Little is known about the miniscule community of the Parsis in spite of their considerable and significant contribution to various facets of national life in the Indian subcontinent. The opening section of the present book fills this void by providing authentic and scholarly insights into the Zoroastrian faith and some of its tenets. Further, it attempts to explore the distinctive character of the Parsi novels of the current era—in India and in Pakistan—as is reflected in the works of Rohinton Mistry, Bapsi Sidhwa, Dina Mehta, Firdaus Kanga, Keki Daruwalla and Boman Desai. It reveals that this minority community has to cope with hegemonic forces, identity crises and the struggle to create its own space. All the concerns of the community—declining population, brain-drain, late marriages, inter-faith marriages, funeral rites, attitude to the girl-child, urbanization, alienation, modernist vs. traditionalist attitude to religion and the existence or non-existence of ethnic anxieties—are aptly delineated in the works of the Parsi authors and critically examined by scholars who have written in this two-volume book. Also discussed are the works of the latest Parsi writers, Ardashir Vakil, Meher Pestonji and Farishta Murzban Dinshaw whose writings focus on the marginalization of the Parsis in the recent years, dilution of values, isolation in the urban scenario and the influence of massive commercialization on the Parsi psyche.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jaydipsinh Dodiya
Jaydipsinh Kisabhai Dodiya teaches at Smt. Surekhaben Hasmukhbhai Gardi Institute of English and Comparative Literary Studies, Saurashtra University, Rajkot. He also taught English for eight years at Shardagram College in Mangrol. He has presented research papers at several national and international seminars held in India and abroad. He has edited a number of books including The Fiction of Rohinton Mistry, The Plays of Girish Karnad, The Fiction of Shobha De, Contemporary Indian Writing in English, Critical Perspectives on the Ramayana and The Novels of Rohinton Mistry. Indian English Fiction is the area of his specialization. He has visited Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand for academic pursuits. He is an ex-Member of Syndicate, Academic Council and Board of University Teaching of Saurashtra University, Rojkot. He has been the Member of Senate as well as the President of Saurashtra University Teachers' Association (SUTA) for the last two terms. For his doctorate degree he worked under supervision of Prof. Avadhesh Kumar Singh on the Parsi novelists in English with special reference to Firdaus Kanga, Rohinton Mistry, Farrukh Dhondy and Bapsi Sidhwa. He is a research guide and now ten scholars are working with him for their Ph.D. dissertation.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR R.K. Dhawan
R.K. Dhawan teaches English at S.B.S. College, University of Delhi. He has lectured extensively at many universities, including those at Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Singapore, Tunisia, Italy and Australia. He has published several articles and books. He is the editor of The commonwealth Review, a bi-annual journal devoted to the new literatures.
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