Dominic, K. V., ed. Critical Studies on Contemporary Indian English Women Writers. New Delhi: Sarup Book Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 2010. Pp. 336 + xx. Rs. 1100/- Hardbound. ISBN-978-81-7625-631-5.
DC Chambial
The book under review by Dr. K. V. Dominic has 27 essays by 24 eminent critics of Indian English literature on about 12 Indian English writers: novelists, and poets. There are four essays on Anita Desai, two on Kamala Markandaya, two on Kamala Das, three on Shashi Deshpande, two on Arundhati Roy, two on Bharati Mukherjee, one each on Jaishree Mishra, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Kiran Desai, Smita Tiwari, Chandramoni Narayanswamy, and Charmayne D’Souza. There is also one article that makes a comparative study of world women poets. Linda Lowen and Jaydeep Sarangi interview respectively Sarojini Sahoo and Rizio Yohanan Raj. V. Ramesh has three and Sudhir Arora two articles in this anthology. Besides, there is also a ‘Preface’ by the editor, Prof. Dominic, doctorate on the fiction of RK Narayan, is, himself, a poet and critic of wide renown.
The editor, in his ‘Preface’ to this book, is very clear about his perception about the Indian English women writers. He writes: “Indian writing in English is . . . both an Indian literature and a variety of English literature. It has an appeal both to Indians and English men” (v). He further adds: “Indian English women writers have made a phenomenal contribution to Indian literature as well as world literature. They are able to portray a world that has in it women rich in substance. The women in their works are real flesh-and-blood protagonists who make the readers look at them with awe with their relationships to their surroundings, their society, their men, their children, their families, their mental make-ups and themselves” (x-xi).
Novelists & Story writers
The book undertakes the study of 11 women novelists: Anita