UNIT 34 THE INDIAN XNGLISH NOVEL Structure Objectives Introduction Early lndian Writers in English Three Significant Novelists Post Independence Novelists Women Novelists Let Us Sum Up Answers to Self Check Exercises f 34.0 OBJECTIVES I This unit will deal with the lndian English novel. It will introduce you to the various phases of the development of the lndian English novel. To give you an overview of the development of the lndian English novel, we also give you a ' 'brief idea of the life and works of the major contributions to the development of this genre. By the end of the unit you will have a fair understanding of the phases in the development of the lndian English novel. 34.1 INTRODUCTION i 'The novel as a literary phenomenon is new to India. The novel came to life in I Rengal and then to other parts of India i.e. Madras and Bombay. Today lndian English novelists (whether living in India or abroad) are in the forefront I of New English Literatures worldwide. The names that immediately come to mind are Salman Rushdie, Vikram Seth, Amitabh Ghosh, Arundhati Roy, Upamanyu Chatterjee, Amit Chaudhari and from the older lot Anita Desai and Nayantara Sehgal. I 34.2 EARLY INDIAN WRITERS IN ENGLISH Rajmohan's Wife (I 864) was the first and only English novel that Bankim Chandra Chatterjee (1 838-94) wrote. 'Though Rajmohan 's Wife is not considered a very good novel, it established Bankim's place as the father of the novel in India. His novels Durgesh Nandini, Kapal Kundala, Vishmrik~ha, Krishana Kantar, Anandmath, Devi Chaudhrani along with others appeared between 1866 and 1886 and some of them appeared later in English versions. Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) began writing by imitating Bankim before he found his, own voice. He achieved popularity more as a poet than as a nov~list. His poem Gitanjali was his finest achievement in English verse writing. His novels Nauknkhadubi (1905) appeared as The Wreck in the English version, Cora (1910) retained the same title in English. Ghare Baire (1916) was given the title The Home and the World in its English translation. Ghare Baire/ The Home and the World is set in revolutionary Bengal in 1905. The Novel : Toru Dutt (1 856-1 877) also experimented with the novel in Bianca /The A Retrospective Young Spanish Maiden (1 878) around the same period. She wrote a number of poems and tried her hand in novel writing with Bianca soon after Bankim wrote the first lndian English novel Rajmohan'.~ Wife. Hence, Toru Dutt is also considered to have contributed to the birth of the novel in India. Though the novel was not very successful it is considered a significant contribution to the birth of novel writing in India. From the middle of the nineteenth century up to the end there were some stray novels that continued to appear, mostly by writers from Bengal and Madras. With the beginning of the 2oth Century some substantial novelists began to appear. One of them Romesh Chander Dutt cousin of Toru Dutt began writing novels in Bengali as advised by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. He was born in 1848 and chose civil services as his career, at the same time found time for his scholarly undertakings. His contribution to lndian historical fiction is very significant. He translated two of his Bengali novels into English The Lake of Palms (1 902) and The Slave-girl of Agra (1 902). K S Venkataramani (1891-1952) from the Madras Presidency wrote Murugan rhe Tiller published in (1927) which won great popularity in India. The theme, and characters in this novel reminds us of the earlier novels of Premchand. Murugan the Tiller portrays the life of peasants, idealises the lndian village and propagates Gandhian ideas. Exercise I 1. Name the first novel written in English in India. Who was its author? 2. When was Ghare Baire written? What was its title in the English translation? 3. Which novel of Toru Dutt is considered to have also contributed to the birth of the novel in India? Who is the protagonist of the novel? 4. Who influenced Romesh Chander Dutt to write novels in Bengali? Which were the two novels he translated into English? 34.3 THREE SIGNIFICANT NOVELISTS The most significant event in the history of lndian English fiction in the nineteen thirties was the appearance of the major trio: Mulk Raj Anand, R K Narayan and Raja Rao. Mulk Raj Anand has to his credit, sixteen novels, twelve collections of short stories, more than twenty-five books on art and The I'ndiun English other general subjects and a large number of articles. He was a novelist with a Novel social commitment. Contemporary writers in lndian languages influenced him largely. Here Premchand and Tagore's writing come to mind. His philosophical training had made him receptive to the thoughts of a number of western thinkers of his time. Anand's love for working people is seen in his creative works where his protagonists are sweepers, coolies and plantation workers. This was a new phenomenon in lndian Literature. His characters, homeless Munoo in ('oolie, an untouchable in Rakha or an indentured labourer like Gangu are all victims of cruelty and exploitation portraying the grim working conditions of the people, a true pictiwe of contemporary India. Untouchable published in 1935 describes the single day in the life of Bakha living in an outcaste' colony of a north lndian Cantonment town. The single day brings him his torments and makes the reader realise the painful life of the down trodden, suggesting in the end alternative solutions to his problems. The novel ends with Bakha alone in his thoughts, very confused. In his novel Coolie (1936) Anand turns another class ofthe under-privileged, the poor. His TIYOLeaves and a Bzrd (1937) is essentially a dramatic novel, set in a plantation in Assam. His other important novels are Two Leaves and a Bud (1937), The Village (1 939), Across the Black Waters ( 1 940) The Sword and the Sickle (1 942) and Private Life of an Indian Prince (1 953). R K Narayan (1 96 1 -200 1 ) born in Mysore in 1907 was a full time writer all his life making a living only through writing. His literary output is rich and varied with fifteen novels. five collections of short stories, two travel books, four collection of essays, a memoir through his popularity largely came from his novels. He is essentially an apolitical novelist who simply likes to capture life in its richness and variety. His novels offer a blend of gentle irony and fellow feeling. Narayan's novels are seemingly simple in surface but they conceal sad complexity. His writing is mostly comic but once in a while somber moments also come in from time to time. There is a philosophical side also to his novels because the lndian world-view is mostly reflected in them. Most of his novels and stories are set in the fictional town of Malgudi, ths imaginary landscape inhabited by the characters of his novels. 'This small town of Malgudi is a reflection of an lndian society with a variety of cultures, superstitions and values with features of most of the towns of southern India. His story Swami and friends set in this small town received recognition in India as well as publicity in England and the United States of America. His othei novel adding to his reputation is the Vendor 9fSweets (1967). H K NarayanTs other novels are Swami and Friends (1 935), The Dark Room ( 1 93 8). The English Teacher ( 1 949, Mr. Samput- The Printer of Malgudi ( 1949). The Financial Expert (1 952), Waiting for The Mahatn~a(1 955). The Man-eater of Malgudi (196 1 ), The Painter of Signs (1 976). A Tiger for Malgudi ( 1 983), Talkative Man (1 986). The World of' Nagaraj ( 1990) and Grmd Mother 's Tale ( 1 993). Ra~aRao (1909-) was born in 1909 in a Brahmin family and educated in Mysore, Madras and Europe. For many years he divided his time in India, Europe and United States. Both his novels Kanthupur~i (1938) and The Serpent and the Rope (1 960) talk about the national movement. The Cat and Shukcspeare (1965) is a metaphysical comedy that answered philosophical questions put in the earlier novels. His novel Comrade Killer The Novel : (1976) deals with a South Indian Brahmin Kirllev's vicws on communism, the A Retrospective British War the Indian Freedom Struggle etc. In his last novel The C'he.ss Master and His Moves (1988) Rao uses his metaphor of the chess game to animate philosophical ideas. In his first novel Kanthapura Raja Rao, is able to successfully bring out the impact ofGandhi and his ideas in a small Mysore village. The narrator an old woman tells us about life in the village, narrating the story in garrulous and digressive style bringing in narration, description, religious discourses, poetry, folk lore, history and legend together. Kanthapura in a sense is a work of realism in fiction yet it is not purely realistic. It is combined with myths, gods and goddesses, blind superstitions and mysterious insights. This novel is an excellent piece of work that includes few significant events of history in contemporary India like Salt Murch of Gandhi his hunger strikes, his arrest and the brutal massacre by the police of the people participating in the Satya Graha. thus giving them a sense of immorality. Exercise 11 1. Name the three significant novelists writing in English in the nineteen thirties.