New Woman in
Indian Literature: From Covert to Overt
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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