Home Fiction

This book argues that Indian literature in English has brought forth a novelistic genre which can be described as 'home fi ction.' In contrast to the celebrated historical novels by writers such as Amitav Ghosh and Salman Rushdie, 'home fi ction' revolves around the private space of home, the lives of women and their families. With its domestic setting and private histories, 'home fi ction' has developed particular literary strategies which effectively negotiate and critique discourses on nation, gender, and identity and thus transcend the supposedly private nature of the home. Casting a critical perspective on the male-dominated spaces of history and politics, this study focuses on two of the most prolifi c Indian- English women writers, Anita Desai and Shashi Deshpande, and the ways in which they dismantle the highly idealised image of the home as secluded female space.