Feminism in the Novels of Shashi Deshpande (Hardbound - 2014)

Shashi Deshpande, born in 1938 at Dharwad, Karnataka, is the daughter of renowned Kannada dramatist and Sanskrit scholar Late Adya Rangachar Shriranga. Deshpande, a recipient of the prestigious Sahitya Akademy Award for That Long Silence is well known for her short stories, children books and novels.

The book presents a critical discourse on Shashi Deshpande’s The Roots and Shadows, The Dark Holds No Terrors, That Long Silence, The Binding Vine, A Matter of Time and Small Remedies. In these novels, she has very subtly voiced the agonies, sufferings, hopes, aspirations and frustrations through the protagonists and other characters who are generally the representatives of middle class urban educated women. Deshpande not only presents a feminist insight into patriarchal values but also prescribes a balance between tradition and modernity as a working philosophy for the contemporary women.

The book successfully explores the feminist concerns scattered in these novels and highlights Deshpande’s instinctive ability to articulate the feelings of contemporary urban educated middle class women who feel smothered in patriarchal society and trapped in the whirlwind of tradition and modernity. It is hoped that this book will contribute a lot in the area of research related to Indian fiction, women's studies and feminist studies.

N.K. Prasad, Head, Department of English and Principal, Loyem Memorial College, Tuensang, has vast experience of teaching English literature at undergraduate level. He obtained his Master’s in English from the University of Magadh, Bodh Gaya and Ph.D. from Nagaland Central University, Lumami, Nagaland for the thesis “Feminism in the Novels of Shashi Deshpande.” He has co-edited a two-volume book entitled The Works of Basavaraj Naikar: Critical Perceptions. He has also published several research papers in various journals of repute and contributed articles in anthologies. He is Associate Editor of The Journal of Literature, Culture and Media Studies. Dr. Prasad has participated and presented papers in various conferences and seminars. His areas of interest are feminist studies, Indian English writing and interdisciplinary studies. Currently, he is engaged in the preparation of a research book on feminist writers in collaboration with Dr. NDR Chandra.