Changing Faces Of Women In Indian Writing In English

Collects 12 Essays That Try To Study The Fate Of Indian Women In A Conventional And At The Same Time A Fast Developing Society. Though All The Contributors Are Males But None Are Fanatics To Allow Their Prejudices To Cloud Their Vision.

Papers presented at the International Seminar on Women's Situations and Women's Studies, held at North Bengal University during 18-19 December 2006.

Along with a range of socio-cultural, political and economic concerns, the focus on ‘self’ has been an inevitable assertion of writers during the last quarter of the twentieth century. Individualistic in tone, the contemporary women novelists are trying to portray realistically the predicament of modern women torn between the forces of tradition and modernity, their sense of frustration and alienation, the emotional and psychological turmoil and complexities of man-women relationships and subtleties of feminine consciousness against the persistent patriarchal social set-up. Cognizant of the evils originating from patriarchy, a positive sense of feminine identity has been recognized by them and the result is the emergence of a new woman in Indian society and its concept in the Indian English novel which has assumed a strident posture in the contemporary writings by women. The shift from submission to assertion, acquiescence to resistance and obedience to rebellion, however, has not been abrupt and effortless. Women are still in the process of negotiation with different limiting factors and thresholds of patriarchy to claim their due space and affirm their identity. The present study is an attempt to critically investigate the negotiations with cultural norms by the women characters in the selected novels by the contemporary novelists, namely Manju Kapur and Anita Nair. Almost all the women characters, major and minor, from the selected novels have been considered and positioned as per their ideological leanings and convictions under two thematic chapters namely “Women in the Clutches of Traditional Norms,” and “Tradition to Modernity.” The major issues around which the novels move – education, marriage, gendered space and mother-daughter relationships – are taken up to put them within the contemporary social conditions in which women characters live. The present book is divided into five chapters to make a critical and analytical study of the select novels of these contemporary Indian women writers in English. The present work is focused on five selected novels: Manju Kapur’s “Difficult Daughters”, “Home” and “Custody” and Anita Nair’s “Ladies Coupé” and “Mistress”.

Feminism Is A Rapidly Developing Critical Ideology Of Great Promise. It Has Evolved Into A Philosophy Encompassing Diverse Fields Of Human Activity In Society. The Feminist Theory, Its Varied Articulations And Its Ramifications In A Literary Context Constitute A Significant Segment For Critical Endeavour.The Present Anthology Provides A Broad Spectrum On Feminist English Literature With In-Depth Analysis Of The Works Of Kamala Das, Kamala Markandaya, Anita Desai, Rama Mehta, Shashi Deshpande, Uma Vasudevan, Githa Hariharan, Nina Sibal, Arundhati Roy, Mary Shelley, Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, Margaret Atwood, Jean Rhys, Ellen Glasgow, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Toni Morrison And Others.The Volume Also Contains Articles On Feminist Theory, The Emerging Self Of Women In Indian English Fiction And General Appraisal Of Women Novelists As Regards Their Portrayal Of The Woman S Question.

Endeavouring To Accomplish An Intract-Able Tight Rope Walking, Indian English Literature Seeks To Incorporate Indian Themes And Experience In A Blend Of Indian And Western Aesthetics. What The Diverse Dimensions Of The Indian Experience And The Evolving Literary Form Are And Whether The Former Reconciles With The Latter Or Not Is Sought To Be Examined In The Present Volume Of This Anthology. A Strikingly Fresh Perspective On The Hitherto Unexplored Areas Of Old Works. A Bold And Incisive Critique Of New Works.

The Present Book Traces The Background To Indian English Women S Fiction, Excluding The Translated Texts, From The Late Nineteenth Century Novels Of Toru Dutt, Krupabai Satthianadhan, And Shevantibai M. Nikambe. Almost All The Twentieth Century Major Works Of Leading Women Writers Such As Kamala Markandaya, Nayantara Sahgal, Anita Desai, Kamala Das, Gita Mehta, Shashi Deshpande, Shobha De To The Emerging Novelists Like Anjana Appachana, Namita Gokhale, Githa Hariharan, Manju Kapur Have Been Studied In Depth To Discuss The Issues Of Marriage, Career And Divorce. The Book Attempts To Delve Into The Life Of Educated Women And Traces The Answers To The Followings:" What Kind Of Marriage Should The Women Undergo: Arranged Marriage Or Love Marriage Or Love-Cum-Arranged Marriage? " What Is The Difference Between A Job And A Career?" What Kind Of Career Should They Choose?" Who Is Going To Determine What Career To Choose?" What Career Options Do The Women Have?" Do Women Want Separation Or Divorce And Why?" What Is The Right Time For Divorce? There Are Many Other Feministic Issues Which Have Been Approached To Realistically And Analytically, With Special Reference To Several Literary Works.The Present Book Thus Offers An In-Depth Study Of Elite Women On One Hand And Caters To The Academic Needs Of Students And Researchers Of Indian English Women Fiction On The Other. The General Readers Will Definitely Find It A Real Eye-Opener And Also Interesting.

Shashi Deshpande is one of the most fascinating writers in the genre of Indian English writing to have addressed problems and issues related to women and society, breaking the traditional image of a woman as a daughter, wife or mother, exploring the inner psychological conflicts of a woman and making her women characters emerge as self-dependent individuals with a space of one’s own. Through her bunch of wonderful novels Shashi Deshpande aims to highlight that everyone in this society should be treated as equals, as human beings; there should not be any compartmentalization on the basis of gender. Women should be given equal opportunity and weightage at par with men. This is possible only when women are independent in truest sense and they hold self-reliance and self-esteem. As a writer of human beings in general and women in particular, Shashi Deshpande has wonderfully considered all these aspects in her writings with her ingenious narrative skill and creative spirit. This book has attempted to explore the journey of Deshpande’s protagonists in quest of an exclusive identity, which has the essence of individuality and self-confidence and which make them stand apart from the stereotypical tags given by traditional patriarchal society. Amidst hindrances and oppressions of various kinds how Deshpande’s women characters come out of their shell to carve a niche for themselves by utilizing their potential and willpower has formed the crux of the book. Comprehensive and analytical in nature, the present book would prove an asset to students of English literature.