The Swan and the Eagle

For decades now, C. D. Narasimhaiah has laid the standards for critical study of Indian writing in English. Coolly, soberly, and with detachment from the excitement of the moment, he has sought to evaluate the work of India’s authors in English. Along with the pioneering writers themselves, CDN, as Professor Narasimhaiah is popularly known, has made a signal contribution in establishing Indian English writing, not only as an academic discipline in the universities but also as one of the country’s own literatures. This book covers in its compass poetry, autobiography, novel, drama, and criticism. It turns the spotlight on the "poetic genius of Toru Dutt and Aurobindo, the imaginative prose of Vivekananda and Jawaharlal Nehru and the three senior novelists – Mulk Raj Anand, R. K. Narayan and Raja Rao – together with the precise nature of their contribution". CDN’s provocative assessment of some of today’s much-publicised Indian novelists, Rushdie, Vikram Seth, Arundhati Roy is forcefully argued. So, too, his views on contemporary Indian poetry in English – "so few of these poets have made any difference to the quality of our living". For the discriminating reader, The Swan and the Eagle is an incomparable critical study of Indian English literature, offering both a qualitative perspective and a measuring rod at a time of great growth in the output of Indian writing in English.