Shashi Deshpande S Fiction

The Anthology Reveals Deshpande`S Ability To Articulate The Feelings Of The Contemporary, Urban, Educated, Upper Middle-Class Woman Caught In The Transitional Period Between Tradition And Modernity.

Not Many Readers Of Shashi Deshpande May Be Aware That Her First Experiments In Writing Fiction Started With The Short Story. Over The Years, She Has Published About A Hundred Stories In Literary Journals, Magazines And Newspapers, In Between Writing Her Immensely Popular Novels Which Are Now Read All Over The World, And Taught In Universities Wherever Indian Writing Has An Audience. In This Collection We Find Shashi Deshpande At Her Best, Writing With Subtlety And A Rare Sensitivity About Men And Women Trapped In Relationships And Situations Often Not Of Their Making. The Wife Of A Successful Politician Who Must Look To A Long-Lost Past In Order To Keep Up The Pretence Of Contentment; A Little Girl Who Cannot Comprehend Why The Very Fact Of Her Being Born Is A Curse; A Young Man Whose Fantasy Of Love Drives Him To Murder; A Newly-Wed Couple With Dramatically Differing Views On What It Means To Get To Know Each Other Every One Of The Characters Here Is Delineated With Lucidity And Compassion. Written Over The Past Three Decades, The Stories In This Volume Provide An Insight Into Often Forgotten Aspects Of Human Feelings And Relationships, Weaving A Magical Web Of Emotions That Is Testimony To The Unusual Depth And Range Of Shashi Deshpande S Writing.

Shashi Deshpande, b. 1938, Indian English novelist.

The Present Book Is A Thorough Critical Analysis Of Shashi Deshpande S Works And Has Been Prepared Keeping In Mind The Requirements Of Students In Indian Universities And Colleges. While Choosing The Critical Essays, The Broad-Based Study On The Author Has Been Given Due Significance In This Volume. This Book May Also Provide A Useful Insight To The Foreign Readers As The Essays Are Written By The Indian Experts Who Understand And Live Within The Socio-Cultural Context Of India. However, The Feelings As Portrayed By The Novelist Is Universal, Placed In The Situation, The Same Would Be The Predicament Whether Male Or Female As The Writer Universalizes Certain Basic Emotions Irrespective Of National Character. It Is Fervently Hoped That This Book Would Stimulate Further Research Into The Domain Of Indian Women Writers Works To Focus Certain Aspects Hitherto Unexplored.

Though not an avowed feminist, Shashi Deshpande occupies a significant place among the contemporary women novelists who concern themselves with the problems of women and their quest for identity. Her creative talent and accomplishment have established her credentials as a worthy successor and contemporary to the Indian English writers such as Desai, Shobha De, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Bharati Mukherjee etc. In this book, two novels by Shashi Deshpande – 1. The Dark Holds No Terrors. 2. That Long Silence are studied in detail for the sake to find image of woman in both the novels. Shashi Deshpande's novel "The Dark Holds No Terrors", seeks to discuss the male ego which refuses to accept a secondary position in marriage. The novel narrated the harrowing experiences of the protagonist 'Sarita', who enjoys a greater economic and social status than her husband Manohar. Deshpande also makes the readers aware of society's reaction to the superior status of the wife in a marriage, which leads the husband to develop an inferiority complex. The novel also seeks to discuss the blatant gender discrimination which is shown even by parents towards their daughters. Deshpande effectively conveys the craving by parents for a male child and the disastrous effect it can have on a sensitive going girl. Denied of parental love and victim of her husband's frustrations, 'Sarita' undergoes an arduous journey into herself and liberates herself from guilt, shame and humiliation to emerge in full control over her life. Shashi Deshpande's novel, "That Long Silence", brought her into limelight as it was rewarded by the prestigious "Sahitya Academy Award". The novel deals with the protagonist Jaya's passage through a mare of self doubts and fears towards the affirmation of herself. A crisis in the middle-class family of the protagonist triggers off a chain of events which compel her to view her life in retrospection. What follows is an honest and frank account of Jaya's life. In her anxiety to play the role of wife and mother to perfection. Jaya realizes that she does not do justice to her talents as a writer. Her constant fear of displeasing her husband and inviting the censure of society, not only make her give up writing but also discourage her from acknowledging her friendship with a man who is not her husband, brother or father. The novel focuses Jaya as a representative of the modern young woman - educated and aware - nevertheless unable to break free from the strangle - hold of tradition. In the process of telling her story, she offers us a glimpse into the lives of ostensibly content housewives who are nevertheless suppressed under the weight of male dominance. Thus this book helps to find out image of woman in these novels. I record my gratefulness to the principal of J.E.S. College, Jalna- Dr. R. S. Agrawal, Head of the Department of English- M.A. Sami Siddiqui for support and encouragement at every stage of my work. I also offer my sincere thanks to the senior teachers of my Department for their valuable suggestions. I feel deeply to put into words my sense of thankfulness to my family.

Why did I do it? Why did I enter the country of deceit? What took me into it? I hesitate to use the word love, but what other word is there?' Devayani chooses to live alone in the small town of Rajnur after her parents' death, ignoring the gently voiced disapproval of her family and friends. Teaching English, creating a garden and making friends with Rani, a former actress who settles in the town with her husband and three children, Devayani's life is tranquil, imbued with a hard-won independence. Then she meets Ashok Chinappa, Rajnur's new District Superintendent of Police, and they fall in love despite the fact that Ashok is much older, married, and-as both painfully acknowledge from the very beginning-it is a relationship without a future. Deshpande's unflinching gaze tracks the suffering, evasions and lies that overtake those caught in the web of subterfuge. There are no hostages taken in the country of deceit; no victors; only scarred lives. This understated yet compassionate examination of the nature of love, loyalty and deception establishes yet again Deshpande's position as one of India's most formidable writers of fiction

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