L. M. Joshi

Malti Agarwal, ed. New Perspectives on Indian English Writings, Atlantic Publishers & Distributors (P) Ltd., 2007 339 pp. Rs. 695

 

            Indian literature in English gathers momentum each day. The Indian writers, though writing in an alien medium are aware of their native culture. The  veteran writers like Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan, Raja Rao, Manohar Malgonkar and others indianized the English language. The works of these writers are, undoubtedly, imbued with contemporary social and political issues. The new writers like  Arun Joshi, Vikram Seth, Amitav Ghosh, Manju Kapur, Gita Mehta and Leila Seth show  their concern for the tribulations of modern life.

            The present book contains 38 essays by teachers and scholars including Mahanand Sharma, S.K. Sharma, Ramesh K. Srivastava, Sunita Agarwal, Sudarshan Sharma, to name just a few. Mahanand Sharma’s paper on traditional poetry expostulates the revolutionising power of traditional poetry. He writes, “It may be argued that poetry has to move with the times. No ! Poetry has a higher goal of elevating the people from what they are. With this object, it has to swim against the current of the times since human nature in all times is more inclined to materialism than spirituality.” He further adds, “The aim of poetry to elevate the people spiritually can be achieved by metre which is the backbone of traditional poetry.”

            The article by Prof. Shrawan K. Sharma studies the main features of the Pre-Independence and Post-Independence Indian Poetry in English. Prof. Ramesh K. Srivastava’s illuminating essay, “Comic Touches in Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies : Stories of Bengal, Boston and Beyond”, provides a new insight into this Pulitzer Prize winner’s famous work. Besides, there are various papers which discuss the feminine issues as raised by many Indian English writers in their works. The  most notable part of the book is that it includes the essays on the works of the emerging literary figures like    Gita Mehta, Krishna Srinivas and Leila Seth.

            I hope that the book will prove to be a great help to researchers, students and those who are curious to know about the fast-growing corpus of Indian English Literature which is now-a-days internationally acclaimed for its multidimensional approach.