Some Noteworthy Indian Women Novelists

Women novelists gained foothold during the 19th century and dur ing that time the readers started accepting the works of the female novelists. Influenced by feminist approaches , they came as a refreshment because they voiced the issues faced by the women all around the globe. They were completely diffe rent from the male novelists of their age. The males generally in some way or the other favoured patriarchy and their novels mainly focused on males who were presented as bei ng superior to females. Whereas the females vouched for equalit y. They had a balanced portrayal of both male and female chara cters.

The different roles and behaviours of males and females are sha ped and reinforced by gender norms within the society .

There are social expectations that define appropriate behavior of males and females ( eg . in some society , being male is associated with taking risks , being tough and aggressive and having multiple sexual partners). The desire of the females to break free of the shackles of ortho dox society , that views males and females through different glasses , is shown in this novel through various characters.

• Manju Kapur is highly influenced by feminist thinking and she declares herself to be a feminist. Her most famous novel is the Difficult Daughters which revolves around the story of a female protagonist who wishes to persue her dreams despite every difficulty that comes her way and still is branded difficult by the society because she tried to raise her voice against the set norms of the days.

• Anita Desai is an Indian novelist and the Emerita John E.Burchard Professor of humanities at the Massachusetts In stitute of Technology. One of the most famous novelists, she mainly deals with the plight of women and what they have to go through in this patriarchal society. It is very evident in her works as she also brings out the ills of the industrialisation among others.

• Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni highlights diasporic women protagonists , living in two culture , their alienation , isolation , exile , mental trauma , dispersion, dislocation on the level of diasporic consciousness particularly . Like in The Mistress of Soices, hpwhere she gives us an apt picture of how women are treated by men of different social class and how they’ve always been considered inferior to men.

• Kiran Desai is undoubtedly one of the most original and r emarkable writers of her generation. Her novel The Namesake has placed her among the most prominent of the women novelists of our age. Kiran Desai, through her works highlights the loss of identity that an immigrant faces when he reaches a foreign land to pursue his dreams.