The book is a panorama of practical criticism so far as Indian English Literature is concerned. The chapters explore divergent critical perspectives on aesthetic and ethical evaluation of literature, democratic values, colourful paradigms, relevance of Gandhian philosophy, emotional and patriarchal hegemony of society, marginalized alienation, crusade against corruption, and religious fanaticism.
Poetry, drama, and fiction are the fields cultivated by a sort of philosophical enquiry. The eminent authors coming under the critical purview in this anthology include Aravind Adiga, K.V. Raghupati, Nissim Ezekiel, Bhabani Bhattacharya, Vijay Tendulkar, Anita Desai, Toru Dutt, Sarojini Naidu, Chetan Bhagat, and R.K. Narayan.
The readers will feel that they have become able to collect the essential raw material in a compact and concise form. Thus, the book is in all its totality a manifestation of brevity.
Dr. Ajay Kumar Sharma is Associate Professor and Head, Department of English, Maharaj Singh College, Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh (India). Besides, he is Dean, Faculty of Arts and Dean, Students Welfare. He has worked as Programme Officer, N.S.S. for seven consecutive years and as Director, Career Counselling Cell, for three years. He is the Editor of the college magazine, Sumati. Dr. Sharma had his schooling at the prestigious Rashtriya Military School, Chail, Shimla Hills (H.P.). He did his M.Phil. and Ph.D. in English from the Institute of Advanced Studies, C.C.S. University, Meerut.
Dr. Sharma has 21 years experience of teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students. Eleven research scholars have been awarded Ph.D. degree under his guidance; he has also successfully supervised two students for obtaining M.Phil. degree. Besides publishing a book entitled, Indian Writing in English: A Kaleidoscope of Recent Criticism, and more than 25 scholarly articles in reputed research journals and anthologies, he has presented about 20 research papers in national and international seminars and conferences. He organised a UGC Sponsored National Seminar on “Indian Writing in English: A Synthesis of the East and the West” on 16-17 December 2006.
Dr. Sharma was honoured for his services in the field of pedagogy and awarded ‘Guruji Samman’ by Shri I.D. Swami, former Minister, Govt. of India, in a programme organised by Vishal Institute of Languages and Literature, Yamuna Nagar, in 2011.
