Kamala Markandaya: A Critical Study of Her Novels, 1954-1982

Way back in 1987 when I was writing my introductory paper for my edited work, Studies in Contemporary Indian Fiction in English (Allahabad & Delhi: Kitab Mahal), I had powerfully pleaded for the suitable positioning and elevation of Kamala Markandaya-an Indian by birth and a a British by marriage and naturalised citizenship-in the community of Indian English novelists. I had pleaded therein that the applied phrase "the Big Three' (which is applied for Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan and Raja Rao) be properly amended to accommodate Markandaya a dignified way, and that it should be transformed into the Big Four' or into 'the Four Wheels of Indian English Fiction. But in India, the chariot of criticism moves slow. sometimes even to the annoyance of many. In Markandaya's case too, the pleadings of mine have fallen on deaf ears, though she will be recognised one day as such-I hope so-by virtue of her historical importance and her qualitative work. It is one's work that speaks for oneself in the long run. And in her fictional works, we come across a wide variety of subjects, a great insight into human motives and characters, a direct thrust of story, an expert handling of her plot (but for occasional weaknesses as seen in Two Virgins, 1973, and Pleasure City, 1982), an unmixed purity of language, and an enviable mastery of narrative technique (which includes flashback and flashforth, point of view, first-person narration and third-person narration). These qualities are enough to provide her a permanent niche in the annals of the Indian novel in English and to place her head and shoulder above many other fiction-writers of her parental country-some of whom happen to be happy-go-and-lucky single-volume authors. Personally, I feel attracted towards her consummate artistry shown in the treatment of the theme of East-West encounter, where she treads with a sense of confidence and credibility. I must mention here, by way of digression, that her treatment of history as attempted in the Golden Honeycomb (1977) is neither so convincing nor so appealing. What appeals here is the imaginative fictionalisation of the Indian situation vis-a-vis the mighty British and the work, in the final analysis, becomes a window on the East-West encounter. Of the ten novels written by Markandaya.