MEG-7 Block-4 Clear Light of the Day - Anita Desai UNIT 1 ANITA DESAI: LIFE, WORKS AND THE LANGUAGE ISSUE
MEG-7 Block-4 Clear Light of the Day - Anita Desai
UNIT 1 ANITA DESAI: LIFE, WORKS AND THE LANGUAGE ISSUE
Anita Desai was born on June 24, 1937 in Mussoorie, India. Her father, Dhiren Mazwndar, was a Bengali and her mother, Antoinette Nime, was a German. The Mazumdars left Germany two decades before the Nazi persecutions and settled in India. Desai has inherited a multilingual background. She is familiar with Bengah. Hindi. German and English. However, the first language that she formally learnt to read and write was English, at Queen Mary-s Higher Secondary School, in North Delhi.
Writers who had an impact on her mind were Emily Bronte, Virginia Woolf. James Joyce and Gerard Manley Hopkins. She read Wuthering Heights when she was nine years old.
Desai's childhood and student life w7as spent in Delhi She graduated from Miranda House, Delhi University with English Honours in 1957. She worked for a year after her graduation at Max Mueller Bhawan in Calcutta. In 1958, a year after she graduated she married an executive, Ash~in Desai. She has four children. Her daughter Kiran Desai is also a writer.
Her novel, Fire on the Mountain (1977), won the Royal Society of Literature's Winifred Holtby memorial Prize and the 1978 National Academy of Letters Award. Clear Light of Day (1980) and In Custody (1984) were shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1980 and 1984 respectively.
ANITA DESAI'S MAJOR WORKS
Cry, the Peacock. 1990
Voices in the City 1982
Bye-Bye, Blackbird
Mind Pocket Books, 197 1 & 1985
Where shall We Go This Summer? 1975.
Fire on the Mountain London:
Clear Light ofDay. 1980
In Custody USA: 1984.
Baumgartner's Bombay. 1989
Short stories:
. Games at Twilight London
Village by the Sea: A Long Story 1982
FOR CHILDREN
The Peacock Garden.
Cat on a Houseboat.
"Circus Cat, Alley Cat,"
"How Gentle is the Mist,"
'"GrandMother,"
"An Examination,"
'To Seal a Picture."
'Tea with the Maharani, "
"Ghost House,"
'-Mr. Bose's Private Bliss,"
'Private Tuition by Mr. Rose," I
. "Descent from the Rooftop,"
'"Surface Textures,"
'"The Accompanist,"
UNIT 2 CLEAR LIGHT OF DAY : THEMES, TECHNIQUES, TIME
Desai's Clear Light ofDay deals with the Das family chronicle. The narrative is divided into four untitled parts:
Part I is set in the present:
Part 2 goes back to the summer of 1947;
Part 3 is set in an even earlier period of the Das children's childhood, and
Part IV returns to the present with a futuristic perspective
time is the destroyer and the preserver. The very theme of the novel is to do with the paradox of change and continuity. Time is used as a structural device by Desai in her novel.
Desai uses the stream of consciousness technique in her narrative
Clear Light of Day we have the three fold effect of time --
'the passing of moments or hours,
the voyage from youth to age, and the historical time, or
time in relation to nationwide events.'
Dcsai is not interested in social or political probings, the outer-weather. the physical geography, or the visible action. Her forte is the exploration of the interior world, plunging into the limitless dept!is of the mind; and brings into relief the hidden contours of the human psyche.
Bim in Clear Light of-Day is portrayed as melancholic, disillusioned and withdrawn. Yet simultaneously through it all we see her tolerance, self-sacrifice and courage Her attempt is to discover and convey truth which she associates with the mind and not with the body. She distinguishes clear$ between truth and reality.
Given Desai's emphasis on the inner world of her characters the techniques she finds
most effective in portraying it are stream of consciousness, flashbacks and interior
Monologues. Plot acquires only secondary importance. Simple plot line leads to complex situations.
Summing uv Desai's Techniques
-- Emphasis on the inner world of character.
-- Use of flashbacks, stream of consciousness and interior monologues.
-- Depiction of fragmented reality through multiple perspectives.
-- Effect of the above mentioned technique on the structure of the novel.
-- Desai's treatment of time.
-- The importance of imagery.
BIMITARA RELATIONSHIP
Bim and Tara may naturally bond as siblings but their different personalities make their relationship a problematic one. Their bonding and their differences-- remain an undercurrent throughout the novel.
UNIT 3 POLITICAL DIMENSION, MAJOR CHARACTER
She does not foreground the political happenings of 1947 as the main theme of her novel, instead, she highlights the Das family history as it emerges through the turbulent happenings of national history. Personal emotions in the novel parallel national t storms.
The central irony in the novel, of course, is that Raja grows up to be anything but a hero. He ends up as a contented, rich local landlord with no dreams and ambitions.
Bim is humiliated by the patronising tone of this letter. She feels that Raja, by
projecting his "generosity" in not increasing the house rent was expecting her to be
obliged to him. This is particularly offensive to her because she had relied upon Raja
to take control of the business and the family after their father's death. In a sense,
This is his second betrayal. The first was when he walked out on the family
Most of the characters in the novel are trapped: Baba is trapped by his autism, Bim is trapped by her circumstances. Tara by her guilt and Raja finds the Das household itself a trap. Mira Masi is trapped by her poverty and later, her alcoholism, and the Alis, by the partition riots.
The political dimension of the novel is also picked up by Baba's song numbers. His music of the forties sets the background for the novel which deals with events of that period. Baba's music serves another important purpose in Clear Iight of Day. In fact The structure of the novel is indeed like a well orchestrated musical piece. Music is indeed integral to the novel in that it contrasts to the discordance repressed in the various characters. It is because of him that Mira Masi, an important character, is brought into the novel.
Baba's most significant role in the novel is his relationship with Bim. He is dependent on her. She acts like his caretaker but Bim too needs him. She tells Tara that after everyone left Baba was still with her.
UnitT 4 MUSIC, MINOR CHARACTERS
THE IMPORTANCE OF MUSIC IN CLEAR LIGHT OF DAY
The novel begins with the koels singing: The koels began to call before daylight. Interestingly, the novel also ends with Mulk's guru singing the poetry of Iqbal.
Music becomes a panacea for deeper disturbances in the novel. Most of the characters in Clear Light of Day are associated with music in some way or the other It depicts their emotional strains. Because of the psychological nature of her novel, Desai often uses music to project thoughts, emotions and feelings in her characters.
Baba listens to 40’s music. Dr. Biswas is also defined by the music he loves o Western classical music in Germany. He learnt the violin there. For the Misras too, Music is important. It is, for them, both a source of entertainment and livelihood. The two Misra sisters, Sarla and Jaya-after being abandoned by their husbands-earn their living by teaching singing an:! dancing to little girls. To the Misra boys-who have also been abandoned by their wives-music becomes a hobby and an interest. When Mulk comes to know of the fact that his sisters prevented the tabla-player, harmonium player, and his accompanists from coming for a musical evening because of the expense involved, he is furious
The personalities of Bim and Tara are brought into sharper focus in relation to their treatment of Mira-Masi; although Tara was more attached to her, it is Bim who nurtures her through her illness. Tara's guilt in not nursing her is brought out when towards the end of the novel
UNIT 5 ANITA DESAI'S CONTRIBUTION TO INDIAN ENGLISH FICTION
IMAGERY IN CLEAR LIGHT OF DAY
Syed Amanuddin notes that between the singing of the koels and the musical rendering of Iqbal's poetry, "we have the scratches and squeaks of old records. These scratches and squeaks are the tensions and problems of a family and a nation breaking up.
The two most significant episodes in the novel--the drowning of the cow and the attack by the bees--have to do with animals and nature. The drowning of the cow symbolizes h4ira Masi's own loss of control over herself as it also signifies a new phase in the lives of the Das children, because its drowning is simultaneous with the deaths of their parents and the disintegration of the family.
Desai coalesces the white horse on which Ali is first glimpsed at with the cow. The white horse represents the glamour of India's mogul past. This inspires Raja to become like Ali. Larer, we are told. that Raja's s~n gets a "whits pony" as a gift from him.
Thi: Bee episode--when Bim was attacked by the bees--and Tara abandoned her. and escaped, is recalled by Tara several times. Her exit from [he attack of hess is a prelude to her escape to hermartiage to Bakul and family' responsibilities.
Lightshade imagery is important in Clear Light of day. Light is associated with going out and freedom.Eight is also associated with affection. It is in clear light of day when Bin: realises how she could make her alienated scif connected again.
Raja has four daughters and a son and it is Raja and Benazir’s daughter - Moyana’s wedding where they all have to meet.
Desai’s womeil character arc is not ordinan. mainstream women but arc mostly from afflucn: families and do not have to worry about daily subsistence. They zrc more concerned with their emotional iieecls.
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