A Critical Study of the Novels

This book is based on original research done by me on the first five major Indian Muslim women who have written fiction in English in pre-independence and post independence era in India. Indian Muslim have been an integral part of India and it is impossible to identify their distinct role and contribution towards the development of fiction written in English language in India without considering the whole gamut of the cultural heritage. Practically all-modern languages in India reflect on their role in the development of languages be it Urdu, Hindi or English. It was sad to observe that contribution made by these Muslim women writers in English is not even mentioned in most of books written on the History of Indian Writing in English and other critical studies done on novelists of Indian Writing in English have considered their contribution as a field of marginal studies. The women discussed in this book are Rokeya Sakhawat Hossian, Zeenuth Futehally Iqbalunnisa Hussain, Tara Ali Baig Attia Hossian and. When I read their work I found that these women fiction writers are remarkable novelists, pioneers in various fields, literary and social and the word “first” as Eunice de Souza remarks in his book ‘Women’s Voices’, occurs several times in a list of their achievements. They were political activists, diplomats, and social activists. They were concerned with the position of women in India specially the women in purdah. They are a reflection on the cultural change in the Indian society of that time. These women novelists have given novel writing in English an unmistakable edge. They were able to sensitively portray a world of novel writing that deals with themes that portray their characters rich in substance that represent self, their joys, sadness, loyalties and betrayals. My contention in this book is to bring to the lime light that regardless of the “Muslim” issue, they choose novel writing as a medium through which they expressed their artistic creativity. Although these women wrote only one novel each yet I think they should be on the map, for they expressed a view of society that underwent a change, economic, social, political, religious and in spite of the conflicts, their literature can be termed as educative openly condemning evils that persisted as a hampering block in their personal lives. Their contribution to growth of novel writing in English cannot go ignored as they created a momentum in writing novel using English language as a medium of combined feminist statements with a message to liberate Muslim women from religious conventions, social taboos and male dominated world that ignores the development of their better halves. This book is includes references from few books that are available on these women novelists but much of the material is drawn from the novels that they wrote and left behind. This book is focused on how Indian Writing in English needs to include Muslim women novel writers in English and assign their contribution to the growth of novel writing in English. In this day and age when well-educated modern Muslim women are either forced or comfortably ignore what western feminists call ‘the chains’ they are in, as a part of either their destiny or their values, the book reminds us of an era when restrictions were much worse, and yet the courage that was brought forth from it was formidably greater. To envisage a world with reversed roles, to speak blatantly what many (mostly misogynists) would think ‘shameless’ for a women and more importantly to carve a path of hope and liberation in a language that though a colonial import came with a promise of unshackling the chains for those vulnerable at the hands of the supposed superiority of others. Having been written in English as the first language is in itself an achievement; it’s a ‘fabulous’ revolt. Like it says in the conclusion, “A comparative objective study of any novelists or system is a hazardous journey because somehow a subjective element percolates in favour of one or the other novelist and thus study becomes subjective” Phillipa Gregory in the introductory essay to her book The Women of the Cousins’ War contends that history is written about men, for men and by men, and further goes on to suggest that every history is biased, the idea is to purposely evaluate and delete as much bias as is possible. Knowing well as previously mentioned, the ignorance that is meted out to women, and what perhaps inspired our novelists, in some cases the rage is inevitably conspicuous, I have tried to project the study of the novels for what they are, rather than repeating and concreting the bias that has become a tradition with long and comfortable unrecognizability of women. Through this study the book also makes us aware of the grit and determination, and the sheer hunger of these writers to make their mark, to speak out unequivocally against prejudice, basically to enlighten us how their personalities were shaped and eventually established. Today, much is being debated about Muslim identity, the mass media has managed to homogenize populations of every kind and the rise of the right wing is being witnessed across the world, the treatment of the marginalized that was a beacon of hope as a parameter that served to sculpt new testaments and ensure atmosphere of internationalizing the idea of being human is under revision. And among the new definitions that are coming up, these voices demand to be counted in, and therefore they have become an unforgettable treasure of human voices. In my approach I am using the voices of dead writers to create an edifice that can be looked up to as a milestone of human ambition, something Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich did with those still living. One can witness remarkable fusion of multi-religious identities and how the purpose becomes grand when we rise above these identities and speak as humans. In the great tradition of modern and post-modern fiction, our writers use their pen to stand up against inequality of any kind, to undo the stereotypes, leading themselves by example. Stereotypes have disillusioned the masses throughout history and this literature serve as anecdotes that puncture that grand narrative.