Fire on the Mountain (Masterplots II: British and Commonwealth Fiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Anita Desai
- First Published: 1977
- Type of Work: Domestic realism
- Time of Work: The 1970’s
- Setting: Kasauli, India
- Principal Characters: Nanda Kaul, Raka, Ila Das, Ram Lal
- Genres: Long fiction, Domestic realism
- Subjects: 1970’s, Race, Murder or homicide, Psychology or psychologists, Marriage, Friendship, Violence, India or East Indian people, Loneliness, Fire, Isolation
- Locales: India
The Novel
The plot of Fire on the Mountain is relatively brief and uncomplicated, the significant action occurring within the psyches of Nanda and, to a lesser extent, Raka, her great-granddaughter. When Ila Das is raped and killed, that violent action happens “offstage” at the end of the novel, almost simultaneously with Raka’s announcement that she has set the forest on fire. While there are few important “events” in the rest of the novel, Anita Desai prepares the reader for the horrific ending by carefully embedding violence in her imagery and in her...
[The entire page is 2276 words long]
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