Anita Desai is one of the most acclaimed Indian authors writing in English. Although she grew up in India, she has lived in the United States for over five decades. This unique background informs much of her fiction as she explores themes of exile, alienation, and cultural hybridity. Let’s dive into the untold story of this literary pioneer.
Early Life in India
Anita Desai was born Anita Mazumdar in 1937 in Mussoorie, India to a German mother and Bengali father. She spent her early years in India growing up in the Hindi belt in Uttar Pradesh. Her parents divorced when she was young, which had a deep impact and shaped her sensitive and introverted personality.
Desai completed her schooling from Queen Mary’s Higher Secondary School in Delhi. From a young age, she loved reading authors such as Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen, George Eliot, and the Bronte sisters who would later influence her writing. Even though English was not her first language, Desai chose to pursue English literature and make it the medium of her literary expression.
Educational Journey Abroad
After finishing school, Desai enrolled at Miranda House, Delhi University for a degree in English literature. It was here she met her future husband Ashvin Desai. In 1958 she accompanied Ashvin Desai to England where he planned to study for a doctorate at the University of London.
During this time, Desai enrolled at the Royal Holloway College where she studied under noted academics like A.K. Ramanujan. Her experiences as an immigrant student shaped her consciousness about her identity and displacement. This outsider perspective defined her early works.
In 1963, Anita Desai completed her B.A. in English Literature and married Ashvin Desai before moving to Massachusetts where he had found work. Desai would go on to raise four children while also managing a prolific literary career.
Blossoming as an Author in the 1960s-70s
After relocating to the U.S., Anita Desai took up part-time creative writing jobs at various Massachusetts colleges. Her first novel, Cry, the Peacock was published in 1963 to glowing reviews. It uses flashbacks and stream-of-consciousness narration to depict the psychic disintegration of a sensitive Delhi woman.
Over the next decade, Desai established herself as a powerful voice in Indian fiction in English. Her novels such as Voices in the City (1965), Bye-Bye Blackbird (1971), and Where Shall We Go This Summer? (1975) shone light on the social issues facing modern Indian society and the plight of women.
During her early career, she was praised by critics for her “acute psychological insight, her narrative complexity and technical sophistication.” Her ability to capture the interior lives of her characters makes her a distinctive author.
Critical and Commercial Success in the 1980s
In 1980, Desai published Clear Light of Day, which is considered by many critics to be her finest novel. It goes into the past of an anglophile Indian family and explores the relationship between two estranged sisters with eloquence and depth.
Her 1980 children’s novella, The Village by the Sea, won the Guardian Prize for Children’s Fiction and cemented her reputation. During the 1980s, Desai taught at MIT, Smith College, and Mount Holyoke College.
In 1984, Desai’s In Custody was published to great acclaim. It examines the meaning of poetry and intellectual life through the tale of an alcoholic Hindi poet being interviewed by a college lecturer. This novel won Desai a spot as a Booker Prize fiction finalist.
International Recognition and Later Works
In 1990, her novel Baumgartner’s Bombay once again became a Booker Prize finalist. Set in Nazi Germany, India and America, it links the fate of European Jews with Desai’s trademark themes of dislocation and identity.
Desai finally won the Booker Prize in 1999 for her novel Fasting, Feasting. This book continued her focus on the female psyche as she contrasted the confined domestic world of an Indian girl with the coming-of-age story of a young Indian-American man.
Some of her later notable works include The Zigzag Way (2004) – a novel about existential hallucinations, and The Artist of Disappearance (2011) – a novella collection. Desai has published short stories, children’s books, and works of non-fiction including memoir and essay collections.
Rich Inner Life and Simple Lifestyle
Despite her success, Desai shunned the limelight. She raised her family in a modest Massachusetts home. Her German mother was a great influence and she inherited a love for solitude, nature and intellectualism.
Desai has described her constant journeying between the cultures of East and West as “an endless passage between two rooms.” Her introspective personality fostered her creative talents greatly. She calls writing “a tension, a torment, and an obsession.”
Now in her 80s, Anita Desai remains active with writing and spends time mentoring young authors. She continues to live in the U.S. but travels frequently to India where she is always received warmly by fans and the literary community.
Awards and Honors
Some of the most notable awards and honors conferred on Anita Desai include:
- Booker Prize nomination for Fiction (1999) for Fasting, Feasting
- National Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Fiction (1989)
- Padma Shri from the Indian Government (1985)
- British Guardian Prize for The Village by the Sea (1982)
- Royal Society of Literature Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize (1978)
- Sahitya Academy Award from the Government of India (1989)
Her pioneering contributions have made her a perpetual Booker Prize favorite. She has been shortlisted three times for the award – more than any other writer!
Legacy as a Diasporic Writer
As one of the first Indian immigrant authors writing in English, Anita Desai’s legacy is unique. She is credited with founding the genre of diasporic Indian literature and inspiring succeeding generations.
Through her lyrical evocation of the psychic world of protagonists, Desai takes her readers on an emotional inner journey while also shedding light on cross-cultural encounters. Her novels feature complex characters attempting to bridge splits within their personalities caused by migration across geographical and cultural spaces.
For her nuanced and sensitive portrayal of the quest for identity, Anita Desai is considered by critics as the best novelist of the Indian diaspora experience. Her writing sensitively brings out the existential angst and displacement of living between two cultures and worldviews.
Anita Desai Books
For readers interested in exploring the works of Anita Desai in more depth, here are some of Anita Desai books:
- Novels: Cry, the Peacock (1963), Bye-Bye Blackbird (1971), Clear Light of Day (1980), In Custody (1984), and Fasting, Feasting (1999).
- Children’s Books: The Village by the Sea (1982)
- Story Collections: Games at Twilight (1978), Diamond Dust (2000)
- Non-Fiction: Krishna’s Cosmos (2020), Looking Through Glass (1995)
Desai’s literary career spans six decades and her oeuvre offers a bounty for readers to discover. As one of India’s finest English language writers, she builds intimacy with characters facing existential dilemmas that touch our shared humanity.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Anita Desai is a pioneering figure in Indian diasporic literature in English. Her profound novels explore the themes of cultural displacement, exile, feminism, and family conflict with subtle power.
Desai beautifully condenses epic struggles related to identity and belonging into the microcosm of her evocative characters. Her ability to illuminate the inner lives of her protagonists while also tackling cross-cultural encounters makes her writing appealing.
For shining a compassionate light on the untold stories of immigrant experiences, Anita Desai’s contributions will continue inspiring readers and authors for generations to come.
