PROFESSOR K. R. S. IYENGAR's enthusiastic and pioneering scholarship bas established beyond doubt the identity of Indian Writing in English and has placed the Indo-Anglian literature on the literary map of India. It is now possible, thanks largely to his effort, to make further specialised studies of Indo-Anglian literature in some of its individual aspects. This book attempts to study the Indo-Anglian novel as a particularly sensitive reflection of the changing tradition and the reactions it has produced and the responses it has stimulated in the modern Indian imagination. The novelists discussed in this study are alike in that they have all set out to project the image of modern India under the impact of intellectual and cultural change. The images they have projected of the national consciousness are sharply differentiated from one another, but they all proceed from a common centre and finally converge upon a common focus. In their attitudes and responses to tradition and change, these novelists have been guided by their own individual talents and their own unique sensibilities. This study seeks to explore both the common ground that holds together their work in a complex alliance, and also their divergent visions of modern India's destiny.
Anand is a radical writer, whose ideological commitment has resulted in the application of the techniques of realism and naturalism as a means of social protest. Kamala Markandaya in her novels concentrates on the individual sensibility as it is influenced and determined by the facts of change brought about by social and cultural forces. R. K. Narayan in his progress from Malgudi to the world offers a sensitive revaluation of the Indian tradition, and by focusing the action of time on the textures of human character, he fills his fictional landscape with memorable types and individuals; and in his subtle fusion of the comic and tragic elements in Indian life, he has not only created the well-built novel but also has oriented its structural components to a philosophy of cultural affirmation. Raja Rao, whose artistic impulses are as cosmopolitan as his intellectual orientations, has achieved new blends and syntheses in the Indo-Anglian novel form; he has raised his consciousness of the Indian tradition to the level of myth and symbolism, with the result that the fictional art in his work transcends the imaginative dimension and acquires an almost prophetic temper. This study seeks to investigate these common cultural impulsions and these divergent aesthetic motivations, perhaps for the first time on an extensive scale. Owing to the paucity of material in this area of English literary studies, I have been forced to use such editions as are readily available and accessible; hence the years of publication mentioned within brackets in my discussion as well as in the bibliography refer to the particular editions of books I have used or consulted and not necessarily to the original dates of publication. It is hoped that the select bibliography at the end of the book will be helpful to those who are specially interested in an advanced or further study in this field I am indebted to many scholars and critics, whose works have been helpful to me in making the study; and I have acknowledged the extent of my scholastic obligations in the references given at the end of each chapter and the select bibliography. I am grateful to the Ministry of Education of the Government of India for their generous fellowship assistance which has made possible this undertaking. I am especially thankful to my esteemed teacher Dr D. V. K. Raghava-charyulu without whose expert guidance and active help I could not have written and published my critical studies in Indo-Anglian fiction. My thanks are also due to my beloved friend Mr S. A. M. Satya-narayana Rao for his stimulating conversations and unstinted support in the course of my study. Mr M. S. Rao of Messrs Rao and Raghavan, Mysore, has taken special interest in publishing this book; I am deeply obliged to him. I am beholden to Dr A. Ramachandran, Director, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, for his kind encouragement and help in publishing this book. Finally, any public acknowledgment of my indebtedness to my father Mr Chandrasekhara Rao, an unfailing source of encouragement to me, is bound to be quite inadequate; and so will be my offering of thanks to my wife, who, besides making my work on this book a continual pleasure, had gladly undertaken the laborious task of reading the proofs.
It is my good fortune that Dr Ward Morehouse has found the book sufficiently interesting to write a Foreword to it, placing the study in a broad and significant framework. I sincerely thank him for giving my work some of his tiue and thoughts and affection.
WRITING the foreword to a book is a deceptive task. The deception, it should immediately be emphasized, is attributable not to the author of the book who requests a foreword to his work but to the writer of the foreword. To be more precise, the nature of the task is one of self-deception.
When the request is first made, the task seems simple enough to the writer of the foreword simply penning a few lines of platitudinous sentiments about the subject matter of the book and its significance for the world of ideas. He agrees readily to do the needful, both as a courtesy to the author and because he is flattered for having been asked to write a foreword, which is, after all, a form of recognition more frequently extended to men of great stature in the realms of scholarship, the creative arts, and public affairs.
But when the writer of the foreword sets his mind to the task, he finds it to be a more difficult and demanding one than he originally contemplated. Having been honoured in the first place by the author's request to write a foreword, he naturally wishes to demonstrate that he merits the recognition by rising above the platitudes which characterize many forewords and to say something significant about the work at hand. To be significant, what he says must appear intelligent to the readers of the book. If the book deals with a topic well removed from his own concerns, intellectual and otherwise, the writer of the foreword is hard pressed to say something intelligent to the readers of the book, many of whom, because it is directly related to their interests, will very likely know much more about the subject matter of the book, or at least the broader field of knowledge or experience to which it is related, than the writer of the foreword.
These general characteristics of the task of writing forewords apply with particular force in the present instance. This is a book about literature and I am a student of contemporary society. More than that, my interests in recent years have focused increasingly on the interaction of science, technology and society within the context of developing public policies which will enhance the contributions of modern science and science-based technology to social and economic progress. All of this is far removed from Dr A. V. Krishna Rao's interesting and thoughtful study of four of India's leading novelists who write in English-Mulk Raj Anand, Kamala Markandaya, R. K. Narayan, and Raja Rao.
Still, I have a long-standing concern with encouraging others to develop more active interest in Indian literature and the other creative aspects of Indian civilization, and if not a creator or critic myself, I can at least claim the role of appreciator of the literary muse in the .
THE INDO-ANGLIAN NOVEL AND THE CHANGING TRADITION.
sub-continent. While this makes the task of writing a foreword to Dr Krishna Rao's book no less difficult, the performance of that task is certainly more rewarding.
stimulating My concern with encouraging others to develop more active interest in India's literary and artistic accomplishments grows out of a larger concern with stimulating greater awareness of the diversity of mankind's artistic heritage and creative genius. While I deplore cultural parochialism wherever it may be found, my indignation is particularly exercised by this phenomenon as it manifests itself in 20th century Western Civilization in the North American continent. This is partly because it is the civilization into which I was born, and it is always more fitting to concentrate the sharpest expression of one's critical indignation on that of which one is a part. But my sense of indignation is even more a consequence of the pretentions of 20th century Western Civilization to be the 'cosmopolitan World Civilization' when in fact it is imbued with a pervasive cultural provincialism. By contrast, most other major 20th century civilizations, including but not limited to Indian Civilization, as well as Western Civilization in earlier periods of its historical development, have demonstrated far greater responsiveness to creative ideas and experiences drawn from the full range of mankind's artistic heritage and creative genius.
My indignation is likewise generated by the circumstance that virtually all of my intellectual and professional life has been devoted to combating such provincialism, particularly as it manifests itself in the formal educational system in the United States. Nowhere is this myopic view of man's aesthetic accomplishments better revealed than in courses of study dealing with man's literary, philosophical, and artistic past. Thus, courses labelled the 'History of Music', 'History of Art', and 'History of Philosophy' and everywhere understood, with-out so much of a word of qualification, to be concerned with Western music, philosophy, and art, as though these were the only musical, artistic and philosophical traditions worthy of study. My objection is not to the study of Western music, art, and philosophy. These are important subjects of study, every bit as important as Indian music, art, philosophy or the comparable accomplishments of the Chinese, Japanese and other major civilizations of the world. My objection is to the arrogant presumption that Western music, art and philosophy are all that really matter and that the qualifying adjective 'Western' inserted in the labels of such courses of study is, therefore, quite unnecessary.
I should make clear that I am generalising and there are a small but growing number of exceptions to this kind of presumption. But alas, this outlook still all too often prevails, and not only in the study of music, art and philosophy but literature as well. Consider, for example, courses of study dealing with different literary genres.
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