SOURCE: "The Fiction of Anita Desai: Another View," in The Humanities Review, Vol. 3, No. 2, July-December, 1981, pp. 43-6.

In the following negative review of Desai's prose fiction, which was published in response to Singh's review above, Kumar concentrates on the short story collection Games at Twilight, stating that "I wish to explain why Desai fails to engage the reader's interest."

Anita Desai is one of our known writers who has published a substantial body of prose-fiction—five novels (Cry, the Peacock, Voices in the City, Bye-Bye, Blackbird, Fire on the Mountain, Clear Light of Day), and a collection of short stories titled Games at Twilight. Since her work raises certain basic issues about imaginative writing, particularly the relationship between art and experience, between form and content, I wish to explain why she fails to engage the reader's interest. I shall, however, restrict the scope of this note to her...