Shobha De Research Articles

Liberal Feminism and Ruskin Bond: An Exploration of Bond’s Women World

Indian history has been a deponent of ups and downs in the position of women. In the Vedic era, they attained the highest place in society. Later in post-Vedic era they were accused of many disabilities and their freedom was banned. In middle age their position became very pathetic. So a necessity is felt for reconsideration of women's condition with the angle of Indian attitude. In contemporary age, many efforts are being done to resolve this social injustice. Indian intellectuals have been advocating for equal rights, equality, and co-operation between both genders for long ages, but it was in the British period when women uplift started. The result of all efforts made in this direction is that women have started to establish new dimensions in various areas, e.g., in education, politics, social, economic, administration, and in games and sports. In the literary area their contribution can also not be underestimated. Many female writers such as Arundhati Roy, Jhumpa Lahri, Shashi Despande, Shobha De and many others are raising their voices for women rights and women empowerment. Today women-deliberation has become a vivid question in every area of life so much that prominent male writers are also giving them a special niche in their writings. In male stream, Ruskin Bond is carrying this trend forward to maintain a balance between the two genders. The present paper is an endeavor to prove that Ruskin’s literature searches the way for women empowerment within democratic system.

Predicament of a Woman in Manju Kapur’s Home

Manju Kapur is an Indian novelist. She was born on 25th October 1948. She is an archetypal representative of the postcolonial women novelists. She was a professor of English Literature at her alma mater at Miranda House College, Delhi. But she is retired from there. She joined the growing number of Indian women novelists, who have contributed to the progression of Indian fiction i.e. Shashi Deshpande, Arundhati Roy, Kamla Das, Geetha Hariharan, Anita Nair, Shobha De. Her novels reflect the position of women in the patriarchal society and the problems of women for their longing struggle in establishing their identity as an autonomous being. Her works not only gives voice to the society’s effort to improve its women population but it is for every woman’s self–consciousness in order to improve the society. She has written five novels, Difficult Daughters (1998), A Married Woman (2002), Home (2006), The Immigrant (2008), and Custody (2011). Kapur’s most memorable female characters are Virmati, Astha, Nisha, Nina, Shagun and so many others. All of them strive to assert themselves. These characters give us a rare glimpse of modernized Indian women who are in their aggression may enter into a scandalous relationship with her married neighbor, the professor or develop lesbian relationship as Virmati does in Difficult Daughters and Astha in A Married Woman. But Nisha in Home is different from her predecessors.

Resilient Identity: Upheaval of Women in Shobha De's Fiction

Resilient Identity: Upheaval of Women in Shobha De's Fiction

Novels of Shashi Deshpande: A Study with Humanistic Perspectives

The crux of novels of Shashi Despande lies in the fact that, it’s not easy to sustain and survive as a woman with dignity in the patriarchal and tradition bound society. The venture may land them into tremendously disastrous situation. At the same time, the message communicated by Deshpande is loud and clear that they will not lie low suffering the pangs of their situation meekly. The protagonists would wage a war against the hostile human condition in which they are found trapped as if it were a cage. In this respect her writings are akin to the vision of Anita Desai unlike that of Arundhati Roy, Shobha De and Manju Kanpur. Despande and Anita Desai evolve a balance between traditional demands and circumstantial compulsions and renegotiate their will to transcend the facticity they are plagued with.

The true testaments of injustice towards women

The objective of this paper is to go through some personal narratives of women to hear their voices from within and to present coherence and draw parallelism in their thought process. It is done through a close reading of selected autobiographies of different era and area to understand their inner thoughts which voice against oppression and urge for an egalitarian society based on equality and gender justice. The paper attempts to contrast the selected women autobiographies of Helen Killer, Malala Yousufzai and Shobha De to showcase the desperate and dejected state of women, when devoid of their basic human rights which serve to be the change-makers of the society.

Concept of new woman in shobha de

Concept of new woman in shobha de

INTERCONNECTEDNESS OF WOMAN AND NATURE WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO WOMAN CHARACTER NANDA KAUL IN ANITA DESAI’S FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN

The paper focuses on the changing trends in Indian writing in English with special reference to Anita Desai. During the seventy years of its effective history Indian writing in English crossed many milestones and has come to be finally accepted as a major literature of the world. A new group of writers have arrived on the Indian scenario, for example - Anita Desai, Chaman Nahal, Kamala Markandaya, Arun Joshi,Dina Mehta, Salman Rushdie, Shobha De, Vandana Shiva, and the Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy and many more in list. Here I would like to focus on the new trend in Indian literature and that is ecofeminism as well as her portyal of woman characters in that context. A close reading of Anita Desai and her novels makes us aware of her novel is related to her own experiences and the reality. Attention on this work is focused on the life of Anita Desai, her interest in ecofeminism and how she is influenced by social, economic, political and cultural problems of her age.

Feminism in the Novels of Shobha De

Feminism, Self-realization, Indian Women, New Women, Indian literature in English has journeyed a long way to achieve its present glory and grandeur present a good number of women writers offering through their writings the penetrative insight into the complex issues of life. The novels of these women writers analyze the world of women, their sufferings as victims of male hegemony, they also express social, economic and political upheavals in Indian society.

From Margin to Centre: A Study of Ennoblement in Shobha De's Socialite Evenings

The protagonists of Shobha De do not want to be docile, weak and dependant women. They want to be powerful and ready to revolt against unfair treatment and are not for compromise. They always want to show self-confidence in abundance. Boldly, they are ready to challenge hinders so that they attain their desired goal. They tend to be aggressive always, which helps them to shatter the male ego and male hierarchy. In order to be precise, they are not doormats. They raise their voice strong against patriarchal culture and marginalization of women. Thus, this paper aims to prove that how women in India tend to be transformed from margin to centre. It also aims to prove the fact that they want to be liberated physically and mentally and long for an independent identity by being aware of the choices open to them.Crossing the Border: International Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies Vol.5(1) 2017: 51-60

Feministic Images of Women In Shobha De’s Novels

Feministic Images of Women In Shobha De’s Novels

Evolution of New Woman: A New Façade of Indian Culture in the Select Novels of Manju Kapur and Shobha De

The present paper is a sincere and humble effort to explore the evolution of new woman in India after the partition. The birth of “new woman” in India is a reality, as the concept and position of womanhood has changed in the modern context. Attitudinal shift can be seen in the woman who longer shies away from taking initiatives. Though this new change in thought has its variables, the results are relative depending upon the individual. Through present paper, the researcher has attempted to investigate a new fac ade of Indian culture that gave birth to a new woman presented in the select novels of Manju Kapur and Shobha Dee. The new image of women presented by novelists under study is ambitious, lustful, power hungry and bold. She is an assimilation of western influences as well as her native culture. She is a hybrid who despite of all kinds of upheavals, is able to strike a balance among diverse spheres of her life. All domains of her growth, social, political and psychological remain the focus of our investigation. Index Terms—Evolution, fac ade, new woman, psychological. I. INTRODUCTION This research paper is a sober attempt to study the evolution of new woman in India after the partition. It is pertinent to note that throughout the history of mankind, from its Paleolithic civilization, goddess worship was widely prevalent, and families were matriarchal in their structure. But in the course of time civilization was overtaken by patriarchal dominance, and worship of the male deity became the dominant concept. In social set up, male ego acquired control and predominance in all spheres of social activities such as ritualistic performances, politics, religion and ethnic which in turn submitted women to the place of utter subordination, a secondary place; the insignificant. The phrase „new woman‟ [1] was coined originally by Henry James and intended by him to characterize American expatriates living in Europe. Women of affluence and sensitivity exhibited an independent spirit and were accustomed to acting on their own. The socio-political and economic forces brought about awareness in women who took up the new roles in the social, political and economic life. In the post World War, the slang „Flapper‟ was applied to a „new breed‟ of young western women who revolted against the Victorian conventional set up and assumed new fashionable and modern roles in the society as quoted by

A Study of Female Characters in Selected Novels of Krishna Sobti: A Feminist Approach

Whenever an unbiased literary history of the 20th century is written it will be remembered as the century of woman writer. And this would be judged not by number of women writers but by the quality and literary merit of their writings. Writers like Ashapurna Devi, Ismat Chugtai, Qurratulain Haider, Mahasweta Devi, Kamla Das, Amrita Pritam, Shivani, Anita Desia, Shobha De and many others have broken through the given sexist politics of literature and make a place for themselves as writers who happened to be women. In this century India has seen the rise of women writers. Krishna Sobti is a pioneering writer in Hindi who has paved way for many other writers to follow. The importance of Krishna lies not merely in the fact that she writes in a language which is read by a large number of people of the country but that she can tell the story like none other. She captures the very pulse of the times by portraying the lives of common people. Two of her novels 'Let me Live' and 'Heart has its Reasons' are portrayed here for their feminist appeal.

Shobha De's Socialite Evenings: A Yearning for Sophisticated and Fulfilled Life

The enduring theme of Socialite Evenings is a search for identity who finds fulfillment and self in a creative occupation. The female character's hatred towards a middle class pedantic life and inadequate facilities that run throughout their life, forces them to yearn for a sophisticated life. The unfed hunger to lead a happy and prosperous life makes the characters to compromise everything, as they get all the financial security and the luxuries they cannot do without. Women characters find that the freedom to do what they like gives them absolute joy. Wealth and its accompanying social status is therefore constantly sought, displayed and reinforced by the heroines. This paper is an attempt to show how Shobha De has portrayed the women characters who first yearn for a sophisticated life but later are contented with the life they have in the first novel, Socialite Evenings.

Pleasure: Redefined By Women in Shobha De’s Novels

Pleasure: Redefined By Women in Shobha De’s Novels