English Literature - Indian English - Feminist Poetry - Short Notes - Degree notes

Indian English - Feminist Poetry

            Feminism is a movement for recognition of the claims of women for equal rights on par with men. Feminist criticism deals with reading as a woman and writing as a woman and responding to the literature from the point of view of a woman. Feminist literature believes that women only can represent their feelings, emotions, thoughts, problems, and other things related to them genuinely.

Indian writers were a little slow in catching up with the Feminist movement that raged worldwide. The concept of feminist writing was started by men in India. It was later caught on by women writers. So the first Indian feminist writers were actually men- such as Rabindranath Tagore. His writings had a marked feminist angle to them. Some of Tagore's novels like 'Choker Bali' (A Grain Of Sand) and Ghare Bhaire (The Home and Outside) are known for its bold female characters.

The most notable feminist Indian writers in English include Kamini Roy, Ismat Chugtai, Kamala Das, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Lalithambica Antharjanam, Arundhathi Roy, Gouri Deshpade, etc.

Kamini Roy was a Bengali poet and a renowned feminist. She was a champion for women's education and voting rights. 'Nirmalaya' is one of her best known works. Ismat Chugtai is one of the major Urdu writers in India. She is known for fierce, funny and sarcastic treatment of feminist literature. Her collection of short stories have a definite feminist vein. She was even dragged to court for writing the story called 'Lihaaf' or the 'Quilt'. Kamala Das is one of the first Indian feminist writers to write in English. Kamala Das's poems and fiction explore female sexuality intensively and present them fearlessly to the readers. Chitra Divakar is one of the best known Indian writers who have feminist ideology. Among her famous works is the 'Palace Of Illusions'.  Gouri Desh Pande employes the theme of love and human relationships in her poems Her two books ‘Between Births’ and ‘Lost Love’ revea her feminist feelings and sentiments in a vivid manner.