The present anthology entitled Mahesh Dattani: Themes Techniques and Issues is an assortment of scholarly research papers on fresh perspectives and explorations from the texts of Dattani. Mahesh Dattani is a renowned name in the history of contemporary Indian English drama. He observes complicacies of human life with optimism and gives energy to his audiences/readers with expected solution instead of leaving them confused and bewildered.
The book covers Dattani’s Tara, Final Solution, Morning Raga, Seven Steps around the Fire, Thirty Days in September, Do the Needful, The Big Fat City and Brief Candle, and pinpoints the smoldering issues like gender bias, child sexual abuse, incest, communal conflicts, suppression of sexual desires, marginalization of the third sex, humiliation of the homosexuals and lesbians, deterioration at the cost of metropolis lifestyle, and hatred towards music and dance, woven in Dattani’s plays with a bold attempt but without hurting anyone’s faith and culture.
The major themes incorporated in the book are fascination for a male child, the female and the male selves of man, the power of optimism in life, exploitation of children for one’s own sexual pleasure, imposition of heterosexuality, value of dance and music in life, fascination for metropolitan lifestyle, and centrification of the de-centered. The volume has also included papers tracing a variety of techniques such as postmodernist, aside, etc. adding the tremendous texture in the plays of Dattani.
A gold medallist from Patna University, Bihar, Dr. Sunita Sinha has been teaching English in Women’s College, Samastipur, L.N. Mithila University, Bihar. She has to her credit 17 books which have been highly acclaimed in academic circles. Her authorial ventures include: Graham Greene: A Study of His Major Novels; Postcolonial Women Writers: New Perspectives; and Twentieth Century Literature: Emerging Trends, published by Atlantic Publishers & Distributors (P) Ltd., New Delhi. She has also edited 16 books, viz. New Urges in Post-Colonial Literature: Widening Horizons; Reconceiving Postcolonialism: Visions and Revisions; Postcolonial Imaginings: Fissions and Fusions; Critical Responses to Kiran Desai; New Perspectives in British Literature (Vols. 1 & 2); Indian Booker Prize Winners: A Critical Study of their Works (Vols. 1 & 2); Modern Literary Theory (Vols. 1 & 2); Canons of Children’s Literature (Vols. 1 & 2); Shakespeare: A Reappraisal (Vols. 1 & 2); Critical Essays on D.H. Lawrence; and Indian Women writing in English: A Feminist Study.
The anthologies edited by Dr. Sinha have contributions by scholars from various countries like America, Cameroon, Italy, France, Greece, Albania, Canada, and Bangladesh. She has participated in many national/international seminars and conferences, and contributed many scholarly papers which have been published in various national/international books and journals. Her areas of interest are Postcolonial literature; Indian, Australian, and Canadian literatures.
Dr. Sinha is also editing three international journals, The Atlantic Review of Feminist Studies, The Atlantic Literary Review, and The Atlantic Critical Review, being published by Atlantic Publishers & Distributors (P) Ltd., New Delhi, where she the Honorary Editor/Director for Bihar. She is presently authoring her book on Gender Studies.
