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SHORTLISTED FOR THE 1999 BOOKER PRIZE Uma, the plain, spinster daughter of a close-knit Indian family, is trapped at home, smothered by her overbearing parents and their traditions, unlike her ambitious younger sister Aruna, who brings off a 'good' marriage, and brother Arun, the disappointing son and heir who is studying in America. Across the world in Massachusetts, life with the Patton family is bewildering for Arun in the alien culture of freedom, freezers and paradoxically self-denying self-indulgence.
The Village by the Sea is a survival story by the novelist Anita Desai. Set in a small fishing villlage near Bombay, Lila and Hari, aged 13 and 12, struggle to keep the family, including two young sisters, going when their mother is ill and their father usually the worse for drink. When Hari goes to Bombay to find work, Lila seems to be responsible for everything. Although the book paints a picture of extreme poverty, it demonstrates the strength of the family even in the most extreme circumstances and offers a powerful picture of another culture. Reissued in 'A Puffin Book' series of Puffin modern classics, The Village by the Sea continues to engage young readers of 8+.
Anita Desai S Work Represents A Unique Blending Of The Indian And The Western. Her Novels Catch The Bewilderment Of The Individual Psyche Confronted With The Overbearing Socio-Cultural Environment And The Ever-Beckoning Modern Promise Of Self-Gratification And Self-Fulfilment. In The Face Of This Dual Onslaught, Her Protagonists, Male Or Female Maya, Sita, Monisha And Amla; Sarah, Nanda And Raka; Bim And Tara; Devan, Baumgartner Are Seen Poised Rentalizingly At Different Junctures Of The Philosophic Spectrum.Applying Sociological, Psychoanalytic, Structural And Other Approaches Of Formal Textual Analysis, The Essays In The Present Anthology Take A Fresh Look At Established Works, Revealing Aspects Of Study Hitherto Unexplored, Offer Critically Insightful Probes Into Individual Novels And Explore The Deployment Of Images, Symbols And Other Poetic Devices, Besides Diverse Narrative Strategies.An Indispensable Source-Book For Students, Researchers And Teachers Of Indian English And Commonwealth Literature In General And Fiction And Anita Desai In Particular.An Insightful Companion For Research In Sociology And Women-Studies.
"The zigzag paths of these characters converge on the Day of the Dead, bringing together past and present in a moment of powerful epiphany."--BOOK JACKET.
A perceptive observation about the human race cleverly constructed and told with Desai's opulent vocabulary.
The Book Is A Pioneering Study Of Its Kind, Chronologically Examining The Novels Of Anita Desai Mostly From A Feminist Point Of View. The Book Excels In Formally Analysing Indian And Western Traditions Of Feminism, Man-Woman Relationship And Art Of Characterisation In The Overall Context Of The Feminine Psyche Which It Thoroughly Examines. Anita Desai S Is A World Of Married Women Who Combat To Get Out Of The Maniacles That Bind Them; To Evolve From Being A Mere Nonentity Victim To A Vibrant Individual Capable Of Breaking The Fetters Without Breaking The Relationship. The Book Is A Voyage From A Sense Of Incompetence And Paranoia To Self-Awareness And Resilience, To Self-Poise And Concord Within The Family Matrix. Dr. Gupta Shows How Anita Desai Has Depicted The Depths Of Human Consciousness And Subconsciousness In Her Existential Concern Which Makes Her Writings Uniquely Powerful Through Feminism. Hence, The Need And Justification Of The Book To Undertake The Present Study Of Her New Perspective On Feminism.
Written in vivid narrative and chiselled prose, Bye-Bye Blackbird explores the lives of the outsiders seeking to forge a new identity in an alien society. Set against England's green and grisly landscape, enigmatic and attractive to some, depressing and nauseating to others, it is a story of everyday heroism against subtle oppression, crumbling traditions and homesickness. 'Characters grow with life, the scenes are delicately painted and the nuances of changing mood skilfully transmitted.' — Hindu 'More than a novel, it is a psychological study of the love-hate relationship the immigrants have towards their country of adoption.' — Indian Express
Award-winning novelist Anita Desai explores time and transformation in these three artful novellas
Set in contemporary Bombay and other cities, these stories reflect the kaleidoscope of urban life - evoking the colour, sounds and white-hot heat of the city. Warm, perceptive, humorous and touched with sadness, Anita Desai’s stories are peopled with intensely individual characters - the man spiritually transformed by the surface texture of a melon; the American wife who, homesick for the verdant farmlands of Vermont, turns to the hippies in the Indian hills; the painter living in a slum who fills his canvasses with flowers, birds and landscapes he has never seen.
In this sensitive portrayal of human nature, Anita Desai, one of India’s foremost writers, paints an intimate portrait of lives impacted by the quest for identity and purpose. Deven, a Hindi lecturer in small-town Mirpore, lives a humdrum existence. A chance to interview Nur—India’s greatest living Urdu poet—offers him an escape from his dreary life. But the Nur he meets is an enfeebled man, surrounded by clashing wives and preying sycophants. Deven’s decision to be the custodian of Nur’s verse gives birth to an unusual alliance between the two. Stimulating and thought provoking, In Custody is a brilliant parable lamenting the gradual corrosion of culture and tradition in the face of modernity, and a dazzling study of the complexity of human relationships.