“Out of evil cometh good.” One of the important consequences of colonialism in India is the birth of Indian English literature. The process through which it developed had three distinct stages. In the first stage there was admiration and imitation of the western models. After the first flush was over, a reaction set in. That was the second stage, the stage of resentment and rebellion. This naturally led to the third stage—the one we are passing through—the stage of self-discovery and self-assertion. The writers now draw on the rich cultural heritage of India and at the same time explore its contemporary relevance. A writer of an independent country cannot afford to lose touch with social reality and he must understand, transcribe and recreate it in verbal artefact. The task is rendered more difficult because the Indian English writers are obliged to write in a language they are not born into. But the writers have remarkably overcome all these difficulties and, looking at the achievements of the Indian English writers, it can be definitely claimed that Indian writing in English has come of age and has completely got over ‘the anxiety of influence.’
The nineteen essays that constitute this Volume cover a wide range of authors and subjects. Starting with Nirad C. Chaudhuri, one of the greatest thinkers and most controversial writers of the last century, the essays shed new lights on different aspects of the makers of Indian English literature: Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan, Manohar Malgonkar, Nayantara Sahgal, Bhabani Bhattacharya, Kasthuri Sreenivasan, Vikram Seth, Kamala Markandaya, Anita Desai, Arundhati Roy, A.K. Ramanujan and Kamala Das.
Since Indian writing in English is prescribed in most of the Universities in India, both the teachers and the students will find this Volume very useful and anybody interested in Indian writing in English will also find these luminous essays intellectually stimulating.
Mohit K. Ray, a full Professor since 1982, is one of the senior most professors in the country. He has published three books and a large number of research papers in scholarly journals in India and abroad, which reflect his wide range of scholarship including Criticism, Comparative Literature, New Literature, Canonical Literature, Comparative Poetics and Translation Studies.
Professor Ray has attended and chaired sessions as an invited participant in many international Conferences, Seminars, and Colloquia held in different parts of the globe—England, France, Portugal, Austria, Finland, Estonia, America, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, etc.
Professor Ray has studied several languages including Latin, Sanskrit, Arabic, French, German, etc.
He has edited several anthologies of critical studies, and edits three research journals including The Atlantic Critical Review.
Professor Ray is a distinguished member of many international bodies including Association Internationale de Littérature Comparée, Paris, and Association Internationale des Critiques Littéraires Paris.
