Lanterna Rally

Author: Dr. Varsha P. Zanwar

Publisher: RUT Printer and Publisher

Published: 2014-01-07

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 8192437698

Virginia Woolf was a talented and indefatigable writer. She was a very serious and conscious artist, interested more in the life of the mind - in sensation, thoughts, feelings, intuitions - than in the life of external action. Being an artist of great insight and penetration, she painted a picture of real life as she saw it. In her desire to paint reality she broke with the traditions and conventions of the 19th century novel. Anita Desai is also an indisputably one of the most powerful and distinguished contemporary Indian novelists in English. A novelist of considerable merit, Anita Desai has enriched the tradition of the Indian novel in English. She is a conscious artist of a high order and her concern for human has imparted profound appeal to her novels. Anita Desai, in contrast with other women novelists is more interested in the interior landscape of the mind, the thought than in political and social realities. Thus, Virginia Woolf and Anita Desai are two great artists in the realm of English fiction. Both are rooted in two totally different milieus, yet the works of two share not only in structure and themes but also in imagery, style and technique. The study of the impact of Virginia Woolf on Anita Desai provides a very fascinating and rewarding experience. Anita Desai and Virginia Woolf have taken deep interest in depicting the family structure. These two writers have their thematic nexus on the familial relationship. It is the depiction of the familial relationships, which binds the two novelists with each other in a strong bond. Though these two great writers, Woolf and Desai are from two different centuries and countries, the works of two shares in the structure, themes like loneliness, isolation, death etc. and imagery. Also, in the novels of both, there is a major role of ‘time and memory’. This book makes a modest attempt to focus attention upon the impact of Woolf on Desai. In both Woolf and Desai, we find an almost obsessive involvement with the characters’ past as a key to their consciousness, their lives. A pre-occupation with nostalgia and memory thus becomes an integral part of their craft. But these are not used as things in themselves. They are used artistically both for thematic as well as formal purposes. A careful study of the novels makes us understand how they are made to function as artistic tools. This book particularly, highlights the impact of Virginia Woolf on Anita Desai, with respect to three novels of each. These are - I) Mrs. Dalloway and Cry, the Peacock II) To the Lighthouse and Clear Light of Day III) The Waves and Fire on the Mountain I record my gratefulness to the principal of J.E.S. College, Jalna- Dr. R. S. Agrawal, Head of the Department of English- M.A. Sami Siddiqui for support and encouragement at every stage of my work. I also offer my sincere thanks to the senior teachers of my Department for their valuable suggestions. I feel deeply to put into words my sense of thankfulness to my parents and family. I am thankful to Rut Printer and Publisher and Dr. U. P. Mogle for the valuable work help to design and print. Dr. Varsha P. Zanwar