Existential Concerns in Toni Morrison

Abstract

English is being written and read today by more people outside England than inside. This applies no less to the women writers in English across the globe who have made their unmistakable mark in English literature[s], especially in the last century. The present volume,—the second in the new projected series of Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, Studies in Women Writers in English—bears evidence to this phenomenon as the critics address women writers in English in various parts of the globe rather than concentrating on canonised mainstream authors and texts, and thus mainstream writers figure only referentially, in the margin of these critical texts, as it were. Again, understandably Indian writers take over a chunk of the space. However, the essays included in this volume cover authors from America, Canada and India, and also some general theoretical discourse regarding feminism and marginal literature. The authors discussed in this volume are Christina Rossetti of England, Emily Dickinson, Harper Lee, Lorraine Hansberry and Sylvia Plath of America, Margaret Atwood and Beatrice Culleton of Canada, and Kamala Markandaya, Kamala Das, Nayantara Sahgal, Anita Desai, Githa Hariharan of India. Apart from this a wide spectrum of Indian writers have been referred to and treated in the general articles on feminist theory and practice, especially in India today, and yesterday. The sixteen essays of the volume will be found interesting as well as useful by students, teachers and scholars and will also be enjoyed by the general readers.