New Woman in
Indian Literature: From Covert to Overt
Available
on
FOREWORD
The book New Woman in Indian Literature: From Covert to
Overt, a collection of essays from authors from across the Indian nation state
and edited by Mr. Dipak Giri, is a brave attempt at mapping representation of
the Indian woman condition and the transitional nature of Indian society in
Indian literature. Such representations in the narratives of writers as diverse
as Manju Kapur, Mahasweta Devi, Kavery Nambisan, Shobha De, Chitra Divakurni,
Ismat Chugtai, Nayantara Sahgal, Anita Nair, Gita Hariharan, Shashi Deshpande,
Bharati Mukherjee is fascinating to say the least. The only male writer who has
found a place in this volume that, inscribes representation of new women of India
is Mahesh Dattani. It is significant that Dattani espouses a queer position and
is, therefore, more sensitive to the fluidity of gender boundaries. A few poets
such as Kamala Das and Kishwar Naheed also make the cut.
The edited volume introduces some fairly dense and complex
concepts, such as the ‘new woman’, ‘Indian literature’ and the
‘representational journey of such a new woman from a camouflaged to a more
visible position in such literature’, as the frame argument. Such complex and
interwoven concepts require more rigorous examination. While the essays are
individually well written and well argued, and the national perspective
achieved both in terms of author choice and choice of the essay writers, the
book would have done better if it had spared more time and space to discuss
these dense frame concepts.
The book New Woman in Indian Literature will serve the
purpose of introducing gender issues to scholars and students alike and give
them an opportunity to re-examine the figure of the new woman in India, as
represented in contemporary Indian literature. I congratulate Mr. Dipak Giri
for his efforts.
Nandini
Bhattacharya
Prof and Head
Department of English and Culture Studies
The University of Burdwan
West Bengal
Prof and Head
Department of English and Culture Studies
The University of Burdwan
West Bengal
CONTENTS
Foreword
Introduction
1. Assertive
Nature of Modern Women as a Threat to Indian Traditional Practices: A Study of
Select Women Protagonists of Manju Kapur -Prof.
D. Amalraj
2. Educational
Empowerment of Anupama in Sudha Murty’s Mahashweta
-
Dr. Sindhu V. Jose
3. The
Life Lived for Oneself: A Reading of Kavery Nambisan’s Mango Coloured Fish
-Anmona Bora
4.
From
Rejection to Reaction: Generalization of New Women in Shobha De’s Novel Socialite
Evenings - Yasmeena
Jan & Dr. Shachi Sood
5.
The Magic of the Mistress and the Spices: New Woman in
Divakaruni’s Mistress of Spices - Anila Chandran
6.
New Woman in Manju Kapur’s Home –Dr. Romina Rashid
7.
Language of Desire and Expression
of Female Sexuality in the Stories of Ismat Chughtai -Dr. Prachi Priyanka
8.
From Women as Objects to Women as
People- A Revisionist Study of Nayantara Sehgal’s Rich Like Us -Asma Zahoor
9.
From Physical Journey to the
Journey into Female Consciousness:
An Analysis of Anita Nair’s Ladies Coupe
-Shazia Qadri
10. Exploring the Language of Women in The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
-Ragini Kapoor
11. In
Times of Siege: Githa Hariharan’s Vision for Modern Women in Her Portrayal of
Women -Mohd Ishaq Bhat
12. Breaking
the Mute Mumbling Image of a Woman: A Study of Manju Kapur’s Difficult Daughters and A Married Woman -Dr. Vishali Sharma
13. The
Platform Where We Are Standing Now: A Study of Qurratulain Hyder’s Sita Betrayed and Chitra Banerjee
Divakaruni’s The Palace of Illusions -Ankita Dutta
14. Patriarchal Misconception of Women: A Study of
Kishwar Naheed’s Poem I Am Not That Woman -Meera S. Menon
15. Shashi
Deshpande’s That Long Silence: The
Re-awakening of Women through the Discovery of Their True Identity -Rosu
Jojo
16. Emancipation of Womanhood through Vocation of New Man: A Study
of Kamala Das’s Select Poems -Alik Jha
17. Emergence of a “New Woman”, Building Their Own Niche, Rebelling
against Being Man’s Shadow Self in Shobhaa De’s Socialite Evenings, Starry
Nights and Second Thoughts -Indrani Choudhuri
18. Defying
the ‘Difficulties’: A Study of the ‘New Women’ in Manju Kapur’s Difficult Daughters -Samar Sutradhar
19. Women
through the Eyes of Modern Women Writers -Priyabrata Dey Sarkar
20. Sujata’s Shell Break from Apolitical to Political: A
Study of Mahasweta
Devi’s Mother of 1084 -Anindita
Datta
21. A
Study of Mahasweta Devi’s Bayen
in the Light of Existentialism
-Amrita Datta
22. Discovering the Real Selves in Anita Nair’s Ladies Coupe -Tinku Das
23. From
Covert to Overt: Emergence of New Woman in Shashi Deshpande’s That Long Silence -Saurabh Debnath
24. Deconstructing
Stereotypical Construct of Womanhood: A Study of Exploring New Woman in Bharati
Mukherjee’s Novel Miss New India -Shyamal
kumar Saha
25. Journey
from Traditional Jasmine to Modern Individual Jane: A Close Study of Transformation
of Woman in Bharati Mukherjee’s Jasmine
-Rabindra Sutradhar
26. Redefining
Feminine Identity through Subversion of Hegemonic Masculinity: A Study of
Mahesh Dattani’s Bravely Fought the Queen
-Dipak Giri
Notes
on the Contributors
NOTES ON THE CONTRIBUTORS
1. D.
Amalraj is a Retired
Professor of English. He formerly worked as a Lecturer at C. Kandasamy Naidu
College for Men at Chennai, a Selection Grade Lecturer in Kandasamy Kandar
College at Paramathy Velur, Namakkal District and acted as the Head cum
Research Supervisor in the Department of English at Vivekananda College of Arts
and Sciences for Women at Elayampalayam in Tiruchengode, Namakkal District.
Then on request, he had to work as a Part-time Professor in the Department of
English at Bishop Appasamy College in Coimbatore.
2. Dr. Sindhu V. Jose
is a Head and Assistant Professor of English at Padmavani Arts and Science
College for Women, Salem, Tamil Nadu.
3. Anmona Bora
is a Vice Principal, JB College (Autonomous), Jorhat, Assam.
4. Yasmeena Jan
is a Research Scholar, Department of English, Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah
University, Rajouri, J&K.
5. Dr. Shachi Sood
is an Assistant Professor, Department of English, Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah
University, Rajouri, J&K.
6. Anila
Chandran is an Assistant
Professor, Department of English, NSS College for Women, Neeramankara,
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
7. Dr. Romina Rashid is an Assistant
Professor, Department of English, Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University, Rajouri,
J&K.
8. Dr. Prachi Priyanka
is an Assistant Professor, School of Languages & Culture, Sharda
University, Greater Noida (U.P.).
9. Asma
Zahoor is a Research Scholar, Department
of English, Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University, Rajouri, J&K.
10. Shazia Qadri
is a Research Scholar, Department of English, Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah
University, Rajouri, J&K.
11. Ragini Kapoor
is a Ph. D. Research Scholar, Department of Modern Indian Languages and
Literary Studies, Delhi University, New Delhi.
12. Mohd Ishaq Bhat is
a Ph.D. Scholar, Department of
English, University of Kashmir, Hazratbal, Srinagar, J & K.
13. Dr. Vishali Sharma
is a Ph.D. Awardee, Department of
English, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra, J&K.
14. Ankita Dutta
is a Ph.D. Scholar, Department of
English, Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
15. Meera
S. Menon is a Student of
English Literature, PSGR Krishnammal College, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu.
16. Rosu Jojo
is a Student of M.A. (English), St. Joseph’s College, Irinjalakuda, Kerala.
17. Alik Jha is
a Ph. D. Research Scholar, Department of English, Raiganj University, Raiganj,
Uttar Dinajpur (W.B.).
18. Indrani
Choudhuri is a Ph. D. Research Scholar, Department
of English, Raiganj University, Raiganj, Uttar Dinajpur (W.B.).
19. Samar Sutradhar is an Assistant Teacher, Banarhat High
School, Jalpaiguri, West Bengal. Formerly he served in the same post at
Bairatiguri High School, Dhupguri, Jalpaiguri, West Bengal. He is also a Guest Lecturer,
Rabindra Bharati University (DDE), Sukanta Mahavidyalaya Study Centre, Dhupguri,
Jalpaiguri, West Bengal.
20. Priyabrata Dey Sarkar is
a Lecturer, Department of English, Sukanta Mahavidyalaya, Dhupguri, West
Bengal.
21. Anindita
Datta is a
Guest Lecturer, Department of
English, Cooch Behar College, Cooch Behar, West Bengal.
22. Amrita Datta
is an Assistant Teacher in Mowamari Tattanath Vidyapith (H.S), Cooch Behar and
a Ph. D. Research Scholar, Department of English, Raiganj University, Raiganj,
Uttar Dinajpur (W.B.). She is an Academic Counsellor, Cooch Behar College Study
Centre, NSOU, West Bengal. She was formerly Part Time Lecturer, Vivekananda
College, Alipurduar and Academic Counsellor, A.B.N Seal College Study Centre,
IGNOU, Cooch Behar, West Bengal.
23. Tinku Das is
an Assistant Teacher, Uttar Khapaidanga High School, Cooch Behar, West Bengal.
He is an Academic Counsellor, Netaji Subhash Open University, Cooch Behar
College Study Centre, Cooch Behar, West Bengal.
24. Saurabh Debnath
is an Assistant Teacher, Pundibari Ramgopal Lakhotia High School, Cooch Behar,
West Bengal. He is an Academic Counsellor, Netaji Subhash Open University,
Cooch Behar College Study Centre, Cooch Behar, West Bengal.
25. Shyamal kumar Saha is an Asst. Teacher, Mathurapur BSS High
School, Malda, West Bengal and a Ph. D. Research Scholar, Raiganj
University, Raiganj, Uttar Dinajpur, West Bengal.
26. Rabindra Sutradhar is
an Assistant Teacher, Khirerkote High School (H.S.), Alipurduar, West Bengal.
27. Dipak
Giri is an Assistant Teacher, Katamari
High School (H.S.), Cooch Behar, West Bengal and a Ph. D. Research Scholar,
Raiganj University, Raiganj, Uttar Dinajpur, West Bengal. Besides he is an
Academic Counsellor, Netaji Subhas Open University, Cooch Behar College Study
Centre, Cooch Behar, West Bengal.