From Dark to the Stars: A critical study of the novels of Arun Joshi

About this book

This book is an attempt to interpret some aspects of the novels of Arun Joshi. All that is attempted in the present book is a consideration of Arun Joshi's effort to present the problems of contemporary life and the untiring effort of the characters to find out some solution. They may not get the proper solution but they have not lost the hope. The Indian believe that the life and things are completely different from what they appear to be. Unfortunately, the world is encircled by falsehood and terrible sensation. The result is that the man has lost his identity. The feeling of loneliness has broken him. But this fact is also true that the man is not dead - he is still breathing a power within him is like an explosive. One day it will burst out and the blaze of light will liberate him from the prison of life. Such type of concept is found in the novels of Arun Joshi; sometimes flowing like an undercurrent and sometimes visible like the moon beam. The Indian novelists have not handled the problem of alienation like the novelists of the West. The reason is that Indians basically are optimist. The note of melancholy comes in their lives due to socio-economic disparity but this can not make them pessimist like Thomas Hardy who thinks happiness is an occasional episode in the general drama of pain. They think like Alexander Pope : Know then thyself presume not God to scan The proper study of mankind is man. The endeavour of the Indian novelist is all the time directed to study mankind in a proper way. This is the reason that they write with positive approach and try to solve the riddle. Thus sense of alienation ultimately proves to be boon in disguise for Indian novelist. Some of the lines the prominent novels of Arun Joshi are quoted here for reference because these lines have been elaborated in detail in the different chapters of this book. The purpose is to show that Arun Joshi is not an escapist but has the fortitude to face the hostile situation of the world in which he is compelled to live. Detachment consistent on right action and not escape from it : The Foreigner. The significance of the novel is that unlike Sindi Billy hears the voice of his soul... He has unusually sharp eyes, a sense of premonition and intuition and love for the primitive in life: 'The Strange case of Billy Biswas.' 'The hero Ratan Rathore has a powerful instinct for survival' - The Apprentice. A person cannot go through his life without the guidance and support from others. One is invariably indebted, knowingly or unknowingly. These debts may be of different types viz., physical, mental, psychological or intellectual in nature but they cannot be denied. In my case, to enlist all of them is not easy for me. To repay them in words is beyond my capability. The present work is an imprint of many persons who have made significant contribution to its materialization.