The book contains critical articles dealing with the plays of significant Indian English playwrights like Harindranath Chattopadhyaya, Sri Aurobindo, Rabindranath Tagore, Mulk Raj Anand, K. Venkatareddy, Tarlochan Singh Gill, Lakhan Deb, Badruddin Ahmed, Girish Karnad, Manohar Malgonkar, Guru Charan Das, Partap Sarma, Dilip Hiro, K.A. Abbas, Dilip Kumar Roy, Asif Currimbhoy, Sayed Amanuddin, Shiv K. Kumar, and Mahesh Dattani. All the articles included in this anthology have been written by the author himself over the past four decades. He taught some of the articles to his post-graduate students at the English Department of Karnatak University, Dharwad, and wrote some others as part of his personal research project.
It contains articles discussing at length the plays like Siddhartha: Man of Peace, Rodogune, Prince of Edur, Asoka, Tiger Claw, The Rani of Jhansi, The Dreams of Tipu Sultan, Line of Mars, Larins Sahib, Begum Sumroo, To Anchor a Cloud, Barrister-at-Law, Murder at the Prayer Meeting, Chaitanya, Mira, Goa, Red Oleanders, The King of the Dark Chamber, Mukta-Dhara, Untouchable: A Three act Play with an Epilogue, Amanuddin’s Allegories, The Last Wedding Anniversary, and Tara.
This critical anthology will help students, teachers, and researchers of English literature in understanding Indian English drama and in kindling their interest in further research in the field on a comparative basis.
Dr. Basavaraj Naikar, M.A., Ph.D., D.Litt. (California), UGC Emeritus Fellow, and former Professor and Chairman (Department of English, Karnataka University, Dharwad) is a bilingual writer who writes both in Kannada and English. He also reviews Indian literary works for World Literature Today, Oklahoma, USA, and for many Indian journals regularly. His research interests include Indian English Literature, American Literature, Commonwealth Literature, Anglo-Indian Literature, Shakespeare Studies, Translation Studies, and Comparative Literature.
His critical and research articles in English and Kannada have been published in regional, national, and international journals of repute. His English publications include Indian English Literature (9 vols. set), The Sun Behind the Cloud, The Rebellious Rani of Belavadi and Other Stories, Indian Response to Shakespeare, Nirad Chaudhuri: As a Critic of Modern Culture, and Commonwealth Literature: A Kaleidoscopic Vision. His translations from the Kannada into English include Fall of Kalyana, Sangya Balya: A tale of Love and Betrayal, The Vacanas of Sarvajna, The Holy Water, and The Frolic Play of the Lord.
