Alienation, Maladjustment and the Search for Self-identity in Anita ...

IJCAES SPECIAL ISSUE ONBASIC, APPLIED & SOCIAL SCIENCES, VOLUME II, JULY 2012[ISSN: 2231-4946]Alienation, Maladjustment and the Search forSelf-identity in Anita Desai’s Bye-ByeBlackbird, Baumgartner’s Bombay and Fasting,Feasting and Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter ofMaladies and The NamesakeSapan NarzaryResearch Scholar, Singhania University, RajasthanAbstract – Indian English Literature (IEL) can be appreciated as a collective effort on the body of work bynumerous native Indian writers of English language and whose native or co-native language could be oneof the several languages of India in creating a rare distinction in the international literary scene. Thus,Indian English Literature (IEL) can be identified as all the production of literary writings of Indianwriters in the English language that has made significant contributions to World literature, both in the preand post independence era. The term is also popularly associated with the works of members of the literarycreation of Indian writers who are considered the ‘Indian Diaspora’, such as V. S. Naipaul, Kiran Desai,Jhumpa Lahiri and Salman Rushdie. Sometimes, it is distinctively referred to as Indo-Anglian literaturethat has a specific term in the sole context of writing and should not be confused with the term Anglo-Indian.Keywords – Romance, English, India, novel.I. INTRODUCTIONIndian Writing in English (IWE) refers collectively to the work of Indian writers writing in the English languageboth during the pre and post Independent India. English, though a foreign language, became popular amongst theIndians as a means of communicating with the outside world. But it remained elitist to a large extent. EducatedIndians who communicated in English and much less, wrote books in English were few. Rabindranath Tagore,Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan etc. were among the noteworthy oneswhose pen took the voice of India to the outside world. Post Independent India saw the emergence of a new crop ofcreative writers whose writings brought in a whiff of fresh air into the literary scene and lent an Indian touch to thethemes and treatment. Writers like Salman Rushdie, Amitav Ghosh, Vikram Seth, Anita Desai, Nayantara Sehgal,Arundhati Roy, Jhumpa Lahiri and Kiran Desai made the whole world sit up and take notice of their distinctiveIndian themes and style.In the Indian literary scene, women writers have done exceptionally well. Storytelling has always been women’sforte. If Europe’s luminaries were Jane Austen, George Eliot, Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, Mrs. Gaskell,Dorothy Richardson, Virginia Woolf, India’s are Toru Dutt, Kamala Markandaya, Attia Hosain, Ruth PrawerJhabvala, Anita Desai, Nayantara Sehgal and Shashi Deshpande among the old order.II.METHODOLOGY‘Romance’ was one of the easiest subjects in the hands of women writers. It provided them a way out from theharsh and stark realities of life. Toru Dutt’s Bianca or The Young Spanish Maiden (1878) and Le Journal deMademoiselle d’Arvers (1963) is one of the earliest works on this theme. Slowly, the trend turned towards‘Realism’. Serious efforts were made towards a realistic depiction of society. Themes became more universal andwomen-oriented entailing a more sympathetic treatment by women writers. The women writers of this period totheir credit could hold their own and make their voices heard and concerns felt even in the hitherto purely maledominatedliterary world.III.ABOUT WRITING156 | P a g e

Alienation, Maladjustment and the Search for Self-identity in Anita Desai’s Bye-Bye Blackbird,Baumgartner’s Bombay and Fasting, Feasting and Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies and TheNamesakefeels the immigrants’ sense of nostalgia and yearning for the country of their origin. In the alien world, thedifferences between being an Indian, a Pakistani or a Bangladeshi does not matter. The basic point is sticking it outtogether.The Namesake is thoroughly enmeshed in the ‘otherness’ syndrome from beginning to the end. It is the story of aBengali couple, Ashok Ganguli and Ashima who successfully make out a home for themselves in America but weartheir hearts on their sleeves for their homeland, India. Their children, Gogol and Sonia have problems with theiridentity. They do not feel at home in Calcutta where they go for their holidays but are at ‘home’ in America. The‘other’ syndrome does not assail them at all as it does their parents who do not regard America their ‘home’ evenafter twenty years of living there. But it does not stop them from being marginalized among their American friends.Perhaps this feeling of marginalization stems from a sense of insecurity.IV. CONCLUSIONThus, we see how the subjects of displacement, maladjustment and the search for self-identity form the crux ofthe above cited works of these two women writers. It will be interesting to focus on the treatment of the themes inboth the writers. The search and need for self-identity is more acute in today’s world of diverse cultures. Strangelyenough, even as we move on towards a more globalised universe, the more the inability to adjust or tolerate the‘other’ one. I find ample scope for extensive research on this subject and as such have chosen it as the topic of myresearch work.REFERENCES[1] Iyengar, K.R. Srinivasa: Indian Writing in English, Sterling Publishers Private Ltd., New Delhi, 2002.[2] ed. Datta, Ketaki: Indo-Anglian Literature: Past to Present, Books Way, Kolkata, 2008.[3] ed. Prasad, Amar Nath: New Lights On Indian Women Novelists in English, vol-IV, Sarup & Sons, New Delhi, 2008.[4] ed. Rushdie, Salman and West, Elizabeth: The Vintage Book of Indian Writing 1947-1997, Vintage, Great Britain, 1997.[5] ed. Pranad, Amar Nath: Critical Response to Indian Fiction in English, Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi, 2001.[6] Sinha, Sunita: Post Colonial Women writers New Perspectives, Atlantic Publishers and Distributors (P) Ltd., New Delhi, 2008.[7] Lahiri, Jhumpa: The Namesake, HarperCollins Publishers India, New Delhi, 2004.[8] Lahiri, Jhumpa: Interpreter of Maladies, stories of bengal, boston and beyond, HarperCollins Publishers India, New Delhi, 1999.[9] Desai, Anita: Bye-Bye Blackbird, Orient Paperbacks, New Delhi, 2007.[10] Desai, Anita: Baumgartner’s Bombay, Random House India, New Delhi, 2007.158 | P a g e