survival.
Naidu, Sarojini (1879-1949)
Sarojini Naidu enjoyed a high poetic reputation in her lifetime, but seems to have fallen out of
favour. Almost all the poets in Modern Indian Poetry in English: An Anthology and a Credo
by P. Lal and Raghavendra Rao (Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1969) condemn her. Some
good studies had appeared before 1970; these include P. E. Dustoor's Sarojini Naidu
(Mysore: Rao and Raghavan, 1961,54pp.) which gives a balanced evalauation of her poetry
("Her talent was strictly limited and her output smnall") and a bibliography of more than a
dozen books and articles on Naidu; C. D Narasimhaiah's The Swan and the Eagle: Essays on
Indian English Literature (Simla: Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, 1969); and Sarojini
Naidu: A Biography by Padmini Sengupta (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1966).
ABBAS, K.A.Sarojini Naidu Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1980, 114 pp.
ALEXANDER, MEENA. "Sarojini Naidu: Romanticism and Resistance." Ariel 17.4 (1986):
49-61.
Dramatic staging of Naidu’s life and work highlighting the “radical cleft” between the
aristocratic Hyderabad she was born into and the colonial culture of British India, between
Indian political activism and poetical passionate passivity picked up from turn-of-the-century
English verse (Dowson, Symons). Notes images of confinement (childhood punishment,
political imprisonment, poems of purdah). “Ode to India” reverses the patriarchal dualism of
“suttee” by figuring India as Mother. Analyses "The Temple", a long sequence of masochistic
eroticism sublimated as mysticism published in Naidu's last book of poems when she was 38.
ANSARI, ASLOOB AHMAD. "The Poetry of Sarojini Naidu" in SHARMA, K.K. ed.
Indo-English Literature: a Collection of Critical Essays, Ghaziabad: Vimal Prakashan, 1977:
71-86.
ANSARI, ASLOOB AHMAD. "The Poetry of Sarojini Naidu." Indo-English Literature: A
Collection of Critical Essays, edited by K. K. Sharma (Ghaziabad: Vimal Prakashan, 1977):
71-86.
Examines Sarojini Naidu's own evaluation of her poetry,"I am not a poet really. . . I
sing just as the birds do, and my songs are as ephemeral." She was basically a lyric poet, and
her poems have the light-hearted ease and gusto of birdsong. Her second collection, The Bird
of Time is more sombre, has less vivacity than her first, The Golden Threshold. Patriotism is
an important theme running through The Broken Wing (1917), which also contains some
remarkable love poems; perhaps political activities dried up the Springs of her creative energy,
for she wrote hardly any poetry after this. She is a flawless craftsman; a certain ornateness in
her poetry is in conformity with the practice of Persian and Urdu poets. She successfully
expresses the Indian sensibility in a foreign tongue.
BAIG, TARA ALI. Sarojini Naidu. New Delhi: Publications Division, Ministry of Information
and Broadcasting, Govt of India, 1974."Builders of Modern India" Series,
concentrates on
her public life, as a Gandhian freedom fighter and in the struggle for the rights of women.
BLACKWELL, FRITZ. "Krishna Motifs in the Poetry of Sarojini Naidu and Kamala Das."
Journal of South Asian Literature 13, no.1-4 (1977-78): 9-14.Compares Naidu's "Song of
Radha the Milkmaid" and "The Fluteplayer of Brindavan" with two poems by Kamala Das,
"The Maggots" and "Radha". The two poets, fifty years apart, use the favourite motif of the
medieval bhakti poets of India with startlingly different attitudes and results.
BOSE, AMALENDU. "Regal Ground: Sarojini Naidu's Poetry." The Other Harmony.
(Calcutta: United Writers, 1977): 63-72.Bose begins with his personal experience of Naidu's
oratory when he was a student of Dacca University. At the end of her speech on the glories of
poetry, "the audience, enveloped in the enchantment of her words, sat motionless, forgetting to
clap." Bose praises the inspiring effectiveness, the imaginative sweep, the easeful and
cadenced eloquence of her oratory which expressed her personality ever so more richly than
her poetry, which is "competent and sometimes charming but of a very limited range and
intensity." Bose speculates on the reasons for her giving up poetry, whether it was because of
the artificiality of adopting English, rather than a native language like Bengali or Urdu, or
because of Sarojini's consciousness of the inadequacy of her style shaped by the Rhymer's
Club. There is a basic incompatibility between poetry and oratory, and her energies went into
public speaking; the loser is posterity, for there is no adequate record of her wonderful
speeches.
BAIG, TARA ALI. Sarojini Naidu New Delhi: Ministry of Information, 1980.
BOSE, AMALENDU, "Regal Ground: Sarojini Naidu's Poetry" in The Other Harmony,
Calcutta: United Writers, 1977:??.
CHAVAN,SUNANDA P. "The Romantics: Toru Dutt and Sarojini Naid," in The Fair Voice:
A Study of Indian Women Poets in English (N Delhi: Sterling, 1984): 15-28.
An overview. Toru Dutt and Saroji Naidu belonged to families which cherished the
western ideal of free womanhood. Dutt was a faithful translator of the original text in the first
stage of her poetic career; the translator grew into a creative one in poems like "Savitri", and
finally matured into an original poet in "Jogadhya Uma" and "Sita". She wrote just eight original
poems. Sarojini Naidu's poetry can be classified thematically into three main groups--poems
of personal experience (love poems predominate), poems about Indian life, and nature poems
devoted to the pleasant aspects of nature. Her poetry seldom expresses her social
consciousness. She stopped writing poetry after she turned to nationalist activities; she may be
supposed to have reached poetic maturity in her public speeches.
DWIVEDI, A. N. "Toru Dutt and Sarojini Naidu." Commonwealth Quarterly no.9 (1978):
82-94.
General introductions to the life and works of Dutt and Naidu. Compares and
contrasts them. Both Indian women were encouraged by Edmund Gosse; they were
influenced by the Romantic school of poetry, and wrote traditional verse. Sarojini had stopped
writing poetry by the time the modernist movement started. Toru was something more than the
instinctive lyricist Sarojini was, she was an impressive translator and novelist whose career
was cut short by death.
DWIVEDI, A.N. “Toru Dutt and Sarojini Naidu” Commonwealth Quarterly 9.28 (1984):
82-94.
Bio-bibliographical outlines of each, locating Toru’s strength in her ballads and Sarojini’s in
perfecting her narrow lyric range. Both romantics, Sarojini swung more towards the Decadent
period. Toru showed promise of a wider talent. Looks at “Gold-mulched Hours” and “Green
leaves are Gold” as evidence of striking imagery
DWIVEDI, A. N. Sarojini Naidu and Her Poetry. Allahabad: Kitab Mahal, 1981,
xii+164pp.
Various aspects of her poetry discussed, generally following received opinion.
DWIVEDI, A.N. “Sarojini the Poet.” Indian literature 22, no.3 (1979): 115-26.
Notes Sarojini’s English influences (the Rhymers’ Club, Keats, Shelley) and praises
her lyric celebration of life’s variety. More ‘native’ than Toru Dutt, her work shows empathy
with nature, sympathy for the poor and understanding of Indian Muslims. Vivid description
accompanies subjective emotion and intimations of spirituality. Nature poetry is more
Tennysonian than Wordsworthian and love poetry echoes medieval devotional verse.
Sexuality and the modern industrial world are absent. Lists critical reactions (ornateness,
stridency, nostalgia) but is adulatory overall.
DWIVEDI, A.N. Sarojini Naidu and Her Poetry Allahabad: Kitab Mahal, 1981, xii + 164
pp.
DWIVEDI, A.N. "Sarojini Naidu's Poetic Technique" Poetry 12.1 (1987): 47-57.
GHOSE, SISIRKUMAR. "Sarojini Naidu: Towards a Revaluation." Osmania Journal of
English Studies 16, no.1 (1980): 23-36. Reprinted as "Salaam for Sarojini: Towards a
Revaluation," Perspectives on Sarojini Naidu (Ghaziabad: Vimal Prakashan, 1989): 206-217.
The kind of romantic poetry Sarojini Naidu wrote is no longer in fashion. Ghose
concentrates on her wit and humour (she referred to Mahatma Gandhi as "Mickey Mouse"),
so obvious in her speeches and letters. Ghose feels that she is not rooted in her poems, the
whole person is seldom involved, "the gulmohars, champaks, kokilas run riot in a touristy,
picture postcard dreamland." The love poems are not deeply felt. She was the first to deal
with humbler folk, like weavers and fishermen, but "it is all from the outside". She herself
confessed "I am not a poet really", which explains her devoting herself totally to the freedom
struggle, without giving up her sensitivity; she refused to follow Gandhiji in giving up good food
or clothes, and persisted in wearing silk instead of handspun khadi.
GUPTA, RAMESHWAR. "Sarojini Naidu: Her Poetic Achievement." The Rajasthan Journal
of English Studies 1, no.1 (1974): 1-5.
Critically evaluates her overall poetic achievement. Sarojini Naidu wrote 184 short
poems, no epic, dramatic or narrative poetry. She is essentially a lyricist, without much
growth. Her work is characterized by delicate fancy and haunting melody. There is no
intellectual content in her poetry. Her canvas is limited, many of her poems are on romantic
love. Nature poems deal mainly with Basant (spring). Her achievment lies in finding metrical
rhythms for Indian folk tunes; she succeeded in recreating the colour and pageantry, the
sensuous aspect, of Indian life, rather than the mystical or the spiritual.
GUPTA, RAMESHWAR. "Sarojini Naidu: The Flouter of the Metaphysical Tradition."
Osmania Journal of English Studies 16, no.1 (1980):37-49.
Sarojini's creative years spanned the Hulme-Pound-Eliot period, and she would have
known about the new trends in poetry. Gupta feels that she rejected it, just as she rejected
Gandhian austere living. She remained steeped in Elizabethan romanticism, taking joy in colour
and beauty. Gupta defends Sarojini's poetry against the strictures laid on it by modern poets in
P. Lal and Raghavendra Rao's Modern Indo-Anglian Poetry (1959). He admits the charge of
verbosity, but points out that there are many poems (such as the folk songs) in which every
word is inevitable, and cannot be removed or changed without loss. She is said to ignore
reality; Gupta observes that the pleasant aspects of life she writes about, spring and youth and
love, are also part of life. As for being ephemeral, she herself was aware that her poetry was
ephemeral. She was free and spontaneous and mellifluous like a bird in her lyrics. Modern
poets cannot equal the melody of her diction.
GUPTA, R. Sarojini, the Poetess Delhi: Doaba House, 1975, vii + 142 pp.
GUPTA, RAMESHWAR. "Sarojini Naidu: The Flouter of the Metaphysical Tradition."
Osmania Journal of English Studies 16, no.1 (1980): 37-49.See GUPTA ~1974) above.
GUPTA, RAMESHWAR. Sarojini: The Poetess. Delhi: Doaba House, 1975, vii+142pp.
Critically evaluates her poetic achievement, taking note of the different periods of her
poetic composition.
KHAN, IZZAT YAR. Sarojini Naidur: The Poet. New Delhi: S.Chand, 1983, 276pp.
Mainly explicatory; considers Sarojini Naidu's works in the order in which they were
published, devoting a chapter to each volume of verse, including the final The Feather of the
Dawn published posthumously in 1966. The appendix contains a useful note on the "lost"
poems (juvenile work by "Miss S. Chattopadhyaya" and unpublished poems), a bibliography,
and Sarojini's letters to Edmund Gosse and Arthur Symons.
KHAN, IZZAT YAR. Sarojini Naidu: The Poet New Delhi: S. Chand, 1983, 276 pp.
list contents
MATHUR, B. S. "Sarojini Naidu: A Poet of Sweetness and Light." Indo-English Literature: A
Collection of Critical Essays, edited by K. K. Sharma (1977): 61-70.
Naidu is a singer of beautiful songs which delight and instruct. Mathur analyses poems
like "Palanquir Bearers", "Indian Weavers" and "Coromandal Fishers" to show that it is
justified to call her poetry a "criticism of life."
MIRZA, TAQI ALI. "The Poetry of Sarojini Naidu: An Apology." Osmania Journal of
EnElish Studies 16, no.1 (1980):50-55.
For Naidu, poetry was not an intellectual exercise, but a spontaneous response to a
compulsive urge to sing. From the beginning, her poetry has Indian themes, and imagery
drawn from the Indian landscape. Her poetry displays an amazing mastery of English prosody.
Many of her poems, such as "Coromandal Fishers", show her skill in building medial rhyme
into the texture of her verse, as a necessary concomitant of its movement. Some of her poems
successfully convey the rhythms of Indian folk songs.
MURTI, K. V. SURYANARAYANA. "Hyderabad in the Poetry of Sarojin Naidu." In
Kohinoor in the Crown: Critical Studies in Indian-English Literature. (New Delhi: Sterling,
1987): 48-64.
Murti feels that Hyderabad is the generative matrix of Saroiini Naidu's poetry. She
was born and brought up in Hyderabad. After marrying D. Naidu, she moved into "The
Golden Threshold" where she fulfilled herself in the triple role of "housewife and poetess and
patriot." Murti catalogues the many poems she has written about the city, heaping praise on
them. According to Murti, the influence of the city can be felt indirectly in most of her poems.
There is little close reading of the text, Murti accepts the "warm tributes" paid by foreign critics
like Edmund Gosse and Arthur Symons and Indian critics like Srinivasa Iyengar and C. D.
Narasimhaiah.
MATHUR, B.S. "Sarojini Naidu: A Poetess of Sweetness and Light" in SHARMA, K.K. ed.
Indo-English Literature: a Collection of Critical Essays, Ghaziabad: Vimal Prakashan, 1977:
61-70.
NAGARAJAN, S. "Sarojini Naidu and the Dilemma of English in India" Kavya Bharati 1
(1988):23-43.
NAIR, K.R. RAMACHANDRAN. Three Indo-Anglian Poets: Henry Derozio, Toru Dutt
and Sarojini Naidu New Delhi: Sterling, 1987, 122 pp.
NARAVANE, V.S. Sarojini Naidu: An Introduction to Her Life, Work and Poetry Madras:
Orient Longman, 1981, 160 pp.
NAGARAJAN, S. "Sarojini Naidu and the Dilemma of English in India." Kavya Bharati no.1
(1988): 23-43.
Naidu’s verse lacks depth of thought but is melodious, though she fails to expoit Indian myth.
Makes contrastive reference to Eliot and Yeats. Cites Rao’s preface to Kanthapura to show
Naidu not departing from standard English and thereby carrying over echoes of Shelley and
Swinburne rather than generating an Indian rhythm, or a sense of local cultural problematic as
in Ezekiel, Mahapatra or Ramanujan.
Sarojini Naidu will be remembered as a great fighter for India's freedom and the rights
of women. It is doubtful whether she herself considered her poetry the most important aspect
of her achievement, she wrote hardly any in the last three decades of her life. Nevertheless,
many of her poems continue to be read and enjoyed, and no anthology of Indian Enlish poetry
is complete without a few of her poems, such as "Bangle-Sellers" or "Coromandal Fishers",
notable for their rhythm, metrical dexterity, and exquisite phrasing. Sarojin Naidu's poems
show no development. She did not take sufficient pains to exploit the thematic possibilities of
her subjects as Nagarajan shows by comparing her poem on the Indian soldiers who __died
in the First World War, "The Gift of India", with T. S. Eliot's "To the Indians Who Died in
Africa". Naidu does not exploit the resources of Hindu myth and legend as fully as she could
have. Nagarajan interprets the poetry of Naidu in terms of the distinction that T. S. Eliot
draws between the early Yeats and the later Yeats, the early poems are pieces fit for an
anthology, they give complete satisfaction and delight in themselves, the later poems carry the
stamp of a unique personality. Sarojini's poems never reflect her public experiences; in her
political speeches, she spoke out boldly for the need to make women equal partners of men in
the national struggle, but in her poetry she presented women as "panting doves." Nagarajan
considers the dilemma of English in India, quoting Raja Rao's preface to Kanthapura, where
he stressed the necessity to forge a new idiom. Sarojini Naidu could not avoid the echoes of
the rhythms of earlier English poetry. Nagarajan quotes poems by A. R Ramanujan and
Jayanta Mahapatra, who have forged individual rhythms based on semantics, not English
prosody. It was felt that English education was necessary for the progress of India, but it
tended to create an elite, bringing about individual and social maladjustment. This dilemma,
which is one of the major preoccupations of modern Indian English poets (Nagarajan quotes
Ramanujan and R. Parthasarathy) did not concern Sarojini Naidu. The absence of this cultural
dilemma as a theme, and the outdated poetic style, are responsible for making much of her
poetry rather irrelevant today.
NAIR, K. R. RAMACHANDRAN. Three Indo-Anglian Poets: Henry Derozio, Toru Dutt
and Sarojini Naidu. New Delhi: Sterling, 1987, 122pp. See under DEROZIO above.
NARAVANE, VISHWANATH S. Sarojini Naidu: An Introduction to her Life, Work and
Poetry. New Delhi: Orient Longman, 1981, 160pp.
Naravane begins with "Recollections"; he first met Sarojini Devi (as she was
commonly addressed in public life) in 1938 when he was an undergraduate student at the
University of Allahabad. A. N. Jha, Vice Chancellor of Allahabad University, was one of
Sarojini's earliest editors. Naravane (who rose to be Professor of Philosophy at the University
of Poona) concentrates on the personality of Sarojini. There are chapters on "Background and
Preparation", "Promise and Fulfilment", "Friendships: Gokhale, Gandhi, Nehru", "Vision of
India", "Sarojini and the Women of India", and "Poetry of Nature". The "Assessment"
(pp.128-53) presents a balanced evaluation of her poetry. Naravane's book is important for
the first hand account of an unforgettable personality, whose most precious gift was humour.
He observs that "there was absolutely nothing in common between her humour and her
poetry." Her conversation was very witty, and she was always ready to poke fun at herself
and others. Naravane presents a selection of such stories.
Osmania Journal of English Studies 16.1 (1980).Special Naidu issue.
GHOSE, SISIRKUMAR. "Sarojini Naidu: Towards a Revaluation":23-36.
MIRZA, TAQI ALI. "The Poetry of Sarojini Naidu: An Apology":50-5.
[check others]
PRASAD, DEOBRATA. Sarojini Naidu and Her Art of Poetry 1988, xvi + 216 pp.
publisher?
PRASAD, DEOBRATA. Sarojini Naidu and Her Art of Poetry. Delhi Capital Publishing
House, 1988, 216pp.
Prasad has unreserve praise for Naidu as "a mature artist who can manipulat
language". He considers the poems thematically, with chapters on "Nature's Ecstasy", "Indian
Flavours" (covering poems like "Coromandal Fishers" and "Indian Weavers"), "Patriotic
Urges", "Lyric Bloom", "Colour Values", and "Mystic Urge."
PRASAD, VEENA RANI. "Sarojini Naidu's Lyrical Mode." Indian Writing in English, edited
by Krishna Nandan Sinha (Delhi: Heritage Publishers, 1979): 99-108.
Sarojini Naidu's sensibility is essentially Romantic. She is a lyricist, and many of her
poems show her fascination with the beauty of nature. Like Emily Dickinson, she has a
partiality for colour and perfume, and flowers, especially the lotus, have a symbolic value for
her. She is good at recreating the rural scene. Prasad compares Sarojini's love poems with
Emily Dickinson's.
RAJYALAKSHMI, P. V. The Lyric Spring. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 1977. 221pp.
Based on a doctoral thesis submitted to Andhra University. Thematic study, which
attempts to show that Naidu's poetry may be outmoded, but not outdated. Concluding
chapter, "The Sceptred Flute" (pp. 179-221) contains a good survey of other critics' views on
the poet. Has a comprehensive bibliography (pp 211-216).
RANGAN, V. "Sarojini Naidu's 'Song of Radha, a Milkmaid'." The Literary Endeavour 2,
no.1 (1981): 53-59.A short sloka (Sanskrit verse) by Lilasuka is wrought into a long lyric by
Naidu. Radha's devotion to the lord is in the tradition of madhurabhakti. Rangan shows the
influence of the azhwars (old Tamil mystic poets) on Naidu's presentation. The three stanzas
of Naidu's poems descri Radha at the fair, then going to the river to get water, and finally at
the temple; "fair" and "water" have their symbol value in Srivaishnava philosophy.
RAJYALAKSHMI, P.V. A Pilgrimage of Love: A Commentary on Sarojini Naidu's 'The
Temple'" Guntur: Saradhi Publications, 1983, 61 pp.
RAJYALAKSHMI, P.V. The Lyric Spring: A Study of the Poetry of Sarojini Naidu New
Delhi: Abhinave Pblns., 1977, vi + 221 pp.
RAMAKRISHNAN, E.V. "The Sacred and the Profane" Poetry Chronicle, 2.4&5, (1990):
126-34.
RANGAN, V. “Saojini Naidu’s ‘Song of Radha, a Milkmaid’”The Literary Endeavour 2.1
(1982):53-59
The poem works a sloka from Lilasuka’s ‘Sri Krishnakarnamritam’ into a lyric. Explicates
bhakti worldly absent-mindedness and spritual single-mindedness. Sarojini adds a lilting
descriptive setting, breaking the fragment into three parts of a narrative and moving from
externals to inner state.
SARMA, M.N. & SHAHANE, V.A. eds. The Flute and the Drum - Studies in Sarojini
Naidu's Poetry and Politics Hyderabad: Osmania U, 1980, 104 pp.
SAXENA, SANJAY. "The Poetry of Sarojini Naidu: A Revaluation" Poetry 10 (1985):1423.
SHARMA, K. K. ed. Perspectives on Sarojini Naidu. Ghaziabad: Vimal Prakashan,1989,
xv+222pp.
Contents:
"Introduction." K K.SHARMA 1-xv.
"Sarojini Naidu: A Sketch" HARINDRANATH CHATTOPADHYAYA 1-4. By
her younger brother, who is a poet and playwright.
"Conversations with Sarojini Naidu" MULK RAJ ANAND 5-10.
"Sarojini Naidu: An Estimate" P.P.SHARMA 11-15
"Sarojini Naidu: Formative Influences" A.N.GUPTA and SATISH GUPTA 1633.
"Challenge to Fate in Sarojini Naidu's Poetry" K K SHARMA 34-42.
"Sarojini Naidu's Love Poems" INDU GOEL 43-54
"Sarojini Naidu's Poetry" V.K.GOKAK 55-63.
"Poet, Patriot and Champion--Sarojini's Three Incarnations" ELENA
J.KALINNIKOVA 64-77.
"Indian Ethos in Sarojini Naidu's Poetry" HARISH RAIZADA 78-113.
"The Evolution of the Poetic Persona in Sarojini's Poetry" N.K.SHARMA 114128.
"Death and the Poetry of Sarojini Naidu" O.P.BHATNAGAR 129-137.
"Treatment of Nature in Sarojini Naidu's Poetry" S.P.CHATURVED 138-149.
"Sarojini Naidu's 'Other Harmony' : A Study" G.S.BALARAMA GUPTA 150160 An analysis of her prose.
"Art and Artifice: Notes on Mrs Naidu's Poetry" MOHAN JHA 161 172.
"Sarojini's Poetic Technique" A.N DWIVEDI 173-181.
"Is Sarojini Naidu Relevant Today?" URMILA VARMA 182-187 Feels that
Sarojini's place in Indian English poetry is secure, because of the aptness of her imagery, and
her skill in the management of melody without sacrificing sense. She has been able to recreate
the feel of the surroundings through suitable comparisons, though she is evasive when it comes
to the real problems of life; in her personal life she was a rebel, but in poetry she calmly
accepts the low place accorded to women in India.
"The Immortal Bird" O P MATHUR 188-196
"Sarojini Naidu's Poetry: An Evaluation" D.C.AGRAWALA 197-205 Agrawala
makes a distinction between true and great poetry; in great poetry, ideas are as important as
words, and Sarojini' work does not belong to this category, as she has no view of life to
present, and evades fundamental issues. However, she has written many beautiful lyrics, many
of them using Indian rhythms "Salaam for Sarojini: Towards a Revaluation" SISRKUMAR
GHOSE 206-216. See GHOSE above p.3.
Select Bibliography 217-221.
SAXENA, SANJAY. "The Poetry of Sarojini Naidu: A Revaluation." Poetry no.10 (1985):
14-23.
The contemporary Indian reaction to the poetry of Naidu is unsympathetic. Saxena
pleads for the evaluation of her work with reference to the times in which she lived and wrote.
He follows received opinion of older critics in his evaluation--Naidu's genius was essentially
lyrical, her verse gives the impression of unpremeditated art.
SENGUPTA, PADMINI. Sarojini Naidu. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 1974, 92pp.
Reprinted 1981."Makers of Indian Literature" Series, meant for the general reader.
SHAHANE, VASANT A. "Sarojini Naidu: The Rare Person." Osmania Journal of English
Studies l6, no.1 (1980): 1-9.
Shahane presents insights into her personality and family life as well as her poetry.
Sarojini was a cosmopolitan person, free of casteism or regionalism, deeply influenced by
Gokhale's liberalism, though she had no less attachment towards Mahatma Gandhi or
Jawaharlal Nehru in the struggle against the British. She was friendly with the Nizam of
Hyderabad and the aristocracy, and took no part in the struggle for freedom of the people of
Hyderabad. Shahane presents a short evaluation of her as a writer of melodious metrical
verse, a "surface-grace, lyrical poet."
SHAHANE, VASANT A. and M. N. SARMA, eds. Osmania Journal of English Studies 16,
no.1 (1980).
A special issue devoted to Sarojini Naidu. It contains articles on the person ("Sarojini
Naidu, The Rare Person" by VASANT A.SHAHANE, "Sarojini Naidu: A Political Profile"
by RAM JOSHI, "Sarojini Naidu, the woman" by TARA ALI BAIG), three articles on her
poetry, and a selection of her poems. Reprinted as The Flute and the Drum: Studies in Sarojini
Naidu's Poetry and Politics, edited by M. N. Sarma and V. A. Shahane. Hyderabad:
Osmania University, 1980, 104pp.
Namjoshi, Suniti
DWIVEDI, A.N. "Suniti Namjoshi - Art and Artifice in Her Work" in DWIVEDI, A.N.
"Eves' Song: Contemporary English Verse by Indian Women" Studies in Contemporary IndoEnglish Verse: A Collection of Critical Essays. Vol. I Female Poets Bareilly: Prakash Book
Depot, 1984: 227-39.
Poems (1967), Cyclone in Pakistan (1971) and More Poems (1971) show promise
in their terse suggestive debunking wit and lyrical alliterated cadence, but decline unevenly into
limited flat literary affectation and cynical parading of life’s cruelty. Moves from descriptive
commentary following Monika Varma’s review to moral and formalist condemnation.
Nandy, Pritish
AGRAWAL, I.N. "Tonight This Savage Rite: A Perspective of Pritish Nandy's Love Poems"
Studies in Contemporary Indo-English Verse (1984):252-58.
DASGUPTA, SUBHORANJAN. "Politics and the Poetry of Pritish Nandy" in
KULSHRESHTHA, CHIRANTAN., ed Contemporary Indian-English Verse: An Evaluation
New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1980: 215-26. Also Atlantic Highlands: Humanities, 1981.
DASGUPTA, SUBHORANJAN. Pritish Nandy (1976) (??)
SAHA, SUBHAS CHANDRA. "The Love Poetry of Pritish Nandy" in Korld of New
Sensibility" Indian Literature 20.5 (1978):97-100.[english? probably Das/Bengali]
VARMA, URMILA. "Modernity in Theme and Technique in Pritish Nandy" in RAM,
ATMA. ed. Contemporary Indian-English Poetry Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1989: 79-85.
Modern Indian poetry in English follows a nineteenth-century and classical tradition of
love lyrics while breaking with the mellifluous romanticism of the past. Nandy’s verse differs
again from his contemporaries in its extreme passion. Examples are cited from Riding the
Midnight River. The poet, using free verse and colloquial bluntness, quests after objects of
desire and passionate release figured as dramatic physical action and inexhaustible natural
energy.
CHECK!!!
HARREX, S.C. "Some Miscellaneous Writings" JCL 8.1 (1979):65-76.
{Narayan??}
RAJ, KRISHNA. "Stray Notes on the East-West Syndrome in Maitraye Devi's It Does Not
Die" Commonwealth Quarterly 4.13 (1979):99-105. [english?]
ASNANI, S.M. "Prison and Chocolate Cake: A Study" Journal of Indian Writing in English
7.1 (1979):47-60. [nehru??]
MEHTA, P.P. "The Devil's Wind: The First Great Indo-Anglian Historical Novel" __Triveni
48.2 (1980):72-9.who?
DAS, B.K. "The Pattern of Thought in 'Poet, Lover, Birdwatcher'" Journal of Indian Writing
in English 7.2 (1980):46-9.
[who?]
KUNDARGI, DILIP. "Ash Flowers: Reflections of a Poet" Commonwealth Quarterly 13
(1980):106-12.[???]
JOSHI, NAVIN CHANDRA. "A Historical Novel" I&FR 19.7 (January 15-31, 1982):23.
[???]
GANGULI, CHANDRA. & JAIN, SUNITA. "A World Crumbles: The Song of Anasuya"
Journal of Indian Writing in English 10.1&2 (1982): 34-8.
[check]
JUSSAWALLA, ADIL. "One Woman's Poetry" Journal of South Asian Literature 18.1
(1983):88-90. [who? review?]
KRISHNANKUTTY, GITA. "From Indulekha to Shanta: A Lineage of Coconuts" The
Literary Criterion 20.4 (1985):62-68. [??]
SAJJAN, G.B. "Envisioning the Cosmic Scheme" Indian Literature 118 (1987):151-4.
who?/what?
RAMACHANDRA, RAGINI. "Cyclones" The Literary Criterion 22.2 (1987): 67-9.
who?/what?
SHAHANE, VASANT A. "I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale" The Indian Literary Review 5.3
(1987):47-51. what?
BOSE, MEERA. "The Outcast"
seen best in his first collection, in poems such as “Something to Pursue”, “Declaration”, and
“Encounter” - three poems discussed by Paranjape. “In later poems, the spiritual theme
persists, resurfacing every now and then.” “...the impression with Ezekiel is of a serious though
wavering commitment [to self-realization], which is not yet fully realised.” His understanding of
the universe: “The key seems to be in ever-moving, flowing with life, taking refuge only in
‘living images’, not clingling to dead or fossilized ideas of yesterday.” Critic says three times
that Ezekiel has looked upon the face of the absolute, but does not expand beyond the
foregoing statement of the ‘key’.
INDIA
Author
to be clarified
MUKHERJEE, SUJIT. "Man, Poet and Critic" Indian Literature 14.2(1971): 5-11. [who?]
WALSH, W. "Two Indian Poets" The Literary Criterion 11.3 (1974):1-16.
[who?]
KARVE, IRAWATI. "Karna's Search for Identity" Vagartha 5 (1974):22-37. (drama?: either
Kailasam or S. Raman)
MAJUMDAR, A.K. "Portrait of an Indian Intellectual" Quest 91 (1974):21-32. check who
and whether in English
MUKHERJEE, M. "Form in The Puppet's Tale" Literary Criterion 12.2-3 (1976): 87-97.
[who?]
RATH, S.N. "The East and West in Radhanath Rav's Kedara-Gauri" Indian PEN 41.9-10
(1975):1-5. [genre/language?]
YARAVANTHELIMATH, C.R. "Pundalik" in NAIK, M.K. & S. MOKASHI-PUNEKAR,
eds. Perspectives on Indian Drama in English Madras: OUP, 1977 124-35.[who?]
BHATT, S. "The Lost Child" Kakatiya Journal of English Studies 2.1 (1977):219-22. [???]
DASGUPTA, Mary Ann. "Tribute to Nobokissen Ghose" The Indian P.E.N. 44.5&6
(1978):10-12. [english?]
MUKHERJEE, DHURJATI. "Jibananda: A World of New Sensibility" Indian Literature 20.5
(1978):97-100.[english? probably Das/Bengali]
HARREX, S.C. "Some Miscellaneous Writings" JCL 8.1 (1979):65-76.
{Narayan??}
RAJ, KRISHNA. "Stray Notes on the East-West Syndrome in Maitraye Devi's It Does Not
Die" Commonwealth Quarterly 4.13 (1979):99-105. [english?]
ASNANI, S.M. "Prison and Chocolate Cake: A Study" Journal of Indian Writing in English
7.1 (1979):47-60. [nehru??]
MEHTA, P.P. "The Devil's Wind: The First Great Indo-Anglian Historical Novel" Triveni
48.2 (1980):72-9.who?
DAS, B.K. "The Pattern of Thought in 'Poet, Lover, Birdwatcher'" Journal of Indian Writing
in English 7.2 (1980):46-9.
[who?]
KUNDARGI, DILIP. "Ash Flowers: Reflections of a Poet" Commonwealth Quarterly 13
(1980):106-12.[???]
JOSHI, NAVIN CHANDRA. "A Historical Novel" I&FR 19.7 (January 15-31, 1982):23.
[???]
GANGULI, CHANDRA. & JAIN, SUNITA. "A World Crumbles: The Song of Anasuya"
Journal of Indian Writing in English 10.1&2 (1982): 34-8.
[check]
JUSSAWALLA, ADIL. "One Woman's Poetry" Journal of South Asian Literature 18.1
(1983):88-90. [who? review?]
KRISHNANKUTTY, GITA. "From Indulekha to Shanta: A Lineage of Coconuts" The
Literary Criterion 20.4 (1985):62-68. [??]
SAJJAN, G.B. "Envisioning the Cosmic Scheme" Indian Literature 118 (1987):151-4.
who?/what?
RAMACHANDRA, RAGINI. "Cyclones" The Literary Criterion 22.2 (1987): 67-9.
who?/what?
SHAHANE, VASANT A. "I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale" The Indian Literary Review 5.3
(1987):47-51. what?
BOSE, MEERA. "The Outcast"KULSHRESHTHA, CHIRANTAN., ed Contemporary
Indian-English Verse: An Evaluation New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1980: 208-14. rpt 1982.
Also Atlantic Highlands: Humanities, 1981.
_