Discuss the life and works of Anita Desai.

Ans.

LIFE AND WORKS

Anita’s Birth

Anita was born on 24th of June, 1937. Her father was a Bengali and her mother was German lady. Mussoorie is the place where she was born, it is a beautiful hill station near Dehradun. From her very childhood she used Ger man in her family with her sister, brother and parents at home as it was their family language which was used by them all for conversation with each other within their family circle.

Early Education

She was sent to Delhi, Queen Mary’s school for her early education and thereafter she studied in Miranda College. University of Delhi from where she completed her graduation and received her Bachelor’s degree in English in the year 1957 at the age of about twenty years.

Fond of Reading

She was rather a voracious reader and widely read literary books. There is no such information on the basis of which we could conclude that she received any training in the field of writing, which helped her in her career of novel writing. She did not at all get any formal training except for her personal reading and constant practice of regular writing. If we go through her novels we will come across that there is a poetic touch in her novels, but he temperament when carefully seen is actually prosaic which reveals that she was con versant both with poetry and prose–as she was a talented girl who had the potentiality for both the spheres. When she was yet a girl of seven years only she took to writing short stories, poems and letters for children’s magazines which were published. When she wrote her short stories she illustrated them with diligence and stitched them with the covers so as to give them appearance of proper books. By her temperament itself she had all those qualities which are necessary for a good successful writer.

Earlier Writings

While she was a college student, she wrote a few stories which were published in her college magazine. She also wrote for the writer’s workshop journal and an English magazine called Envoy. Her first novel was published in 1963. She wrote novels on a small scale in her twenties. She was conscious of being a writer since her very childhood, writing of literature was a integral part of her character, temperament and her life itself-she could not do without writing–writing had rather become her second nature.

Constructive Influences

Other writers whom she read influenced her and she has added to her genius by learning from them. At the age of nine years, she happened to read first Wuthering Heights–even though she could not understand all that she read but she was thrilled and she remembers the experience that she had by that reading.

She mentions that the reading of the above-mentioned novel struck her with the strong force of gale and she vibrated to it when she recollects the experience seemed to her she says, more interesting, more meaningful and overwhelming than even the real world has seemed to her. Afterwards other writers really meant more to her because they impressed her and inspired her to do something substantial in the field of writing. She further adds that during her twenties when she for the first time began her work seriously and consciously on her novels, D. H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, Henry James and Proust were the writers who influenced her more strongly and convincingly to enlighten her to make progress in the field of literature.

In the later years novels of a Japanese writer ‘Kawabata” and all the more the modern poetry particularly written by Rimbaud, Hopkins and Lawrence had left indelible impression on her mind. Since she was not interested in writing autobiography, she did not maintain any diary, as it purely involved self-indulgence which narrowed and restricted the wide and extensive field of literature to one’s self only.

Anita’s Literary Achievements

Bidulata Chaudhary points out that the literary career of Anita Desai began with short story-writing. Her stories were from time to time published in the leading. Indian magazines which popularized her name among her story readers. Some of the stories written by her are still lying uncollected and un published. Her first story ‘Circus cat, Alley cat’ was published in 1957 in Thought. Her second story ‘How Gently in the Mist’ was published in The Illustrated Weekly of India. Tea with Maharani’ followed it which was published in 1959 in Envoy. Later on every year her story was published in the same or different other periodicals and in this way she established herself as a writer gradually through her works being published in the well known periodicals. ‘Grand Mother’ her story was published by writers workshop miscellany, 1 in 1960 and the same year her another short story ‘An Examination’ was also published by writers workshop Miscellany, 3. With the publication of ‘Ghost House’ in Quest (January-March, 1961) and ‘Mr. Bose’s Private Bliss’ in Envoy (May-June, 1961) her excellence as a story writer was established. She continued writing and To sell a picture’ a story which she wrote came out in writers workshop Miscellany, 6. Her other stories ‘Private Tuition by Mr. Bose’ (1970), Indian Literature, ‘Decent from the Roof-top, The Illustrated weekly of India (1970), ‘Surface texture’, Femina earned fame and a good name for her in the field of literature.

Her literary interest was versatile. It was not restricted to story-writing only. She tried with equal interest essays, articles and reviews and proved her worthiness of writing on different subjects and in different forms. ‘Calcutta Kaleidoscope’ written by Anita was published in the Illustrated weekly of India, 1958 and ‘Gangtok’ in Envoy, 1959. She wrote an article on ‘A Kullu Christmas’ which came to be published in Envoy 1959, London. Her Pilgrimage” appeared in The Illustrated weekly of India in 1966. She wrote articles on ‘women writers’ and ‘The Indian Writer’s Problems’ which appeared in Quest (1970) and ‘The Literary criterion’ (1975). She also attempted reviews such as ‘Timid Movement of a Wing’, ‘Memories of a Mendicant Professor’ which was published in ACLALS News letter 1979 and ‘Out of the Shadows’ came out in Indian Express in the year 1984.

Her collection of short-stories written on different topics are included in ‘Games at Twilight’ published in 1978 which shows a number of stories just as ‘Pineapple Cake’, ‘Sale’. ‘The Accompanist’, ‘A Devoted son’, ‘The Farewell Party’, ‘Pigeons At Day break’, ‘Scholar Gypsy’, ‘Private Tuition by Mr. Bose’ and ‘Surface Texture’, etc. She has also written a few books for the children, such as “The Peacock Garden’ (1974), Cat on a house Boat (1976) and Village By the Sea (1982). All her works show her capability of her versatile writing. Anita Desai who began her career as a short story writer emerged as a promising novelist in the year 1963 who was still to be seen on the Indian literary horizon. She holds to her credit eight novels. her novel was first published in ‘The Illustrated weekly of India in 1965 and then it was serialized by Peter Owen, London, the same year (1965). She made exploration of sensibility and used distinctive technique which made her novels popular and prestigious in the realm of literature. Her distinctive style of novel writing has added a new dimension to the Indian English literature by creating poetry in prose or by her creativity of writing she introduced ‘Poetic Prose’.

Renown and Recognition

For her creative writing in this field of English literature she has been honoured with the prestigious awards. The Sahitya Academy Award is the first in the series which she got for her novel ‘First on the Mountain’. This novel also won the Royal Society of literatures Winifred Holtby Memorial prize and also the 1978 National Academy of Letters Award for her. Later she has been awarded with the Author’s Guild Award for Excellence in writing for ‘Where shall we go This Summer’. Her two novels, ‘Clear Light of Day’ and ‘In Custody are short-listed for Booker Prize. If she keeps on writing diligently, it is hoped success will crown her career, it is likely to bring fame and fortune to her.