DEPICTION OF WOMANHOOD IN SELECTED WORKS OF PROMINENT WOMEN WRITERS IN INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH

Abstract

The portrayal of women in literature is as old as literature itself. However, this portrayal newlinehas got sea changes in the context of advent of women writers in literary arena. These newlinewomen writers have taken a new approach in their treatment of women and the issues newlinerelated with them. Women have been depicted in various hues and shades since times newlineimmemorial. But the depiction broadly represents a particular stereotyping about women. newlineThe novels too, which owe their popularity mostly due to women readers, despite their newlinevery generous and profuse representation of women characters, present women in the newlinesame hackneyed ways. The male dominant mentality created their own stereotyping and newlinepresented them either as self-sacrificing angel for the sake of their family and near and newlinedear ones or as vamps. However, as much as a novel is a low mimetic literary formand#8223; newline(Northrop Frye), it cannot ignore the ground realities of the society. Thus the novels newlineabound with a great host of women characters which are impressive both in variety and newlineprofundity. The reason for this is that these novels are the product of progressive man newlinewriters who often image women haloed in idealised romantic light. The Indian English newlinenovel too generally presents women in the same romanticised ways. The woman newlinecharacters in the novels of Mulk Raj Anand, a stalwart of Indian English novels, are newlineobvious examples. newlineThough women have been presented in various ways in Literature, the depiction of newlinewomanhood acquires a new benchmark after coming of women writers in the scene. newlineRefuting the patriarchal norms, these female writers have given a new meaning to self-assertion and establishment of identity of women. The Indian female writers, writing in newlineEnglish, have established their own brand of feminism while advocating their cause of newline womanhoodand#8223;. newline