KEKI N. DARUWALLA: THE POET AND NOVELIST by ASHA VISWAS. New Delhi: Bahri Publications, 2011. 173 pp., Rs. 500/-, ISBN 978-81-909771-3-5
Keki N. Daruwalla, who has been writing for over four decades, is a leading name in current English Indian poetry (p 31). The uniqueness of his verses has been recognized by critics and admirers from all over the world. There have been several books on his poetry, both original and edited, discussing imagery, diction, design and point of view, but the latest one by Asha Viswas, dedicated to his students, should be very helpful to both for students as well as for teachers.
Professor Viswas, herself a fine poet with three volumes of poetry to her credit, treats Daruwalla on the same pedestal as Nissim Ezekiel and Jayanta Mahapatra, finding in him a more representative voice than Jayanta Mahapatra and others. I completely agree with her.
Asha considers Keki’s nine volumes of poetry and one novel and appreciates the variety it displays in both form and content (p. 34). She also discovers that Keki writes with emotional control and effectively uses techniques such as puns, irony, and satire (pp. 75-76). She reflects on the poet’s large thematic canvas that is inherent in his personal experiences, as well as his concern with the often contradictory realities of indigenous life, the diverse cultural, historical and mythical landscape, and existential realities. . To quote Bruce King, Keki Daruwalla writes hard poetry mindful of the “moral ambiguities and irresolvable conflicts of the human condition.”
Professor Viswas’ introductory chapter seeks to define and highlight Keki’s modernity and Indianness, in addition to his “depth of feeling, economy of language, and originality of perception” (cf. pp. 13-17) that give him “a central place in modern Indian English”. poetry.”
In the second chapter, ‘Amarres’, he scrutinizes the personal life of the poet in the face of the growth of his poetic career starting in the 1960s. He draws on his personal interview with the poet to develop the chapter as well as reviewing the reviews of all his collections, two books of short stories, a novel, and an anthology, Two Decades of Indian Poetry: 1960-80. It emphasizes the global perspective, experiences and interests of the poet.
In the third chapter, “Treatment of Myth in Keki’s Early Poetry”, he refers to his mythic poems (five in Under Orion, four in Apparition in April, thirteen in Crossing of Rivers) to demonstrate the poet’s inquisitive mind, his mythopoeic attitude and eclectic vision. Professor Viswas also uses stylistic analysis techniques to interpret some of Keki’s early poems.
The fourth chapter seeks to highlight modernity, realism, amoral approach, existential concerns, lack of faith in the system, and avoidance of the “common response” and “abstract notion” of the poet. She observes, “Her satire of him and his iconoclastic approach invigorate his subject matter as do his verse speed and masculine vigour.” (p. 76)
The poet-critic’s discussion of the poems in Landscape (ch. 5) aims to demonstrate Keki’s “maturity of vision” which transmutes the “external world into internal consciousness” (p 78) and helps him achieve inner peace. (p 81). Asha Viswas finds in the collection a “perfect harmony between impression and expression” a la Sanskrit Poets (p 90).
The sixth chapter is a critique of A Summer of Tigers that offers examples of passion and irony (pp. 94-98). With her skills in stylistic analysis, Asha Viswas attempts to highlight the poet’s “exploration and experimentation” (pp. 95, 104) and his sensitivity to “speech rhythms and their syntactic and lexical features” (pp. 98, 114). on the one hand, and his love for mythology and “racial history” (pp 99, 102, 111) and his criticism of Pablo Neruda (pp 110-11), on the other. As she notes: “His best poetry of his is about mountains, tall grasses, seas, and rivers. It’s his grounding in the ritual scene that gives Keki a shot at the poetic vein.” (p. 112)
The seventh chapter deals with Night River, a “global work” (p 116). Whereas the poet’s quest for permanence in Landscapes takes him into the world of nature, in Night River he “changes his route from nature to human imagination” (p 115). Here Asha Viswas finds Keki as Orpheus and descending into “the darkest depths of what we call the subconscious and unconscious.” He seems to be right, since Daruwalla himself admits that he has here tried to plunge into the “depths of consciousness and solitude” (p. 117) which is, in fact, “a defense against time, decay, and even death.” death” (p. 127). He also discusses some of his dream poems (pp. 118-121) and island poems (pp. 125-26) in the volume.
The eighth chapter refers to Keki’s ninth collection, The Map Maker, which records his journey “both within and without”. Here one finds instances of “subjective and physical, individual and universal merging into… (one) integrated consciousness” (p 128). Asha praises her ability to meld history, peoples, nature, religion, biography, and vision into “intense reflection” and poetry “that speaks from the still center of being, narrative, and dramatic voice” (p. 159). His analytical comments on pages 140-158 should help any serious student to follow Daruwalla’s poetry in the right spirit.
The last chapter discusses Daruwalla’s historical novel For Pepper and Christ (2009), which “presents a dialectical discourse of conflicting interests in the context of commerce and religion” (p. 161).
The bibliography at the end testifies to the years of work Professor Viswas has put into writing the book, keeping in mind the needs of students at both honors and graduate level, and researchers and faculty interested in writing. from Indian English. It is a positive contribution from a poet-teacher who views Keki N. Daruwalla with critical empathy and imagination.
