UNIT 17 GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE

INDIAN ENGLISH NOVEL

Structure
17.0 Objectives
17.1 Introduction
17.2 What is a Novel?
17.3 Aspects of the Novel.
17.3.1 Theme
17.3.2 Plot
17.3.3 Characterization
17.3.4 Point of View
17.3.5 Place and Time
17.3.6 Narration or Dramatization
17.3.7 Style
17.4 Types of Novels
17.4.1 Picaresque Novel$
17.4.2 Gothic Novel
17.4.3 Epistolary Novel
17.4.4 Psychological Novel
17.4.5 Historical Novel
17.4.6 Regional Novel
17.4.7 Other typeslforms
17.5 The Rise of the Indian Novel in English
17.5.1 The Beginning
17.5.2 The Novel in the early 20* Century
17.5.3 Women's Writing
17.6 Shashi Deshpande
17.6.1 Shashi Deshpande as a Novelist
17.7 Glossary
17.8 Let Us Sum Up
17.9 Suggested Reading .
17.10 Answers to Exercises

17.0 OBJECTIVES

The aim of this unit is to introduce you to the genre of the novel and trace its
aspects. We also aim to familiarize you with the rise of the Indian novel in
English. After studying this unit carefully and completing the exercises, you
will be able to :
outline the development of the novel and its types
recognize its different aspects
know the history of the Indian novel in English, and
trace its development.

17.1 INTRODUCTION

In this Block, we intend to introduce you to the genre of the novel, with
special reference to Shashi Deshpande's The Binding Vine, prescribed in your
course.
The Novel: The
Binding Vine This is an introductory Unit of the Block and we must lead you step by step.
We shall tell you briefly about the novel, its forms and aspects and provide
you the background of the Indian novel in English. The next four units of this
Block will prepare you to analyse Shashi Deshpande's The Binding Vine after
a thorough discussion of the topics related to it.

Studying a novel is different from reading a novel. When we read we are

interested in the story; we are curious to know "what happens next" and some
times we even jump to the end. Once we finish, our interest in the work ends
and we pick up another book. So we can say that the novel has entertainment
*
- d u e . Not so when we "study" the novel. Of course, we still like to know
"what happens next", but we also think about what the author is saying and
why; how are the men and women in the novel behaving; are they life-like;
what does the author want to convey; and how is helshe doing that? These
questions lead us to read carefully and think deeply. Very soon we are able to
combine entertainment with literary analysis and the joy of reading a good
work becomes a source of knowledge also.

As we proceed with this unit, we give you suggestions, ask questions to check
your progress and provide answers wherever required. In this way, the block
opens up before you a new vista of a literary text. We suggest that as you read
you make notes, mark important paragraphs and select important stages in the
story. These will come handy at the time of revision.

So, here we go! Let us start with the first thing first and ask, "What is a
novel"?

17.2 WHAT IS A NOVEL?

The novel is a "story", a long, long story but, then it is not a sequence of
stories; it dramatizes life but it is not drama; it is written in prose form but it is
not prose. So how do we define a novel?

A novel can be defined in broad terms as a piece of prose fiction, which

dramatizes life with the help of characters and situations. It presents some
aspect of human experiences and creates real-life atmosphere that is often
gripping. The test of a great novel lies in its universal appeal.

Let ud now examine this definition:

1. A novel is written in prose form, but novelists often handle the prose
so delicately that the language acquires lyrical beauty. That is the
reason why many novels are called "poetic".

Though the bulk of this literature is written traditionally in prose, this

is not binding and there can be exceptions. Let us remember, Vikram
Seth's The Golden Gate is written in verse.

2. A novel is prose "fiction", that means it is an imaginary story. Even

though it is imaginary or fictitious, it is life-like.
3. A novel "dramatizes" life. This means the details, the situations and - General Introdllction
the characters are like real-life people. They act, react, struggle, suffer to the Indian English
Novel
and triumph as we do in life. A novel is great or successful when it
engrosses the reader and inspires him to identify with it. The author
achieves this by giving a coherent and sincere picture of life, human
relationships and human strengths and weaknesses.

4. We may say that a novel is a "long" story but it is difficult to

determine its length. The accepted length is usually more than 50,000
words. Anything shorter than that is called a "novella". Again, a novel
may run into a thousand or so pages and some may be in several
volumes. But, these are exceptions.

Before we proceed further, we must also know that the novel is an extended
narrative and distinct from the short story. The short story is more
concentrated and does not have much scope to develop characters and
situations, but a novel has this scope because of its length. A "novelette" or a
"novella" is a narrative between the short story and the novel in length.

In most European literature the word "roman" is used for the novel. "Roman"
.
means "romance." The earlier narratives were associated with the romatic
adventures of the heroes and the heroines. The novel now has achieved a
wider scope and is no longer a "romance", though the term "roman" stays on.
The English name "novel" is derived from the Italian "novella" meaning "a
little new thing".

Let us now ask ourselves two questions: Why clo we read novels? Does the
novel have any relevance to our lived reality? Does it perform any function in
our life?

Primarily we read novels for entertainment and also to learn about life. Novels
provide us insight into the different aspects of human existence, human
psyche, social and familial wlationships and the philosophy of life. We share
the author's experiences and learn from them.
. .
To answer the second question, we turn to the fact that a novel is an artistic
creation of life. Art cannot be didactic, that is, it does not purport to teach
directly. It is for us to learn from it, to derive our lesson. The novel will lose
its charm if it becomes a sermon. It helps us indirectly by extending our
consciousness and making us aware of the immense possibilities of life.

So, let us conclude this part with a few quotations:

The novel at its most interesting is a process of inhale-exhale, a life-

giving inspiration, a prose poem which releases the body and soul,
even a new visionary glimpse of the miracle of life itself.
-Mulk Raj Anand

The novel is a 'perfect medium for revealing to us the changing

rainbow of our living relationship
- D.H. Lawrence

A novel in an impression, not an argument.

- Thomas Hardy
'The Novel: The
Binding Vine What is a novel but a peculiar and as yet unheard of event?
- Goethe

Fiction-if it at all aspires to be art-appeals to temperament. And, it

must be, like paintings, like music, like all art, the appeal of one
temperament to all the other innumerable temperaments.
-Joseph Conrad

Chedk your progress 1

Here are a few questions meant not to 'test you, but to help you check your
understanding of the lesson. Try and answer these in your own words in the
space provided:

1. What is a novel? Define it briefly.

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2. How would you differentiate between the short story, the novel, and
the novella?

3. Does the novel have any function?

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17.3 ASPECTS OF THE NOVEL

Now that we have defined the novel, let us consider'its aspects. We know that
the novel is a story about some event or person set in a particular place and
time, advanced by the narrative mode. That means the novel must be having
some important elements to keep the interest of the readers alive and, to make
the story appealing and real. What are they? How can we find them? What is
their significance?

Let us, first of all make it clear that an author writes his noveVstory intuitively.
For him or her, aspects as such are not important. As readers and scholars, we
find the aspects important to analyse a work. Secondly, aspects are ingrained
in a work and we can discuss them but we cannot divide a novel according tal
them; that will be like cutting it into pieces. We must look at a work as a General Introduction
whole to enjoy it. to the Indian English
Novel
If we have to enjoy a work as a whole, then why should we separate its
various components? This we do for the purpose of analysis. If we like a
novel, we appreciate it either for its theme or characters or maybe its'
narrative technique. That's why, it is necessary for us to familiarize ourselves
with: theme, plot, characterization, point of view, place and time, narrative
technique, style and structure.

17.3.1 Theme

The theme is the central idea of a novel. Every novel is based on a theme or
themes. The theme is an arjiyment or an issue on which the story revolves. It
is not plot, nor is it the story. A novelist does not, however, say, "this is my
theme and I am going to write a story." Instead, an idea comes to the mind, it
germinates like a seed, and a story with plot and characters is woven around it.

17.3.2 Plot

Plot is the framework of the story. It has a beginning, a middle and an end. It
advances with the help of characters, events and actions. A novel may have a
plot and sub-plot. But these two do not run separately. At some point, they are
inter-linked with the main theme. Let us take an example from drama. In
Shakespeare's King Lear the main plot is about King Lear and his three
daughters' behaviour and the sub-plot is about the Earl of Gloucester and his
two sons' attitude towards their father. At the thematic level, they are joined
because in both, the theme of filial love and filial ingratitude is at work. Now,
let us take an example from the novel The Binding Vine. The main plot is
about Urmi's grief at the death of her little daughter but the sub-plots are
about Mira and Kalpana and these are linked by the themes of human
relationships and death.

Thus, we see that the plot in a narrative work is the structure of its actions, as
these are ordered towards achieving an artistic effect. Since actions are
performed by a character or characters, plot and character are interdependent.
Let us remember, plot is not the summary of a work. When we summarize a
work, we give the story in a sequence but in a plot, the story is arranged and
re-arranged according to the mode of the narrative.

17.3.3 Characterization

Let us first understand that characters are the persons in a novel or a story who
are given some moral or dispositional qualities by the writer, which they
reveal through their actions. How these persons act, react, learn from their
life-situations and how they change, constitutes the art of characterization. If a
character moves us and remains inmour memory, we say that the
characterization is powerful. Oliver Twist in Charles Dicken's novel Oliver
Twist, or Hardy's Tess in Tess of the D'urbervilles are memorable characters.
A character grows slowly with the story and as we read on we start
understanding him or her. We even become one with them and participate at
an emotional level with the ups and downs of their fortunes. Herein lies the
su~cessof the art of characterization.
The Novel: The In Aspects of the Novel E.M. Forster gives us the new terms flat and round
Binding Vine characters. A flat character is built round a "single idea or quality" and is not
much individualized, whereas a round character is complex in temperament
and $rows like a real-life person. In characterization, a novelist may use the
method of "telling", or "showing". In "telling" the author describes the
character and evaluates hisher action. This is called authorial intrusion. In
"showing", the author only presents the character and lets himher reveal
hisher motives by actions, reactions, and dialogue.

17.3.4 Point Of View

This means the way a story is told. It is the perspective through which the
author presents hisher characters, controls their action and the events. There
are &any different ways of narrating the story. A character may tell his tale in
the first person. This is called first person narration. We must keep in mind
here that helshe is the fictional persona through whom the story is told. It is
not the author who is speaking; helshe is believed to be speaking. The first
person narrator recounts his experiences placing himself as "I". He is the main
witness to the events of his life. On the other hand, the third person narrator
provides an omniscient point of view. He knows everything that is to take
place in the story and he is the agent who describes and controls actions,
motives and thoughts.

The third person point of view can be omniscient or limited. In omniscient

point of view, the narrator knows everything; in limited point of view, the
author tells the story in the third person but limits himself to what is
experienced or felt by a single character.

17.3.5 Place And Time

A story cannot be written in a vacuum. It originates and moves within a

cultural context. The characters, events, motivations, in fact, the entire action
of the plot are controlled by the socio-cultural matrix of the place and time.
The author cannot go out of the environment helshe has created. Let us take,
for example, Anita Desai's Bye-Bye, Blackbird. The characters are Indian but
the place they live in is England. The atmosphere is of the English society, but
the reactions of the Indian characters are typically Indian. The author here
cannlpt detach herself from place and time, otherwise the story will lack soul.
Use of place determines the setting and use of time determines the way the
events are structured.

Let us first think of the place. A novelist need not specifically mention the
name of the place but the setting, the background and such other details
provide ample clues to a generalized idea of place. In Shashi Deshpande's
novel The Binding Vine, the city or town is not described but it is mentioned
twice. R.K. Narayan's Malgudi has likeness to Mysore, in many ways. In
some novels, the author uses place to give cultural base to the story; in some
novels it acquires far-reaching significance; in some others it creates
atmosphere, and in still others place has its own character. In Khushwant
Singh's elh hi, the city is the protagonist, in R.K. Narayan's Malgudi novels,
the tradition and culture i s influenced through place. In the Gothic novels,
place is used to create the atmosphere of horror.
 Time means two things: clock-time and psychological time. Clock-time is a General Introduction
measure to determine time in terms of duration-hours, days, weeks and to the Indian English
Novel
years. Psychological time has no relation to clock-time; it is experienced by
the individual and is subjective. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,
!
the novelists preferred to set the story within a chronologically determined
, time. For example, the novel started with the childhood or the
girlhoodhoyhood of a character and ended at some particular stage in herhis
life. The time-sense was simple. But, with the emergence of the stream-of-
consciousness novel, the novelists started using psychological time.
Psychological time shifts constantly from the past to the present and to the
future. In Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things, time shifts so rapidly
that it is difficult to determine the sequence of events. In The Binding Vine
also the time cannot be fixed. Novelists who make use of the psychological
time to narrate their story take the help of techniques such as flashback,
dreams and fantasies.

I 17.3.6 Narration or Dramatization

I
I To narrate the story means to tell the story in the traditional manner of story
: telling. To dramatize means to let the story unfold with actions, and dialogues,
,L
as in a drama. In simple words, it means, "telling" and "showing". The
I "telling" mode usually has long narrative passages and a moralizing or
didactic tone. Readers do not appreciate this much because their interest lies in
knowing "what is happening next". "Showing", thus, is more popular than
telling. As such, most novelists are now adopting a blend of both-showing
and telling.

17.3.7 Style

. A popular saying is "style is the man". It means, each writer has hisher own
style. What do we mean by style and how do we analyse the style of a
particular author? Style means the manner in which the author tells hisher
story in terms of language and expression. Thus, style is determined by
diction, or choice of words, sentence structure, syntax and the use of figurative
language. The characters, situations and events are revealed through the use of
language. An author has to be careful in hisher choice of language because it
k must suit the character. For example, in Nectar in a Sieve, Kamala
Markandaya sometimes gives high sounding philosophical language to
Rukrnani, the simple, semi-literate farmer woman, which critics find
unrealistic. The problem of style is more acute for the Indian writer in English.
While depicting the rural people, the workers and the farmers, they have to
use Indian expressions to give the characters a realistic touch. This sometimes
changes the English expression to particularly "native" expression. Mulk Raj
Anand used it freely and he called it "pigeon" English.

Check Your Progress 2

Answer the following questions in your own words:

1. What do you understand by plot?

The Novel: The 2. Discuss briefly the different methods of narrating a story.
Binding Vine .....................................................................................

3. What is the difference between clock-time and psychological time?

Name any one Indian novelist who uses psychological time in hisher
novel.

4. Name an Indian novel in which a placelcity is the protagonist.

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17.4 TYPES OF NOVELS

We now know what is a novel and also its various aspects. Let us understand
that the novel has many forms or types. T6e novel in England from which we
trace the beginning of the Indian novel has many types. We shall get to these
in brief because we might require this knowledge at some stage in our
discussion

17.4.1 Picaresque Novel

The world "Picaresque" is derived from the Spanish word picaro, which
means "a rogue". The Picaresque novel presents the story of the adventures of
some man or woman who keeps on moving from place to place. Since the
novel records the different episodes in his or her journey, the plot remains
loose and episodic. Some good examples of the early Picaresque novel are:
Don Quixote .by adpanish writer Cervantes,' Robinson Crusoe and Moll
Flanders by Daniel Defoe, and Tom Jones by Henry Fielding. .

17.4.2 Gothic Novel

The term Gothic came from the word Goths used for a Germanic tribe.
The Gothic novel is-a type of fiction, which has supernatural elements like
ghosts, haunted houses etc. It evokes fear, suspense and uncertainty. The
setting is medieval. This novel became popular with Horace Walpole's The
Castle of Otranto, a Gothic Story (1765), and Mrs. Ann Radcliff's The
Mysteries of Udolpho (1794). Elements of the Gothic novel can be found in
modem fiction and horror films.

17.4.3 Epistolary Novel

"Epistle" means a letter. In the Epistolary novel the story advances through
the exchange of letters between the main character and other people. This type
became p&icularly popular in the 18" century with Samuel Richardson's General Introduction
Pamela (1740) and Clarissa (1747), and Fanny Bumey's Evelina (1778). to the Indian English
Novel
17.4.4 Psychological Novel

The Psychological novel, as the name suggests, has an interest in the

innermost motives and desires of a character. In it, the individual is important
and the events in his or her life are seen through hislher feelings, reactions and
experiences. The stream-of-consciousness technique is best suited to this type.
Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dallowuy (1925) and James Joyce's Ulysses (1922),
and many of the twentieth century novels are psychological novels. In Indian
writing in English, Anita Desai, Arun Joshi, and Shashi Deshpande probe into
the psyche of the characters

17.4.5 Historical Novel

The Historical novel takes its setting and some of its characters and events
from history. Sir Walter Scott brought this type into prominence with his
Ivanhoe (18 19). In Indian English fiction Manohar Malgonkar's The Devil's
Wind (1972), and Bhagwan S. Gidwani's The Sword of Tipu Sultan (1976)
are good examples of fiction based on Indian history. But, the historical novel
need not be set wholly in a particular period. A historical event of great
magnitude can be taken up to show its aftermath as in Midnight's Children by
Salman Rushdie.

17.4.6 Regional Novel

The Regional novel is set in a particular geographical region and deals with
the life and society of that particular area. A regional novelist usually sets his
novel in a specific area like Thomas Hardy's 'Wessex' (a fictional name given
by him to the south-west area of England) or R.K.Narayan's Malgudi (an
imaginary town in South India).

17.4.7 Other Forms

We have discussed some of the common types of novels. There are many
more types and subtypes that have emerged with time like the diasporic novel,
feminist novel, existential or metaphysical novel. Besides, we have various
literary movements and theories that have given rise io different forms like
Post-modemism, Post-colonialism, naturalism, realism and so on. Let us be
clear, however, that a work of fiction has many influences working within or
without. A writer does not write keeping in mind any theory or "ism". We, the
readers, critics and scholars, group the works according to some particular
trend or setting, such as the literature written by the authors belonging to India
but being written in English is Indian English Literature. Moreover, we
cannot put a novel in any one frame and brand it as a psychological novel or
Meta-fiction or a feminist novel. A work of art transcends all limits and can be
interpreted from various angles. Shashi Deshpande's novel The Binding Vine .
has been studied by scholars as a feminist novel, as a sociological novel, as a
psychological novel and so on. Such interpretations give us a broad base and
show the strength of the writer's art.
The Novel: The Check Your Progress 3
Binding Vine
1. What do you understand by the Gothic novel? Outline some of its
major elements.

2. Write a brief note on the Epistolary Novel.

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3. Match the words/terms given under 'A' with 'B'

A B
(i) Virginia Woolf (a) R.K. Narayan
(ii) Picaresque novel (b) Stream-of-Consciousness Technique
(iii) Ann Radcliffe (c) Historical novel
(iv) Malgudi (d) Don Quixote
(v) The Devil's Wind (e) The Mysteries of Udolpho

17.5 THE RISE OF THE INDIAN NOVEL IN ENGLISH

By Indian English Writing, we mean that body of literature which is written

by Indians in English. It could be in the form of poetry, prose, fiction or
drama. English is not our mother tongue and we are not native speakers of
English, yet when in the early decades of the nineteenth century, English was
introduced as the medium of instruction in our educational system, Indians
were able to read Western literature that was available in English. They found
the language and the literature versatile and some intellectuals took to
conveying their social and religious thoughts in this language. The writings of
people like Raja Ram Mohun Roy, Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi
and others started pouring in and gave rise to a body of prose literature having
great socio-cultural relevance. Soon poets like Romesh Chandra Dutt, Toru
Dutt and many others took to writing poetry in English. But this literature was
highly influenced by the style and content of English literature. When Sarojini
Naidiu wrote poetry while in England and showed it to Sir Edmund Gosse, he
advised her to write about her own culture/country so that the outsiders would
also come to know of India.

When Indians started using the English language creatively there were critics
who felt that since English was not our native tongue, this writing did "not
belong to the soil." But, scholars like K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar and C.D.
Narasimhaiah spotted great potential in it. Iyenger's books Indo-Angliun
Literature, (1943) and The Indian Contribution to English Literature, (1945)
gave credibility to Indian writing in English. His Indian Writing in English
(1962) was the first comprehensive history of this literature. C.D.
Narasimhaiah categorically stated in his The Swan and the Eagle (1969),
"Indian writing in English is to me primarily part of the literature of India." General Introduction
According to him so long as the "operative sensibility" is Indian, the writing is to the Indian English
Novel
Indian writing.

Another important question was to give some name to this writing. In the early
decades it was called "Anglo-Indian" writing, to cover all writing in English
about India, whether by Indians or Europeans. This umbrella term did not fit
well to the Indian setting. K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar's book Indo-Anglian
Literature gave it a distinct name and the literature written in English by
Indians came to be known as Indo-Anglian Literature. Later, it was called
Indian Writing in English and now the popular term is Indian English
Literature. The Sahitya Akademi, which has published histories of Hindi
Literature, Malayalam Literature etc., has a History of Indian English
Literature (1980) written by M.K. Naik.

17.5.1 The Beginning

India has a long tradition of story telling. The Panchatantra, Hitopadesha,

Jatakas, Vetala Panchavinshati and Katha-Sarit-Sagara are perennial sources
of stories. The style and technique of narration is also unique in that these
stories are linked together by the frame-narrator, with one story leading on to
the other and holding the interest of the reader/listener. But, though these
stories in oral form reigned long and supreme, they cannot fall in the category
of the 'novel'.

Similarly, dramas, epics, lyrics and poetry have existed here since centuries.
We know of Kalidasa and Bhavabhuti; we are aware of the Ramayana and the
Mahabharata; and we have enjoyed the lilting Sanskrit lyrics, and the regional
language poetry. All this forms the rich corpus of our literature. However, the
novel in India came in at a much later stage. In fact, it emerged only after the
introduction of English in the Indian educational pattern. Inspired by the
English novel, Indians too, experimented with this genre in the regional
languages. Some of these Indian novels were translated into English but later
some authors took to writing orighally in English.
..
The novel came into existence in India in the second half of the' nineteenth
century. Indians started writing fiction in the Indian regional languages as
well as in English. Members of the Dutt family (who published their poetry in
The Dutt Family Album, 1870) are credited with writing the earliest Indian
English fiction: Kylas Chunder Dutt's !'A Journal of Forty-Eight Hours of the
Year 1945" was published in the Calcutta Literary Gazette in 1835, while
Shoshee Chunder Dutt's "The Republic of Orissa: A Page from the Annals of
the 20" Century" was published in 1845. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's first
novel, Rajmohan's Wife (1864), is the first full length Indian novel in English.
He then took up writing in his mother tongue, and all his other novels are
written in Bangla. Other early novels written in English include La1 Behari
Day's Govinda Samanta; or, The History of a Bengal Raiyat (1874) and
Shoshee Chunder Dutt's The Young Zemindar (1883). Tom Dutt, better
known as a poet, can be considered the first woman novelist - her $nfinished
novel, Bianca, or the Young Spanish Maiden was published after her death as
a serial in Bengal Magazine in 1879. Other early women novelists include
Krupabai Satthianadhan (1862-94), who authored two novels, Kamala (1894)
and Saguna (1895), and Shevantibai M. Nikambe (Ratanbai: A Sketch of a
Bombay High Caste Hindu Young Wife, 1895). A. Madhaviah was a bilingual
writer, credited with pioneering the novel in Tamil; Thillai Govindlin (1903),
The Novel: The the first of the four novels he wrote in English, has an autobiographical touch.
Binding Vine Mirza Moorad Ali Beg's Lulun, the Beragan, or, The Battle of Panipat (1884),
Joginder Singh's Nur Jehan (1909) and Madhaviah's Clarinda (1915) are
historical novels, while S. M. Mitra's Hindupore: A Peep Behind the Indian
Unrest (1909) and S.K. Ghosh's The Prince of Destiny (1909), focus on the
theme of east-west encounter.

17.5.2 The Novel in the 2othCentury

In the early decades of the twentieth century, the number of those writing in
English increased rapidly. The children's writer Dhan Gopal Mukerji's only
novel for adults, My Brother's Face (1924), is the first expression in fiction of
the quest for identity, a theme that has concerned many later Indian novelists.
K.S. Venkataramani's Murugan the Tiller and Kandan the Patriot were
published in 1927 and 1932 respectively. Slowly, the Indian English novel
started taking root. However, it was only after the emergence of the Big Threle
that the Indian novel drew the attention of critics and scholars. The big three
were -Mulk Raj Anand, Raja Rao and R.K. Narayan.

Mwlk Raj Anand's Untouchable published in 1935 and Coolie, published in

1936 were acclaimed for portraying the searing reality of the life of the
downtrodden and the deprived sections of society. Anand came to be known
as a committed writer. Raja Rao's inclination was towards Indian metaphysic:~
and the philosophical strain became the hallmark of his novels. R.K. Naraya~n
created the now famous Malgudi as a setting for his novels, which he gave us
consistently from Swami and Friends (1935) to The World of Nagaraj (1990).
He was loved for his ironic vision of life. It is, indeed, not possible to think of
the Indian English novel without these three novelists who can be called the
principal "trail blazing Indian novelists in English".

The development of the Indian novel in English was initially weak arid
hesitant. It was not technically strong, nor innovative. According to
Meenakshi Mukherjee "Traces of both, the prescribed novels and the
Victorian pulp can be found in a curious amalgam in the early novels in tlhe
Indian languages." H.M. Williams, another critic felt that the history of the
Indian English novel was a "development from poetry to prose and from
romantic idealization to various kinds of realism and symbolism." In the
1920's up till the 1940's India was witness to a turbulent period in her
history. The novelists found different themes for their stories like the freedom
struggle, Gandhian ideology and its impact on society, need for social reforms,
eradication of social evils, India's modem destiny, the Partition, the
emergence of the new urban India, the problems of rural India and so on.
When we look at the novel from this angle, we find rich material having
socio-cultural relevance.

By the late 1950's and early 1960's the second-generation writers came up.
Writers like Nayantara Sahgal, Manohar Malgonkar, Khushwant Singh and
Bhabani Bhattacharya gave new direction to fiction. They started dealing with
new subjects. Nayantara Sahgal took up the political theme, while Malgonkar
gave a historical perspective. Arun Joshi and Anita Desai ushered in the era of
psychological fiction. By the 1980's the novel had matured sufficiently in
themes, use of language, style and technique. Now we have writers llike
Salman Rushdie, Rohinton Mistry, Arnitav Ghosh, Shashi Tharoor, Arundhati
 Roy, Vikram Seth, Shashi Deshpande and many others who have earned name General Introduction
and fame. to the In& English
Novel
17.5.3 Women's Writing

Before we study Shashi Despande, let us give some thought to women's

writing in English. We shall concentrate only on the novelists. Though, as we
said earlier, many women wrote fiction in the late 1 9 century,
~ it was with
Kamala Markandaya that women's writing came into the limelight. Critics
hailed her first novel Nectar in a Sieve published in 1954, as an "Epic of the
Indian Village." Markandaya was a social-realist and she depicted the realities
of life in south India. Nayantara Sahgal gave political themes and Ruth
Jhabvala looked at India from the angle of a Westerner. Then came Anita
Desai whose works probed the psychological problems of women characters.
Rama Mehta, Shobha De, Gita Mehta, Bharati Mukherjee, Shashi Deshpande,
b Arundhati Roy, Jhumpa Lahiri and many others have written powerful fiction.
I
Rama Mehta wrote only one book Inside the Haveli. Gita Mehta, Bharati
Mukherjee and Jhumpa Lahiri live in the USA and are diasporic writers.
Arundhati Roy is called a "One-book wonder" because she has not written any
novel after The God of Small Things which won the Booker Prize in 1997.
Shobha De's bestselling but superficial novels depict the richer section of the
modem Indian metropolis. Shashi Despande writes about the educated urban
middle-class woman in search of her identity.

I
Let us make it clear here that women writers usually object to being slotted
I under "women's writing". They feel that they should be considered
mainstream writers. Another point that needs clarification, is that all women
are not feminist writers. They write about women's issues because being
women they understand the problems of women which they project in their
works. Shashi Deshpande also says in her interviews that she does not see
herself as a "feminist". Writing is spontaneous and should not be segregated
on a male-female basis.

17.6 SHASHI DESHPANDE

Shashi Deshpande was born in 1938, and grew-up in Dharwar (Karnataka).

For some years she was in Mumbai (Bombay) and now lives in Bangalore
with her doctor husband and sons. Her father Adya Rangachar, better known
as Sriranga was a famous Kannada writer and Sanskrit scholar. From him
Shashi Deshpande acquired her love for reading and writing. She got her
degrees in Economics, Law and English literature, and a diploma in
Journalism. A Ph.D in English (from the University of Mysore) followed. Her
writing career began quite late. According to her, she did nut copsider writing
as a career since she was busy looking after her family. In her interview with
Vanamala Vishwanath she recounts how her career as a full-fledged writer
was launched. It started in England where her husband was a Commonwealth
scholar for one year. "I thought it would be a pity if I forgot all our
experiences there. So I started writing them down and gave them to my father.
My father gave them to Deccan Herald, and they published it." Later when
she was working for the Onlooker, she wrote a short story, which was
published and was highly appreciated by the readers. Encouraged by this
success, Shashi Deshpande took to writing stories. She says, "and then I wrote
on and on as though I was crazed." She put together her stories and at the
The Novel: The behest of her father got them published. Her first collection ot stories entit1t.d
Binding Vine The Legacy came out in 1978. After this, many collections were published.
Her first novel was actually Roots and Shadows, which she completed in 1978
but it was published in 1983. Prior to that The Dark Holds No Terrors was
published in 1980 and so it is often called her first novel. In 1982 I f I Die
Today came out. It is a crime novella. It was followed by three collections of
short stories, It was the Nightingale, It was Dark and The Miracle, all
published in 1986. Shashi Deshpande shot to fame with That Long Silence
(1988) for which she was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1993. Come
up and Be Dead is a crime novel set in a girls' school and is like Agatha
Christie's detective fiction. The Binding Vine appeared in 1993, A Matter of
Time in 1996, Small Remedies in 2000 and her latest Moving On in 2003.
Deshpande has frankly discussed her views on the art and craft of fiction in
her essays, interviews and lectures. She is a prolific writer and highly
respected by readers.

Shashi Deshpane

17.6.1 Shashi Deshpande as a Novelist

Shashi Deshpande started writing when she was almost in her forties. Her
short novels I f I Die Today and Come up and Be Dead are crime novels and
can be called fiction for teenagers. But, these two are not her representative
works. She is a serious writer. She selects her themes carefully, weaves her
plot around them and creates convincing characters. All her novels have
wonien protagonists. The male characters stand on the periphery though they
are iignificant for the story. Generally, she creates a family atmosphere to
show her characters' conflicts, anger and frustrations. A time comes when
they seem to be too unhappy to cope with life. And then somehow, they
unddrstand the deeper meaning of existence, they learn from life's
experiences, and finally tHey reconcile. This reconciliation gives optimism to
her novels. Her characters do not break away from the family, they maintain
family ties and feel secure. As readers we also realize how important it is to
live in a relationship. One cannot just break these ties that bind us to life. General Introduction
Shashi Deshpande portrays people from the educated, middle class of modem to the Indian English
Novel
urban areas. The novels are set in big towns. Sometimes the town is
mentioned; sometimes it is left to our imagination. Her works probe the
innermost workings of the human psyche; they also provide corn~~~entary on
the changing social norms and show the meaning of life.

Deshpande writes about the region and the regional culture she knows the
best. Her characters belong to Maharashtrian middle-class Brahmin culture
and some belong to the Kannada culture as in A Matter of Time. Without
commenting on the strength and weakness of any particular value-system,
Deshpande lays it thread-bare before us. It is for us, as readers. to see how the
individual man or woman suffers, falls and stands again, despite the problems.

Check Your Progress 4

Answer the following:

. Who first used the name Indo-Anglian writing for Indian writing in
English? What was the title of the book?
.....................................................................................
.....................................................................................
.....................................................................................
.....................................................................................
Give the full name of Toru Dutt's novel.
.....................................................................................
.....................................................................................
Give the names of the two novels written by Krupabai Satthianadhan.
.....................................................................................
.....................................................................................
.....................................................................................
Who were the Big Three? Write one line each on their specific style.
....................................................................................
....................................................................................
....................................................................................
Give the names of some of the contemporary Indian English women
novelists.

What is the name of the first novel written by Kamala Markandaya?

How do critics rate it?

Name the novelist and the novel that won the Booker Prize in 1997.
.....................................................................................
.....................................................................................
'Qe Novel: The 17.7 GLOSSARY
n w h g vine

diasporic Novel: it gets its name from the Greek word "diaspora"
meaning to scatter. Disaporic novel is the fiction
written by Immigrant Indians i.e. those settled abroad.
Salman Rushdie, Bharati Mukherjee, Gita Mehta are
diasporic novelists.

feminism: started as a socio-economic movement. It demanded

legal and political rights for women. Later, many
demands came to be attached to it and it became a
general term to denote the movement for women's
equality, legal rights, right to body and such questions
that were important for women.

feminist Novel: a work of fiction, which concentrates on women's

issues and works within the theoretical framework of
feminist literary theory. All novels written by women
cannot be called feminist.

Mdgudi: an imaginary town, somewhere in South India. R.K.

Narayan's novels are set in Malgudi. Critics say, in
many ways it resembles the city of Mysore.

didactic: instructive, designed to impart information, advice, or

some doctrine of morality. Most literary'works of the
Middle Ages have a strong didactic element, but in 1ate:r
writings this was discarded. Novelists in particular do
not approve of didacticism in fictional works.

third-person a mode of story-telling in which the narrator is not the

narrative: "I" of the story, but a third person, standing 'outside'
the events. Third-person narrators are often omniscient
or all knowing about the events of the story. This is the
most common form of story telling.

first-person a mode of story telling in which the narrator appears as

narrative: the "I" recollecting his or her own part in the events
related, either as a witness or as an important participant
in the events.

17.8 LET US SUM UP

b this unit we have looked at:
.
the definition of the novel
the novel as a piece of prose fiction
, - types of novels-Picaresque, Gothic, Historical etc.
 the aspects of the novel which we require while analyzing a novel. General Introduction
These are: plot, characterization, theme, point of view, place and time, to the hdhm English
narration, style. Novel
the rise of the Indian novel in English, also some novels written by
women.
Shashi Deshpande's place in Indian English literature.

17.9 SUGGESTED READING

After going through the unit you may like to know more about the novel as a
genre or you may like to read some works. Here are a few that you may find
interesting.

Arvind Krishna Mehrotra. An Illustrated History of Indian Literature in

English. New Delhi: Permanent Block, 2003

Attia Hossain. Sunlight on a Broken Column, London Chatto and Windus,

1961.

C. D. Narasimhaiah. The Swan and the Eagle. Shimla, Indian Institute of

Advanced Study, 1969.

E.M. Forster. Aspects of the Novel. London: Edward Arnold, 1945.

K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar. Indian Writing in English. New Delhi: Sterling

Publishers, 1985: rpt. 1995.

-
Manohar Malgonkar. Devil's Wind. New Delhi: Penguin, 1985.

Meenakshi Mukherjee. Twice Bom Fiction. 2nd Edn. New Delhi: Pencraft
International 200 1.

M. K. Naik. A History of Indian English Literature. New Delhi: Sahitya

Akaderni, 1982.

M. K. Naik and Shyamala A. Narayan. Indian English Literature. 1980-2000,

A Survey. New Delhi: Pencraft International, 2001. , .

Mulk Raj Anand. Apology for Heroism. New Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann,

1946; rpt. 1886.

R.K. Narayan. The Guide. Mysore: Indian Thought Publications, 1960.

Sisir Chatterjee. Problems in Modem English Fiction, Calcutta: Bookland,

1965.

17.10 ANSWERS TO EXERCISES

Check Your Progress 1

1. A novel is a prose fiction, which dramatizes life situations with the

help of characters and events.
The Novel: The 2. The short story is more concentrated and compact and it does not have
Binding Vine much scope to develop characters and situations. A novel, on the other
hancl, is an extended narrative. and has scope to develop characters and
situations. A novella is a narrative between the short story and the
novel in length.
3. Novels have entertainment value and also provide insight into some
aspects of human nature. We like to read them for these aspects.

Check Your Progress 2

1. You can look up 17.3.2 discussing Plot. This section is exhaustive and
you can base you answer on the points given there.
2. A story can be told in first person narration or in third person narration.
The first person narrator tells the story as 'I7. This 'I' is not the author.
Helshe is a distinct character and is called the "Persona". The third
person narrator can be "reliable" or "unreliable".
3. Clock-time is a measure of time in terms of duration-hours, days,
weeks months, years. Psychological time is not measured by its
duration but by individual experience. It is subjective. Anita Desai,
Shashi Deshpande, Arundhati Roy use psychological time.
4. It is Delhi by Khushwant Singh.

Check Your Progress 3

1. The Gothic novel takes its name from Goths, a Germanic tribe. This
style of novel has supernatural elements in it, with ghosts and haunted
houses and spirits. They evoke fear and horror.
2. Epistolary novel derives its name from "epistle" meaning a letter. This
type of novel is written i n m e form of letters. The story advances
through the exchange of letters between the main character and the
others. This type became popular with Samuel Richardsons' Pamela
and Clarissa.
3. Key (i)=b; (ii)=d; (iii)=e; (iv)=a; (v)=c

Check Your Progress 4

1. K.R. Srinivasa Iyenger used the term Indo-Anglian novel in his boolk
Indo-Anglian Literature (1 943).
2. Bianca or the Young Spanish Maiden.
3. Kamala: A Story o f Hindu Life (1895); Saguna: A Story of Native
Christian Life (1895).
4. The Big three---
(i) Mulk Raj Anand = Socialist-Marxist/committed writer
(ii) R.K. Naray an = Ironic vision
(iii) Raja Rao = Metaphysical approach
5. Contemporary women writers are:
Anita Desai, Shashi Deshpande, Arundhati Roy, Shobha De, Manjlu
Kapur, Anita Nair.
6. Nectar in a Siece. Its protagonist is Rukmani, a peasant woman. The
novel is hailed as an "Epic of Indian Village Life".
7. Arundhati Roy for The God of Small Things.