Contents: Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. Roots and shadows. 3. The dark holds no terrors. 4. That long silence. 5. The binding vine. 6. A matter of time. 7. Small remedies. 8. Shashi Deshpande's art. 9. Anita Desai, Shashi Deshpande and Baharati Mukherjee. 10. The summing-up. Bibliography. Index.
"The present book seeks to study the feminist perspective in Shashi Deshpande's novels. It reveals Deshpande's sincerity and ability in voicing the concerns of the urban educated middle-class woman. Trapped between tradition and modernity, her sensitive heroines are fully conscious of being victims of gross gender discrimination prevalent in a conservative male-dominated society. A culture-specific approach has been adopted to unravel Shashi Deshpande's pragmatic resolution related to the modern Indian woman's beleaguered existence. The book, it is hoped, will make a rich contribution to women's studies." (jacket)