Kamala Markandaya

Study of the dominant themes in Kamala Markandaya's fiction.

Indian English Literature Has Established Its Credentials All Over The World. Still Litterateurs In This Stream Have To Be Continuously Appraised And Evaluated And Key Issues Like The Impact Of Multiculturality And The Role Assigned To Women Have To Be Confronted And Analysed Threadbare Not Merely In Theory But Also Through The Elucidation Of Key Texts From This Perspective. The Present Volume Scrutinizes Kamala Markandaya S Corpus As Part Of This General Critical Endeavour.The Volume Comprises Scholarly Studies Of Nectar In A Sieve, Possession, A Handful Of Rice, A Silence Of Desire And Pleasure City, Besides Examining In Depth Kamala Markandaya S Rural Sensibility, The Silent Saga Of Suffering Chronicled In Her Novels, Her Philosophic Vision Of Life, Her Portrayal Of Social Tensions And Her Feminist Poetics, Taking A Holistic View Of Her Writings.An Indispensable Source Of Fresh And Innovative Insight Into The Making Of Markandaya S Craft Of Fiction. A Useful Supplement To The Existing Studies Of Her Novels. An Original Perspective On Life, Society, Values, Gender-Issues And Related Areas For Students, Teachers, Researchers Working In The Fields Of Literary Theory, Fiction Studies, Aesthetics, Culture, Philosophy And The Sociology Of Literature.

In India, After Independence, A Change Felt By Women Was That Many Of The Established Norms Of The Society Were Intended To Check Or Clip Their Growth As Person And Not As Possession . Many Literary Writers Raised Their Voices Against This Old Tradition.In Indian English Literature, Kamala Markandaya An Outstanding Novelist On The Contemporary Commonwealth Literary Scene And Ranks With Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan And Raja Rao Has Initiated The Lead Of Women S Transformation From Possession To Person Through Her Writings. She Has Shown The New Face Of Her Women Who Seek Self-Fulfillment Through Self-Expression In A Milieu Where There Is A Mutuality, Understanding And Tenderness. Although Her Women Do Not Rebel, They Make The Society Realize Of Their Presence As Persons And Not Mere Possession . The New Woman, Clinging To Her Basic Values And Changing Herself According To The Changing Circumstances, Goes Ahead On The Way Seeking For Her Own Identity With New Depth And Getting Recognition. Kamala Markandaya Has Realistically Presented Emotional, Moral And Spiritual Problems Of New Woman. The New Woman In Her Novels Is Not In Proper But In Making . Acquainting The Readers With Kamala Markandaya, The Present Book Seeks To Explore The Unexplored Aspects Of Her Women, To Present The Change In Their Identity, To Highlight The New Image Through A Probe Into Her Novels, And Finally To Show Her Feminist Moral Concern Through An In Depth Investigation Into Sexual And Familial Relationship. It Is Hoped That The Book Will Prove Useful To The Students And Teachers Of Indian English Literature. Since It Focuses On Images Of Women, Even The General Readers Will Find It Interesting And Feel Encouraged To Read The Masterpiece Works Of Kamala Markandaya.

Kamala Markandaya, b. 1924, Indo-English novelist.

The Book Aims At An Evaluation Of The Novels Of Kamala Markandaya In The Perspective Of Class-Consciousness Embedded In Her Fictional Narrative. The Study Attempts To Explore The Impact Of Class-Consciousness On The Attitudes, Manners And Conditions Of Living In The Context Of Modern India As It Moves From A Conservative And Traditional Social Order To A Liberal And Urbanised Socio-Economic And Cultural Ethos. It Seeks To Explore Markandaya S Concern With The Predicament Of The Individual In A Class-Ridden Society Subjected To A Process Of Radical Change. An Attempt Has Been Made To Substantiate The Hypothesis That In The Process Of This Change, The Self Confronts Tensions, Uncertainties And Conflicts That Lead To Deep Psychological And Spiritual Wounds. The Self, With Its Desires, Instincts And Dreams, Encounters A World Of Reality Governed By Social, Economic And Cultural Forces. This Encounter Leads To A Crisis Of Identity. The Self Tries To Surmount This Crisis Through Resistance Or Reconciliation, Through Protest Or Surrender. In This Process Of Self S Grappling With Reality, There Is Anguish And Suffering. This Study, In Short, Is An Attempt To Exploring The Paradox Of Human Condition In Terms Of Conflict Between Self And Society, Between Free Will And Necessity.

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, b. 1927 and Kamala Markandaya, b. 1924, Indo-English women novelists.

"Kamala Markandaya, whose Nectar in a Sieve (1955) was a miniature epic about India's poor, returns to the earlier concerns of that book in A Handful of Rice. Ravi is a village son who has left his desolate, destitute home for the promise of the city. There he falls into the company of similarly rootless young men, presided over by the wily city boy, Damodar, who appears fitfully through the book as a seducer to criminal and get-rich-quick schemes which Damodar is clever enough to survive and thrive by. By a chance misdeed, Ravi becomes acquainted with the tailor Apu and his family; Apu's daughter Nalini wins his heart and brings him from the streets into the already crowded household, first as Apu's apprentice, then his son-in-law. The author recreates the life of the respectable poor with moving fidelity as they face the problems of food, illness, unemployment. When Apu dies, the still rebellious but worn Ravi, now a father of three and head of the household, cannot keep his customers. After the death of his son, he reverts to the street, but Damodar now discards him as unfit for dangerous enterprises, and he ends storming the rice supplies with the mob. A portrait in poverty, which is part of the history of our times. It is less compelling than the earlier book as a novel while managing the same concerned compassion."--Kirkus

The Nowhere Man is an intricate, perceptive tragedy of alienation centered around the violent racism sparked by Britain's post-war immigration drive. Srinivas, an elderly Brahmin, has been living in south London suburb for 30 years. After the death of his son, and later his wife, this lonely man is befriended by an Englishwoman in her sixties, whom he takes into his home. The two form a deep and abiding relationship. But the haven they have created for themselves proves to be a fragile one. Racist violence enters their world and Srinivas's life changes irrevocably--as does his dream of England as a country of tolerance and equality. First published in 1972, The Nowhere Man depicts a London convulsed by fear and bitterness. Truly shocking, The Nowhere Man is as relevant today as when it was first published almost 50 years ago.