Question

Biographical elements in works of kamala markendaya

Answer 1

Any world is to be explored, whether real or fictional: What is worthy to be explored, is worthy to be exposed. About literature and society, Rene Wellek writes: Literature is a social institution, using its medium language, a social creation. . . . but further more, Literature represents 'Life', and 'Life' is in a large measure, a social reality, even though the natural world and the inner or the subjective world of the individual have also been objects of literary "imitation". As a member of society, adds Wellek, "A writer inevitably expresses his experience and total conception of life". (95) A creative artist is not merely a member of the society as others are, but a representative of the society. He can not shut his eyes to the happenings of the society, become numb to the sufferings of his fellow beings and be a passive listener or an indifferent observer of what is happening around him and become immune to the degradation of values in society. It is a proven truth and a time honoured reality that most of the creative artists are deeply concerned about the sufferings and shortcomings of the society. Greatly moved by the misery of the common people, they react in different ways: some of them simply expose the pitiable state of the people, some others voice against the causes of the problems, and yet others, boldly fight against the evils in the society, and to remove them, if not abolish them from society. A novelist is first and foremost an individual with a personal vision. But he is a personality living in a specific period of time, in a specific place, in a specific social environment. He is an individual and a member of the society and society will inevitably play its part in his or her fiction. The novelists may in sympathy with his social environment, or in rebellion against it, try to reject it, but its picture will be there. Kamala Markandaya is one of the most prominent Indian English novelists. She has dealt with epoch making events that brought about a sea-change in the socio economic scenario of the Indian society. She used the English language through the medium of her novels as an instrument to alleviate the social imbalance and injustice in the Indian society. Kamala Markandaya's novels are a microcosm of India. They centre on the dictum that art must have a social purpose and she depicts the life of a man or a woman in relation to society and to destiny. As a novelist, she is sharply conscious of the contemporary socio-economic realities, as they affect the lives of millions of Indians and add to their misery and indignity. A creative writer makes his or her own world. This creation may be a far cry from the actual world or a partial modification or a 2 convincing replica of it. It often happens that when events of great importance take place in a country they are reflected or echoed in its literature. As K.R.Srinivasa Iyengar points out, "it is in literature that the heart beats of a nation are heard". (2) Kamala Markandaya, born Kamala Purnaiya, is one of such novelists with an abundant concern for society, troubled in thought and pained at heart over the sufferings of the society and humanity as a whole. But because of her long stay in England, she is often classified as an expatriate writer. However, Syed Amanuddin, in "Trans National Sensibility: Random Thoughts," says that, when contacted in connection with a special issue of The Journal of Indian English Writing on expatriate writers Kamala Markandaya wrote to him, "I do not think of myself as an expatriate writer. All my thought processes are Indian, my parentage, religion and schooling are Indian . . [sic] all my formative factors are Indian (4). Pre-occupied with controversies like whether she is an insider-outsider or not, whether her sensibility is Indian or English, and whether she writes for an Indian audience or a western one, most critics and scholars have not paid sufficient attention to the study of her characters, in the light of her high sense of social concern. That's why this study entitled, "Dreams and Realities in the Novels of Kamala Markandaya" tries to examine the social realism that reveals a continuous struggle between