Tiara Amalia Wulandari

11170260000017
7 B – Diasporic Literature
7th Group

Diasporic Writers from India

Anita Desai
Anita Desai is one of an Indian novelist who has famous works. Anita Desai, who has
original name Anita Mazumdar, was born on June 24, 1937, in Mussoorie, India. Her father,
D.N. Mazumdar, was a Bengali businessman, while her mother, Toni Nime, was a German.
She spent her childhood in the Old Delhi province, during the transformation of India from
colony to Independence. According to Prasad (2011), the languages that she spoke were
German at home, English at school, and Urdu as the dominant language spoken in the
community where she lived (Mc’Oneal, para.1). She also noticed the difference between her
family and other families in her community since she was a child. Mc’Oneal stated that
although Desai’s mother cooked and dressed like Indian, Desai still felt like an outsider,
especially in her school (Mc’Oneal, para.1). After her father died, Desai and her family
moved to Calcutta.
She got her earlier education at Queen’s Mary Higher Secondary School in Delhi and
received her B.A. (Bachelor of Arts) from the University of Delhi in 1957. She married to
Asvin Desai, a businessman and moved to Mumbai. They have four children, and one of
them is Kiran Desai, who also became an Indian novelist just like her. She also motivated to
write her thoughts about real life issues in India.
Desai’s literature works unfold the truth in society, in particular about women
critically. According to Mc’Oneal, social and cultural contexts are reflected in her works
depending on the time when she wrote the novel and also the place where she was
(Mc’Oneal, para.6). She is still able to see Indian culture from an external point of view. Her
first novel, Cry, the Peacock (1963), tells about the suppression and oppression of women in
India. One of her works, Clear Light of the Day (1980), is known as her most famous work. It
tells about the life of two sisters in India, and the suppression was dominant at that time. The
Editorial of Encyclopaedia Britannica stated that Desai most of her works show the Desai’s
tragic view of life (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, ‘Anita Desai’, para.2). Besides,
she wrote other novels and short story, such as Where Shall We Go This Summer? (1975),
Fire on the Mountain (1977), The Village by the Sea (1982), Baumgartner’s Bombay (1988),
In Custody (1984), Journey to Ithaca (1995), The Zigzag Way (2004), Games at Twilight,
and Other Stories (1978),  Diamond Dust, and Other Stories (2000) and also The Artist of
Disappearance (2011).
Many of her works show the life with various themes related to social and economic.
Every works that she made have a different theme, but we can find other themes that overlap
in her works. She shows to us realities that happen in Indian’s society. According to
Bhatnagar & Rajeshwar (2008) in The Novels of Anita Desai: A Critical Study, major themes
that she writes are affection in marriage, escapism, and isolation (Mc’Oneal, para.11). These
three themes are usually found in life of Indian women.
Desai received many awards for her writings. There are Padman Bhusnan (2014),
Sahitya Akademi Fellowship (2007), Benson Medal of Royal Society of Literature (2003),
Alberto Moravia Prize for Literature (Italy) (2000), Booker Prize for Fiction (shortlist)
(1999), Neil Gunn Prize (1993), Booker Prize for Fiction (shortlist) (1984), and many more
(British Council, para.7).

Jhumpa Lahiri
Lahiri, byname of Nilanjana Sudeshna Lahiri, was born on July 11, 1967, in London,
England. She is a daughter of Bengali Indian immigrant. Her father was known as a
university librarian, and her mother was a schoolteacher. Her parents moved to London, and
then when Lahiri was young, they moved to Rhode Island, United States. According to The
Editorial of Encyclopaedia Britannica, her parents committed to their East Indian culture by
raising their children with experience and pride of their cultural heritage (The Editors of
Encyclopaedia Britannica, ‘Jhumpa Lahiri’, para.2). It made her felt ambivalent about her
Indian heritage.
She got her early education from South Kingstown High School. She studied at
Barnard College and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature in 1989.
Later, she went to Boston University and received an M.A. in English, an M.F.A in Creative
Writing, and also an M.A. in Comparative Literature. Besides, she also earned to Ph.D. in
Renaissance study from Boston University.
Lahiri published her short stories in some magazines, such as The New Yorker,
Harvard Review, and Story Quarterly while she was in graduate school. She published her
first short story collection, Interpreter of Maladies, in 1999. According to GradeSaver, it
dealt with several issues of Indians or Indian immigrants which includes their generations
gaps in understanding and values (‘Biography of Jhumpa Lahiri’, para.2). Uniquely, her
father became the protagonist in her work in The Third and Final Continent, which is known
as the last series of Interpreter of Maladies. This work also was awarded the 2000 Pulitzer
Prize for Fiction. According to Famous Author, her major themes are about domestic and
marital conflict, miscarriage and also disconnect between the two generations based in
America (Famous Authors, para.4). Although this work received many positive reviews from
American readers, Lahiri failed to please her Indian readership from this work. It was because
she did not clearly portrayed Indian characters and made Indian critics lambasted this work.
In 2003, she wrote her first novel entitled The Namesake. In this novel, she tells about
the gap between the lives of two consecutive generations of Indian immigrants who lived in
the United States. Later, this novel was adapted for a movie by Mira Nair in 2007. Lahiri also
wrote another works, such as Unaccustomed Earth (2008), The Long Way Home; Cooking
Lessons (fiction and non-fiction short story), The Lowland (2013), In Other Words (2015),
The Clothing of Books (2016), Whereabouts (2011), and many more.
Lahiri won many awards for her works, such as the O. Henry Award for Interpreter
of Maladies, the PEN/Hemingway Award for Best Fiction Debut of the Year for Interpreter
of Maladies, Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award (2008). She also received
National Humanities Medal from the United States of President, Barack Obama, in 2015.

Reference:

‘Biography of Jhumpa Lahiri’. GradeSaver, https://www.gradesaver.com/author/jhumpa-

lahiri. Accessed 19 Sept. 2020.

British Council. ‘Anita Desai’. British Council,

https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/anita-desai.

Famous Authors. ‘Jhumpa Lahiri’. Famous Authors, https://www.famousauthors.org/jhumpa-

lahiri. Accessed 19 Sept. 2020.

Mc’Oneal, Sable. ‘Biography Essay: A Case Study of Anita Desai: Career, Social and

Cultural Context, Themes and Works’. Sable University Writing Tips, 15 Sept. 2018,
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anita-desai-career-social-and-cultural-context-themes-and-works-

713af10fc260#:~:text=Amongst%20major%20themes%20that%20Anita,loss%20of

%20hope%20in%20life.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. ‘Anita Desai’. Britannica, 20 June 2020,

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anita-Desai.

---. ‘Jhumpa Lahiri’. Encyclopædia Britannica, 7 July 2020,

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jhumpa-Lahiri.