Most Indian women writers in the post-Independence era chose to write fiction and dealt extensively with contemporary issues like poverty, corruption, illiteracy, economic instability and gender issues, said Solomon Benny, Head of the English Department, Andhra University, here on October 30 (Saturday)
Addressing the valedictory session of a two-day seminar on ‘Literature in Post-Independence Era’ organised by the Department of English, P. B. Siddhartha College of Arts and Science, Mr. Benny spoke at length on the contribution of writers like Kamala Markandaya, Anita Desai, Sashi Deshpande and Arundhati Roy among others.
The college Principal M. Ramesh, Dean, Rajesh. J , Head of the English Department G. Srilatha and other faculty members were present.
In the inaugural session on Friday, Laura Demiris Chella Jyothi from Bharathidasan University at Thiruchirapalli, spoke about writers of great repute such as Mulk Raj Anand, Raja Rao and R. K. Narayana. After Independence, the writers effectively depicted the pain of the freedom struggle and the partition through their writings.
Referring to the works of writers of Indian origin in foreign countries, she cited the examples of Salman Rushdie, Anita Desai, Amitav Ghosh, Vikram Seth, V.S. Naipaul and Jhumpa Lahiri and said their writings were a celebration of their hybrid identity.
Antarleena Basu from Woxsen University, Hyderabad, threw light on various aspects of graphic literature. “The visual dimension of the graphic novel contributes substantially not only to our understanding of history but also to a larger question of how history can be represented,” she said, explaining in detail how to analyse and understand history and its representation through the ‘visual-verbal literacy’ of the graphic narrative.
