Chapter one
Anita Desai as a novelist
Anita Desai is one of the most powerful and distinguished Indian English novelists. She has an extraordinary sharpness and penetration of vision. Her writings have drawn world-wide critical attention. Anita Desai has added a new dimension to the Indian English fiction: the exploration of human psyche. She is endowed with searching psychological insight and often peeps into the inner recesses of the psyche, rather than merely presenting the outer spectacle of the world; the creative field of imagination is her unfailing reserve. Cry, the Peacock, Anita Desai's first novel, has been described as a trendsetter in the field of psychoanalytical realism. It explores the inner world of the main protagonist, Maya, …show more content…
The man woman relationship is based on different types of social, personal and emotional needs. „Marriage‟ as Anita Desai shows is merely an adjustment rather than an involvement. She projects on her experiences, her awareness of man, society, human and moral dilemmas. The purpose of her novel is to study the matrimonial crisis “The hazards and complexities of man-woman relationships, the founding of individuality and the establishing of individualism of her characters” in “Cry the Peacock”. Marriage is a necessary bond in man‟s life which has its foundation in understanding between man and woman. As a novelist she doesn‟t represent the futility of marriage but explores the psyche of the female characters through marriage. She portrays the inherent disparity in male and female characters. Females are emotional whereas men rational. Women have shown to be emotionally as well culturally dependent on their mates; any loss in relationship becomes a total loss of self. Anita Desai has explored man woman relationship in “Cry the Peacock”. Anita Desai has mastered the technique of telling the untold, mute, psychosomatic miseries of women particularly of married women .Desai‟s fictional world consist of the inner conflicts, visions of the characters, particularly female characters. In her approach she is influenced Emily Bronte, D.H.Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, Henry James and Japanese writer Kawa Bata. Her novels present a ceaseless quest for a meaningful life by educated, sensitive woman. In Desai‟s novels the rejection in childhood or over-pampering creates psychological blocks in the way of maturity and healthy interpersonal relationship in adult life. In her novels the girl marry because of her parents wishes and latter on judges her husband according to her intellect and find him inadequate and takes her own path (suicide) by Maya. The theme has been as old as the novel itself and can be found in Richardson and Fielding, D.H. Lawerence, Virginia Woolf, Hemingway and
Anita Desai as a novelist
Anita Desai is one of the most powerful and distinguished Indian English novelists. She has an extraordinary sharpness and penetration of vision. Her writings have drawn world-wide critical attention. Anita Desai has added a new dimension to the Indian English fiction: the exploration of human psyche. She is endowed with searching psychological insight and often peeps into the inner recesses of the psyche, rather than merely presenting the outer spectacle of the world; the creative field of imagination is her unfailing reserve. Cry, the Peacock, Anita Desai's first novel, has been described as a trendsetter in the field of psychoanalytical realism. It explores the inner world of the main protagonist, Maya, …show more content…
The man woman relationship is based on different types of social, personal and emotional needs. „Marriage‟ as Anita Desai shows is merely an adjustment rather than an involvement. She projects on her experiences, her awareness of man, society, human and moral dilemmas. The purpose of her novel is to study the matrimonial crisis “The hazards and complexities of man-woman relationships, the founding of individuality and the establishing of individualism of her characters” in “Cry the Peacock”. Marriage is a necessary bond in man‟s life which has its foundation in understanding between man and woman. As a novelist she doesn‟t represent the futility of marriage but explores the psyche of the female characters through marriage. She portrays the inherent disparity in male and female characters. Females are emotional whereas men rational. Women have shown to be emotionally as well culturally dependent on their mates; any loss in relationship becomes a total loss of self. Anita Desai has explored man woman relationship in “Cry the Peacock”. Anita Desai has mastered the technique of telling the untold, mute, psychosomatic miseries of women particularly of married women .Desai‟s fictional world consist of the inner conflicts, visions of the characters, particularly female characters. In her approach she is influenced Emily Bronte, D.H.Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, Henry James and Japanese writer Kawa Bata. Her novels present a ceaseless quest for a meaningful life by educated, sensitive woman. In Desai‟s novels the rejection in childhood or over-pampering creates psychological blocks in the way of maturity and healthy interpersonal relationship in adult life. In her novels the girl marry because of her parents wishes and latter on judges her husband according to her intellect and find him inadequate and takes her own path (suicide) by Maya. The theme has been as old as the novel itself and can be found in Richardson and Fielding, D.H. Lawerence, Virginia Woolf, Hemingway and