Anita Desai Summary

One of the most accomplished fiction writers of English today, Anita Desai has established herself through the consistency of her formidable body of work. From acclaimed children's fiction--The Villag... Read more

In the following essay, Jena surveys Desai's early novels, highlighting the mental development of the female characters in terms of the patriarchal Indian family structure. One of the chief del... Read more

In the following review, Aldama outlines the plot of Fasting, Feasting, suggesting that the change of settings for the novel' s conclusion compromises the integrity of the narrative. Anita Desa... Read more

In the following review, Narayan prefers the stories set abroad in Diamond Dust to those set in India, objecting to the latter's discomfiting perspective on contemporary Indian society and inap... Read more

In the following essay, Lacom examines the social contexts and ideologies of disabled characters in Clear Light of Day and Fatima Gallaire-Bourega's You Have Come Back, demonstrating the relati... Read more

In the following essay, Brush examines Desai's articulation of the largely neglected European emigrant to India in Baumgartner's Bombay, emphasizing the multiple marginalization of the p... Read more

In the following essay, Mohan explores the effects of English literary studies on the subjectivities of the postcolonial urban Indian middle class in Desai's works, suggesting that the unspoken... Read more

In the following essay, Smith contrasts the experiences of the imprisoned protagonist of Baumgartner's Bombay with the similar autobiographical account of Heinrich Harrar in Seven Years in Tibe... Read more

In the following review, Annan discusses Fasting, Feasting within the context of contemporary Anglo-Indian literature, focusing on its characterization and themes. When Tim Parks reviewed Salman Rushd... Read more

Critical Essay by Gabriele Annan It is fashionable to say that the Indian novel is taking the place of the Russian. Fire on the Mountain bears a resemblance to Turgenev's First Love. Both are p... Read more

Critical Essay by Victoria Glendinning "Games at Twilight", the title-story [in Anita Desai's collection of short stories,] is a jewel. It recounts something that has happened in ... Read more

Critical Essay by Anne Tyler [Anita Desai's] work is known for its texture and for its ability to place us solidly within any scene, however foreign. She constructs her plots with infinite care... Read more

Critical Essay by John Leonard "Clear Light of Day" is a wonderful novel about silence and music, about the partition of a family as well as a nation, about memories that are as mutilate... Read more

In the review below, Chew discusses the themes in Baumgartner's Bombay. Now that Baumgartner's Bombay has appeared, it seems it was inevitable that Anita Desai should have sought, at som... Read more

In the following excerpt, Dinnage comments on the "relentlessly dark" tone of Baumgartner's Bombay, calling it "the most pessimistic, but perhaps the most powerful" ... Read more

In the following essay, Chellappan examines existential themes of "being and becoming" in Where Shall We Go This Summer?, contrasting the work to The Ramayana and Virginia Woolf's... Read more

In the essay below, Newman examines "the relation between discourse and history" in Baumgartner's Bombay. Anita Desai has always sidestepped any recognition of language as a socia... Read more

In the following mixed review of Journey to Ithaca, Annan faults the narrative for being full of "gaps and improbabilities," but praises Desai's sincerity and even-handedness. Jou... Read more

Below, Moore offers a mixed review of Journey to Ithaca, stating that the novel "may not be Anita Desai's best book; but I suspect it will prove her most memorable." Despite its t... Read more

In the essay below, Asnani examines the themes of "alienation and incommunication" in Where Shall We Go This Summer?, stating that Desai's "fiction grapples with the intang... Read more

In the positive review of Clear Light of Day below, Singh discusses Indian elements in the novel as well as the themes of memory and familial relationships. A friend said the other day that Anita Desa... Read more

In the essay below, Rao focuses on the short story collection Games at Twilight to examine Desai's "obsessive concern with the 'existential' problems of her characters and ... Read more