Kanthapura to Malgudi
Cultural Values and Assumptions in selected South Indian Novelists in English(1997).
The present book makes a scholarly attempt to examine the portrayal of South Indian culture in thirty-seven Indian English novels written by seven eminent authors: K.S Venkataramani, K. Nagarajan, Kamala Markandaya, Raja Rao, R.K. Narayan, B. Rajan and Santha Rama Rau. The novels under study were published during the years 1925-85. The book sketches and evaluates critically the cultural values and assumptions such as the idea and role of womanhood, the role of relationship, the role of myths and puranas, the role of the guru, the role of proverbs. It makes an attempt to evolve a cultural criteria that is native and indigenous, and demonstrates a paradigm that could as well be applied to Indian English poetry, drama and short story. While establishing a close relationship between literature and culture, the book makes a rich contribution to the disciplines of Indological studies, Comparative literature and Indian English literature.