Poetcrit
Current Volume: 37 (2024 )
ISSN: 0970-2830
Periodicity: Half-Yearly
Month(s) of Publication: January & July
Subject: Language & Literature
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32381/POET
Online Access is Free for all Life Members of Poetcrit
Gandhian Views and Visions in Indian Fictions in English
By : Amar Nath Prasad
Page No: 92-100
Abstract
Indo-Anglian Fictions, Particularly the fictions of the thirties, are immensely influenced by the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi, who fought for the cause of the under-privileged classes, the have-nots and the downtrodden, the marginalized and the defenseless. Apart from many other things these writers have mirrored the various incidents and happenings of the life and activities of Mahatma Gandhi in particular and the contemporary social and political, economic and religious upheavals in general. But their works, as we shall see, are not simply the collection of historical facts or events, they are highly literary saturated with poetic grandeur and artistic craftsmanship. Among the works dealing with the theme of either Gandhi or the contemporary freedom struggle are Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable (1935), Raja Rao’s Kanthapura (1938), K.S.Venkataramani’s Kandan the Patriot (1932), D.F.Karaka’s We Never Die (1944), Aamir Ali’s Conflict (1947), Venu Chitali’s In Transit (1950), K.A.Abbas’s Inqilab (1955), R.K.Narayan’s Waiting for the Mahatma (1956), Nayantara Sahgal’s A Time to Be Happy (1955), and K.Nagarajan’s Chronicles of Dekagram (1961).The present paper is a critical appraisal of the Gandhian attitudes and visions as employed in most of the writings of Indian novelists in English.
Author :
Dr. Amar Nath Prasad: Professor and Head, PG Dept. of English, Jai Prakash University, Chapra (Bihar).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32381/POET.2024.37.02.12