3 Review(s)

Raja Rao is one of the triumvirate of the pioneering Indian novelists in English. His contribution to the growth of the English novel in India is enormous. Each one of his novels is a trendsetter. Kanthapura, for instance, demonstrates how the English language can be used to tell a typically Indian story without violating the native speech rhythms and his The Serpent and The Rope gave a new direction to the Indian novel in English by philosophising it. His range and vision transcend all barriers. He used the fictional medium to portray his patriotic and philosophical concerns in a masterly way. In this volume, an attempt has been made to assess Raja Rao’s novels and short stories in terms of his, philosophy, vision, style, themes and techniques. It is hoped that Raja Rao scholars across the globe will find the book irresistible. About Author: Rajeshwar Mittapalli is an Associate Professor of English at Kakatiya University, Warangal, Andhra Pradesh, India. His published works of criticism include The Novels of Wole Soyinka (1990) and Indian Women Novelists and Psychoanalysis (1998). Besides The Novels of Anita Desai (2000), The Novels of Mulk Raj Anand (2000) Kamala Das: A Critical Spectrum (2000) in this series of anthologies, he has edited Post-modernism and English Literature (1999), Lifescapes (1999), Indian Fiction in English (1999), Studies in Indian Writing in English, Volume 1 & 2, Indian Writings in English, Volume 6-9, and IT Revolution, Globalization and the Teaching of English (2001). Dr. Mittapalli is currently the editor of The Atlantic Literary Review published from New Delhi. Earlier he had been the Associate Editor of the prestigious Kakatiya Journal of English Studies for several years. He has published a number of articles on Indian, African and American fiction and ELT in such reputed journals as New Quest, Indian Literature, The Journal of Indian Writing in English, Commonwealth Quarterly, The Commonwealth Review, and Revaluations. Most of these articles have been repeatedly anthologised. Pier Paolo Piciucco has a Ph.D. in “Mythical Heritage of Female Characters in Indian English Fiction” from the University of Bologna, Italy. He has published articles in The Journal of Indian Writing in English, In-Between, The Journal of Literature and Aesthetics, Englishes, Africa-America-Asia-Australia, Linea d’Ombra, Il Tolomeo and L’Indice. His articles have also appeared in anthologies such as Cross-Cultural Voices, Routes of the Roots: Geography and Literature in the English-Speaking Countries (Rome), Arundhati Roy: Novelist Extraordinary (New Delhi) and Indian Writings in English, Volume-7 (New Delhi). He collaborates with the Italian academic institute CSAE (Centre for the Study of Literatures and Cultures of Emerging Areas) and for them he has edited and translated into Italian a bilingual volume of Indian short stories entitled Feminine Plural. For Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi he has edited with Rajeshwar Mittapalli Studies in Indian Writing in English, Volume 1 & 2 and Kamala Das: A Critical Spectrum. He is currently working on South African Theatre as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Turin, Italy.