The “Rebound Resilience” - An Overview Of Manju Kapur’s Novels

Abstract

Manju Kapur, a well-renowned feminist in the contemporary literary domain, is preoccupied with depicting the pitiable plight of Indian women owing to recovery of fostering sustainability which leads to the emergence of new women.  She artistically elaborates on her feminist concerns about Indian women to create an identity of their own. 

Kapur’s first novel Difficult Daughters (1998) received huge international acclaim. It was awarded the Commonwealth Writers Prize for the best first book. The key theme of Difficult Daughters is the search for control over one’s destiny. The novel is the story of three generations of women – Kasturi, Virmati, and Ida.

Her second novel A Married Woman was published (2002). It carried the feministic movement a few steps ahead of Manju Kapur’s previous novel. It won comparable commercial success both in India and abroad-becoming a surprise library hit in Britain.

Her third novel Home (2006) was short-listed for the Hutch Crossword Book Award in 2006. This novel is dedicated to her children- Amba, Maya, Katyayani, and Agatsya. It is a multi-generation family saga. This is a fast-moving story of a middle-class family’s life in Delhi.

This paper focuses on the women characters of Manju Kapur, and their suffering during the struggle for survival in the male-dominated society.   But at the same time, they are resilient to the patriarchal age-old dominance.

It sketches how the novelist interprets the struggle of women for liberation.  This paper also explores the qualities of rebound, resilience, repercussion, and recovering spirit of women who emerge as self-conceit.  Their sufferings have made them strong and they are struggling to set themselves free from the shackles of tradition and various prejudices.