The Indian Imagination: Critical Essays on Indian Writing in English

278 Pages·2000·31.25 MB·English

by  K. D. Verma (auth.)

The Indian Imagination •

The Indian Imagination
Critical Essays on Indian Writing in English
K. D. Verma
Palgrave Macmillan
THE INDIAN IMAGINATION
Copyright© K. D. Verma, 2000.All rights reserved.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2000 978-0-312-21139-4
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin's
Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
ISBN 978-1-349-61825-5 ISBN 978-1-349-61823-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-1-61823-1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Verma,K.D.
The Indian imagination : critical essays on Indian
writing in English I K. D. Verma.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Indic literature (English)-20th century
History and criticism. 2. India-In literature.
I. Tide.
PR9489.6.V46 2000
820.9'954'0904-dc21
99-057757
First edition: May, 2000
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 .3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments vn
Preface ix
1. Indian Writing in English: Structure of Consciousness,
Literary History and Critical Theory 1
2. Sri Aurobindo as a Poet: A Reassessment 31
3. The Social and Political Vision of Sri Aurobindo 47
4. Sri Aurobindo as a Critic 61
5. Mulk Raj Anand: A Reappraisal 83
6. Ideological Confrontation and Synthesis in
Mulk Raj Anand's Conversations in Bloomsbury 105
7. Balachandra Rajan's The Dark Dancer: A Critical Reading 125
8. Myth and Imagery in Nissim Ezekiel's The Unfinished Man:
A Critical Reading 149
9. Humanity Defrauded: Notes toward a Reading of
Anita Desai's Baumgartner's Bombay 163
10. Alienation, Identity and Structure in
Arun Joshi's The Apprentice 189
11. Metaphysics and Metastructure of Appearance
and Reality in Arun Joshi's The Last Labyrinth 203
Notes 211
Index 264

Acknowledgments
J
ournal of South Asian Literature, Michigan State University, for permission
to use the revised versions of the following papers: "Myth and Imagery
in Nissim Ezekiel's The Unfinished Man: A Critical Reading," Journal if
South Asian Literature 11.3-4 (1976); "Balachandra Raj an's The Dark Dancer:
A Critical Reading," Journal if South Asian Literature 22.2 (1987); "Observa
tions," Journal of South Asian Literature 24.1 (1989); "Sri Aurobindo as a Poet:
A Reassessment," Journal of South Asian Literature 24.1 (1989); and "Ideo
logical Confrontation and Synthesis in Mulk Raj Anand's Conversations in
Bloomsbury," Journal if South Asian Literature 29.2 (1994). The Toronto South
Asian Review to reprint the revised version of"The Social and Political Vi
sion of Sri Aurobindo," The Toronto South Asian Review 8.3 (1990). The In
ternational Fiction Review, University of New Brunswick, for permission to
reprint the revised version of"The Metaphysics and Metastructure of Ap
pearance and Reality in Arun Joshi's The Last Labyrinth," The International
Fiction Review 21 (1994). Ariel:A Review of International English Literature, the
Board of Governors and the University of Calgary for permission to reprint
the revised version of "Alienation, Identity and Structure in Arun Joshi's
The Apprentice," Ariel 22.1 (1991). South Asian Review for permission to use
"Understanding Mulk Raj Anand: An Introduction," South Asian Review
15.12 (1991). Littcrit, University of Kerala, for permission to reprint the
augmented version of"Sri Aurobindo as a Critic," Littcrit 22.2 (1996).Anita
Desai, the author, and William Heinemann, Publisher, to quote from Baum
gartner's Bombay by Anita Desai. Vision Books and the Joshi Foundation for
permission to quote from The Apprentice and The Last Labyrinth by Arun
Joshi. Mulk Raj Anand and Arnold-Heinemann Publishers for permission
to quote from Conversations in Bloomsbury by Mulk Raj Anand. Nissim
Ezekiel and Writers Workshop, Calcutta, for permission to quote from The
Unfinished Man by Nissim Ezekiel. Simon & Schuster for permission to
quote from The Dark Dancer by Balachandra Rajan. Copyright © 1986 by
Balachandra Rajan. Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust for permission to quote
from Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library Edition if the Collected TM!rks.

Preface
T
he Indian Imagination is a study in the structure of consciousness of
the colonized and decolonized imagination in a broad sociohis
torical and cultural context. The fundamental conception of con
sciousness as liberty, whether one invokes the definition of consciousness
ad advanced by Hegel, Nietzsche or Aurobindo, is essentially moral and
philosophical. Any authentic inscription oflndia presupposes a direct con
frontation with the moral and philosophical incongruities and unresolv
abilities of history. Thus the sociohistorical and sociopsychological process
of confrontation-and of a possible synthesis-must include, amongst
other things, the narcissistic incursions of the imperial imagination, the
newly formulated aspirations of the emerging civil societies and the char
acteristic representations of the decolonized imagination. If it is significant
to invoke Fanon's psychoanalytical presumptions about the colonial situa
tion, it must also be equally significant to examine the psychological for
mulations of the postcolonial mind. Can Art and Time mediate between
various oppositional strands and affect some sort of cathartic symbiosis? In
the idealistic imagination of the poet of Savitri, the awakening of Satyavan
from the death-state is allegorical of the awakening ofhumanity. Can India
aspire to that level of Aurobindo's vision?
Amongst the numerous moral and philosophical unresolvabilities that
this work has tried to address are the British imperial possession of India,
the Indian struggle for independence, the partition of India and the estab
lishment of new India as a free nation. Ironically, the independence oflndia
was yoked to the partition of the country. But one of the cruelest and in
errable barbarities of history-the large-scale massacre of men, women and
children-still remains the severest indictment of the neuroses of a civil so
ciety. It is not surprising that Mulk Raj Anand's Bakha in Untouchable and
Munoo in Coolie are metaphors of universal human oppression and suffer
ing. Needless to say that the intellectual debate on the British colonization
of India and the dissolution of the imperial governance is not as yet fully
concluded. In examining the legacy of the European intellectual thought