This paper attempts to analyze how the Indian novels are in a continuous quest for the Indian reality. The themes of the novels range from being a medium for social commentary to a pragmatic representation of the sociopolitical Indian reality, with the protagonists often struggling hard to come out of the constraints of society. The writers used the novel to project the `Indianness' through its men, manners, moments and milieu. With the alien tongue, the substance for the Indian fiction was already there in the subconsciousness of the writer, in the landscape, society, and culture. With Mulk Raj Anand, Raja Rao, and R K Narayan, the Indian English novel began its long voyage towards a separate identity of its own. While Narayan portrayed the Indian life scenario with all its whims in a light-hearted vein, Anand, with a realistic reflection of contemporary social reality, articulated the agony of the exploited class with profound sympathy. Raja Rao dealt with the metaphysical themes and man's spiritual pursuit of liberty. The emergence of the women writers has been a major achievement in the Indian literary setting. They tried to make sense of the changing new world and their novels have to be read against the backdrop of the Indian society which assigned only a secondary role to women.
They aptly reflected the changing feminine sensibility and a redefining of the conventional roles of the Indian woman. A concern for the changing Indian social scenario is seen in Kamala Markandaya. With an insider's eye Ruth Prawer Jhabvala projected an India oscillating between the Western thought and traditional values. Thus, the chronicle of Indian English novel is really the story of a changing India, and these novelists are all in quest of multiple and tantalizing reality.
Novel, according to Lionel Trilling (1969), is "a perpetual quest for reality", and the field of its exploration is manners that indicate the subtle nuances of individual characters and personalities caught in the web of society. Thus, the novel tends to be preoccupied with the problems of man as a social being—as a snob based himself on money, status and class. So, in a sense, it is rooted in a particular, recognizable milieu, and its primary function is to portray manners and social life resulting in the aesthetic delight of the readers. |
