Three Plays of Girish Karnad: A Study in Poetics and Culture

The present book critically examines Girish Karnad’s concern as a playwright with the metaphysical image of Indian dramatic tradition and with finding a continuous renewal of its representational and philosophical meaning. A repertory of diverse art forms, the larger cultural matrix of Karnad’s theatre touches our experiential realities and gives our relationship to contemporary theatre a new orientation. The introductory discussion and a close reading of the three plays, Hayavadana, Tale-Danda and The Fire and the Rain, testify to the playwright’s growth from being an experimenter to a consummate theorist of drama. The book, it is hoped, will make a fruitful contribution to the growing fields of performing arts, aesthetics and culture.