Doyen of Indian English literature

K. R. SRINIVASA IYENGAR AND INDIAN ENGLISH LITERATURE: K. Srinivasa Sastry - Editor; Yugadi Publishers, 303, Amulya Apartments, Tarnaka, Hyderabad-500017. Rs. 350.

THIS MEMORIAL volume is a sequel to the one published earlier in honour of the well-known teacher, critic and creative writer, Prof. K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar, who died in 1999, a few days before he was to turn 92. While the preceding volume mainly focussed on his unusual qualities as a man, the present one is specifically intended to commemorate his manifold contributions to Indian English literature. It is generally admitted that no scholar or teacher is more readily associated with this rapidly growing body of writing than Srinivasa Iyengar himself. Indeed it is almost a truism to say that he practically created this field of scholarship, although initially, for want of a better descriptive term, it was called Indo-Angli(c!)an literature. It can be said, without much fear of being challenged that he, more than anyone else, defined its parameters, for the purposes of both teaching and research.

In his modest and self-abnegating manner, so unique to himself, he set down the rules for judging this new body of writing through his authoritative volumes, which he periodically enlarged and updated. It is hardly surprising that in a brief personal homage to him, Mulk Raj Anand expresses relief and gratitude for enabling his writings to be seriously discussed in academic circles. He had earlier, according to Anand himself, been excluded from respectable academic circles for being ``anti- tradition'', until Prof. Iyengar valiantly went to his defence. No better testimony is needed to gauge the enormous influence and quiet power that he wielded with his gentle and subtle humour, always under-pitched and wry in its awful strength in quelling dissent or any display of unsightly impetuosity on the part of potential dissenters. He compelled attention; he hardly raised his voice in argument or exhortation, never condemned nor extolled but said quietly what he had to say, and he was invariably listened to with respect.

Nevertheless, the concept of ``Indian sensibility'' on which all the canons of critical evaluation relating to this new field of Indian English literature seem to have been based remained somewhat nebulous, self-evident to only a select circle of professors of English. Both creative writers and critics often discussed this concept of a special Indian sensibility without always being entirely convinced of its nature or relevance. In one of the essays in this volume, Iyengar is quoted as having declared that he expected ``Indian writing in English - rather than any of the regional literatures - to project a total vision of Mother India....'' Apparently, as one would expect, not all writers felt convinced about the need for implicitly following these guidelines. One of the contributors to this memorial volume mentions the names of a few of those who obviously transgressed these injunctions. There are oblique references to ``modernists'', Parsi Quartets, and at least one woman-poet ``who stimulated interest in the poet more than in the poetry,'' whatever that might mean. R. Parthasarathy, the late A. K. Ramanujan and Nissim Ezekiel, among others, appear to have invited Prof. Iyengar's disapproval. Another contributor refers rather caustically to ``a host of pseudo-critics, particularly from some Northern universities''.

Expecting all Indians of whatever age group, background of education or degree of urbanisation or domicile to share a common sensibility, which could unmistakably be declared Indian under all circumstances seems at best a questionable proposition. All Indian literature, ancient or modern, can hardly be said to embody the vision of Mother India, nor can it always come in handy for the noble purpose of promoting national integration, however laudable and overriding the call of duty might be. Surely literature does and should transcend regional and national borders. Despite the great respect in which senior teachers were traditionally held all over the country, it has to be conceded that pedagogic wisdom with its dominant didactic emphasis is self-limiting by its very nature. There seems to be a strong authoritarian undercurrent in the pronouncements and critical writings of academics generally. Some of them tend to lecture creative writers on what they should or should not be attempting to do, much as they would do to their own students in their classrooms, hardly aware of the incongruity of such misplaced zeal.

The present volume contains 18 essays; while a few are very brief, others set out to deal with various aspects of Prof. Iyengar's massive critical and creative writings. Five of the pieces had been published elsewhere and were reprinted, and the rest were contributed specifically to this volume. There is also an exhaustive list of his publications, running to over 25 pages, including forewords and introductions that he had contributed. The sheer range and size of his publications over an exceptionally rewarding and fortunate lifespan are dauntingly varied and are indeed prodigiously impressive.

K. C. NAMBIAR

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