The Future of a Vision
The Future of a Vision
This chapter examines the trajectory of Rao's later fiction in terms of the earlier analysis of Kanthapura. While Kanthapura is contextualized in the history of the period, the ensuing analysis does not intend to pursue a similar exercise in the main, partly because the bulk of his fiction is written long after the achievement of independence, and partly since Rao's concern as an artist becomes more metaphysical and personal. It is possible, however, for the metaphysical to be seen as an extreme dimension of the nationalistic: having moved away from the political circumstances of the 1930s and the 1940s, Rao's metaphysical concerns are an assertion of the persistence of a fundamental Hindu tradition in a period of internal dislocation following independence, as also an anchor for personal dilemma. These are some of the issues that need to be mentioned in any consideration of Rao's later fiction comprising The Serpent and the Rope (1960), The Cat and Shakespeare (1965), Comrade Kirillov (1976), and The Chessmaster and His Moves (1988). The content of this chapter is ideological since it intends to raise questions related to the body of Rao's later fiction and to speculate on the development of his vision and its inherent contradictions through a brief internal study.
Keywords: Raja Rao, Kanthapura, metaphysical, The Serpent and the Rope, The Cat and Shakespeare, Comrade Kirillov, The Chessmaster and His Moves
Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .
