Indian English literature in its very tone and tenor presents a unique blend of tradition and experiment in both its matter and manner. The present-day Indian English literatteur is firmly grounded in a philosophico-cultural sensibility tracing its uninterrupted links with the very dawn of civilisation in this part of the World. And yet the product is not an aberration in any way in the modern context. This imbues Indian Writings in English with a distinctive aesthetic flavour, to the connoisseurs' obvious delight.
The present Volume incorporates the painstaking application of diverse critical methodologies to analyse Indian English literature — poetry, drama, novels and prose — from this broad perspective. Comprising close analyses of the works of Rabindranath Tagore, Mulk Raj Anand, Raja Rao, R.K. Narayan, Bhabani Bhattacharya, Anita Desai, Arun Joshi, Kamala Das and Nissim Ezekiel, the collection offers fresh critical insights, opening possibilities of further exploration along the avenues here suggested.
A fresh look at established works, highlighting aspects hitherto unexplored.
An indispensable source-book for students, researchers and teachers of Indian English and Commonwealth Literature.
Dr. Manmohan K. Bhatnagar is Professor, Department of English, M.D. University, Rohtak (Haryana), India. A distinguished scholar and a veteran teacher of more than two decades’ standing, he has been Chairman, Department of English, M.D. University, Rohtak and also Chairman, State Inter-University Common Syllabi Committee in English of Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra and M.D. University, Rohtak.
Having been selected for the prestigious Commonwealth Academic Staff Fellow-ship, Professor Bhatnagar has been a U.G.C.-empanelled Resource Person and part of the Guest Faculty at a number of U.G.C.-sponsored Refresher Courses for College Lecturers. He has also chaired individual sessions at National Seminars. He has been a U.G.C. Fellow at Panjab University, Chandigarh and a U.G.C. Research Associate at University of Poona, Poona. Currently, he is engaged in working as Principal Investigator in a Major U.G.C. Project on Indian English Fiction. Professor Bhatnagar’s publications include, besides a number of research articles in prestigious journals in India and abroad, Political Consciousness in Indian English Writing, Perspectives and The Fiction of Nayantara Sahgal. His areas of interest are: Literary Theory, Comparative Literature, Commonwealth and Indian English Literature and Third World Fiction.
Dr. M. Rajeshwar is an Assistant Professor of English at Kakatiya University, Warangal, A.P. His published works of criticism include The Novels of Wole Soyinka (1990) and Indian Women Novelists and Psychoanalysis (1998). The books he has edited are : Post-modernism and English Literature (1999), Lifescapes: Telugu Short Stories by Naveen and Indian Fiction in English. He has been the Associate Editor of the prestigious Kakatiya Journal of English Studies for several years. He has published 26 articles on Indian, African and American fiction in such reputed journals as New Quest, Indian Literature, The Journal of Indian Writing in English, Commonwealth Quarterly, The Commonwealth Review, Revaluations and Triveni. Many of these articles have been repeatedly anthologized.
Dr. Rajeshwar is currently working on a project entitled “The Discovery of Regional Language Fiction : A Study of Ten Major Telugu Novels” as part of a fellowship awarded by the Department of Culture, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, New Delhi.
