Novel has become the main literary medium in today’s world. The growth of novel in its different phases and over ages has witnessed the spate of various theories on novel which explain the art of fiction with apt discussion of character, plot, time, narrative, language, politics, poetics of social realism and vision of life. Fiction and theories of fiction are thus allied to each other.
Novels and theories of novels have assumed different colours and contours with the advance of post-modernism, post-colonialism and feminism. They have left indelible marks on the growth of fiction in the modern period.
This anthology of critical articles on the theories and practices of novel unfurls a compact exposition of different theoreticians’ views on the complicated web and texture of novel-writing and the shades of meaning as illustrated in different texts.
Besides giving a brief survey of some major theories of fiction, some articles in the present book dwell on some specific theories of fiction. The correlation between theory and its practical application in works of art alone can illustrate a literary work in all dimensions. This anthology of critical papers on some celebrated theoreticians’ views on the web and texture of fiction also focuses on their myriad shades of applications in different texts. The book thus incorporates into a single design, discussions of the creative processes of fiction as well as fictions of enduring value and popularity.
Apart from discussing the critical ideas of the traditional theoreticians of the novel genre, this book also discusses the ideas of Marxist theoreticians like Mikhail Bakhtin, George Lukács and others. From a consideration of the feminist literary theories as related to fiction, the present work also surveys the areas of intertextual reading of novels including cross cultural conflicts and interracial relationships and psychoanalytical interpretations of novels, and in the process analyses the novels of Barbara Kingslover, Joseph Conrad, William Golding, Amitav Ghosh, Manju Kapur, Tehmina Durrani, Salman Rushdie, Jhumpa Lahiri and Raja Rao.
The book is expected to stimulate the students as well as all serious readers of English literature to frame their own views on the art of fiction in comprehensive ways so that they can easily assess different theories and practices of fiction.
Partha Kumar Mukhopadhyay, a critic, editor and academician, has wide experience of teaching both at college and university levels. Presently, he is a member of the Research Board of Advisors, A.B.I. (U.S.A.) and a Fellow of U.W.A. He has published some books, poems and articles in various journals and anthologies, in India and abroad. He has presented papers at many national and international conferences.
