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Jijñāså
We finally arrive at a point where we can refer again to the most dominant single aspect that pulls the writers and their books under discussion to one luminous area of understanding. That their vision of life is positive and optimistic despite the miseries of the times. A strong sense of humour especially in Steinbeck saves us from falling into the depths of utmost despair. In fact, the ease and felicity with which this writer can glide from the darkness of The Grapes of Wrath to the warm sunshine (literally as well as figuratively) of both Tortilla Flat and Cannery Row only confirms his faith in the human spirit. Man's hatred for other men may be seen to thrive in the worlds that are depicted but one cannot deny the innate goodness that seems to survive all onslaughts. Whereas Premchand has set before us a depiction of a situation that projects change and revision" of a society that is going awry on account of a false sense of power, Kanthapura very strongly imbibes the teachings of Gandhi and Samskara turns the entire gamut of a Brahmin dominated society topsy-turvy with far-reaching thoughts and beliefs.
References
John Steinbeck, Tortilla Flat- The Short Novels of John Steinbeck (U.S.A.: Penguin, 1963).
John Steinbeck, Cannery Row- The Short Novels of John Steinbeck (U.S.A.: Penguin, 1963). All future references will be made to this edition, within parentheses in the text as CR followed by page number.
Raja Rao, Kanthapura (Delhi: VK Printers, 2003). 4U.R. Anantha Murthy, Samskara (New Delhi: OUP, 2000).
Aruna Pandey, John Steinbeck and Munshi Premchand: Some Striking Parallels and Contrasts (John Steinbeck and His Contemporaries. 313p., Scarecrow Press. U.S.A.
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (Great Britain: Penguin, 2000). (First publication in 1939).
Premchand, Godaan (Delhi: Permanent Black, 2002). (First publication in 1936).
* Arthur E Kinney, "The Arthurian Cycle in Tortilla Flar", Steinbeck Collection of Critical Essays, ed. Robert Murray Davis, 36-46. This essay provides useful insights into the uses of the myth by Steinbeck.
Suresh Nath, "Gandhi and Raja Rao", Perspectives on Raja Rao, ed. K. K. Sharma (Meerut: Urvashi Press, 1980). 60. "Kanthapura provides various examples of the Satyagrahis in the face of the untold atrocities committed by the British rulers. Thus non-violent struggle shook the very foundations of invulnerable British Empire over which the sun never set. A small village like Kanthapura has its heroic tale of non-violent struggle to relate." Such tales go into describing a remaking of the nation
10 Raja Rao's pragmatism is delightfully mixed up with the poet in him and the mythical aspect of Gandhi. Gandhi remains a figure shrouded in deep mystery.... The novel is a curious fusion of politics, poetry and the religious myth. Gandhi, who became a myth in his own lifetime...." See Suresh Nath, "Gandhi and Raja Rao", 58.
"Shyamala A. Narayan, "Kanthapura", Raja Rao: Man and His Works, .43. Also, see, Shahane, Vasant A., "Fiction and Reality in Raja Rao". Perspectives on Indian Fiction in English, ed. M.K. Naik, (New Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 1985), 64.
Robert J. C. Young, "India III: Hybridity and Subaltern Agency". Postcolonialism. An Historical Introduction (U.K: Blackwell Publishers, 2001), 345.
