The Serpent And The Rope

Rama, a young scholar, meets Madeleine at a university in France. Though they seem to be made for each other, both alike in temperament and character, at times they are divided, a huge gulf separating them. Rama’s trip back to India for his father’s illness forcibly reminds him of the underlying contrasts between India and Europe, and of a certain conflict between them in himself. When he returns to France, Rama and Madeleine must face the problems in their marriage. Can they preserve their identities, or must one sacrifice one’s inheritance to make the relationship a success?

About the marriage of Rama, a young Brahmin doing graduate work in France, to Madeleine, an ethereal French college teacher, some six years his senior. In her eagerness to attain Eastern wisdom, Madeleine first casts her husband in the role of guru. Later, as her "saintliness" (or madness) progresses, she transcends the need for human companionship, leaving Rama free to pursue his own search for self-awareness.

The Book Presents Raja Rao S Fic¬Tional World From A Refreshingly New Perspective. It Offers A Compre¬Hensive Account Of The Philosophi¬Cal Content In His Novels And Traces The Patterns Of Interaction Between Indian Metaphysical Tradition And The Culture Of The West. Dr. Dayal Shows How Raja Rao Has Developed His Vedantic Tantric Weltenschauung Through Absorption Of Similar Motifs Propounded By Certain Prominent Western Writers. The Study Of This Twin Insemination, Dealt In Depth And Subtlety, Makes A Significant Contribution To Indo-English Scho¬Larship.

Raja Rao's Kanthapura is one of the finest novels to come out of mid-twentieth century India.

Raja Rao, b. 1909, Indo-English novelist.