Kamala Das Criticism
Kamala Das, also known by her pen names Madhavikutty and Kamala Suraiyya, is one of India's most renowned contemporary writers, recognized for her work in poetry, fiction, and autobiography. Writing in both English and Malayalam, she has been influential since her first poetry collection, Summer in Calcutta (1965), where she broke from traditional forms to craft a distinctly Indian voice. Her works fearlessly delve into themes of female sexuality, urban life, and postcolonial identity, often challenging societal norms, as highlighted by Sunanda P. Chavan who remarks on the unity between her personal and public themes.
Born in 1934 in Malabar, India, into a noble Nair family, Das was influenced by her literary family and the cultural atmosphere around her. Her complex identity, shaped by her "royal" and "peasant" heritage and the colonial backdrop, fostered feelings of alienation, which are reflected in her works. Her candid autobiography, My Story, offers insights into her tumultuous personal life and creative journey, regarded by R. Raphael as flawed yet revealing.
Das’s poetry, characterized by its bold imagery and exploration of private experiences, as seen in collections like The Descendants and The Old Playhouse and Other Poems, has evoked strong critical reactions. Some, like P. P. Raveendran, link her personal themes to broader historical and cultural narratives, evident in works like The Anamalai Poems. Other critics, such as Iqbal Kaur, view her autobiography as a bold protest against gender discrimination.
Despite varying opinions on her aesthetic approach, Das is celebrated for her transformative impact on Indian English literature, offering a vital voice in feminist and postcolonial discourse. Her fearless exploration of identity and societal constraints has positioned her as a pivotal figure in the literary landscape, demonstrating the power of personal narrative in the articulation of broader cultural and political issues.
Contents
- Principal Works
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Das, Kamala (Contemporary Literary Criticism)
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Krishna Motifs in the Poetry of Sarojini Naidu and Kamala Das
(summary)
In the following essay, Blackwell contrasts the use of the Krishna motif in four poems by the Indian poets Kamala Das and Sarojini Naidu.
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Kamala Das: The Pity of It
(summary)
In the following essay, Raphael contends that Das's autobiography, My Story, is flawed but provides insight into the author's personality and work.
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Revolt
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Kurup offers a thematic and stylistic examination of the poems in The Descendants, highlighting the existential despair and the poet's efforts to encounter life and death, as well as the freedom sought beyond physical love.
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Terms of Empowerment in Kamala Das's My Story
(summary)
In the following essay, Lim discusses My Story as a provocative and transformative work of women's autobiography.
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The Unity of Vision in the Poetry of Kamala Das
(summary)
In the following essay, Chavan identifies the unifying aspect of Das's poetry, asserting that “the extraordinarily subjective nature of her vision establishes a vital link between her poems about private life, and about external life.”
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History in the Anamalai Poems
(summary)
In the following essay, Raveendran examines the role of history in the Anamalai Poems. The Anamalai Poems are a series of short poems that Kamala Das wrote during and after her sojourn at the hills of Anamudi in Tamil Nadu following her defeat at the parliamentary elections of 1984. These poems provide a peephole into the troubled psyche of a writer, third-world and female, and quite unsure of her position in a world growing increasingly mercenary. The poems can be regarded as embodying a historical other of what politics implies, representing the historiography of their times, almost, in the words of T. W. Adorno, 'unbeknownst to themselves.'
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What's in a Genre?: Kamala Das's My Story
(summary)
In the following essay, Uma investigates the genre of My Story.
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My Story
(summary)
In the following essay, Harish underscores the novelty and appeal of My Story.
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Protest against Sexual Colonialism: Kamala Das's My Story
(summary)
In the following essay, Kaur explores Das's attitude toward gender roles and views My Story as a protest against the sexual discrimination of women.
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Man-Woman Relationship with Respect to the Treatment of Love in Kamala Das's Poetry
(summary)
In the following essay, Manohar traces Das's depiction of the male-female dynamic in her verse.
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Calling Kamala Das Queer: Rereading My Story
(summary)
In the following essay, George reads My Story as a “queer” text.
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Krishna Motifs in the Poetry of Sarojini Naidu and Kamala Das
(summary)
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Das, Kamala (Poetry Criticism)
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Kamala Das
(summary)
In the following essay, Kohli argues that Das's confessional poetry, with its unusual metaphors and original tone, represents a distinctly Indian voice that bows neither to the English modernists nor to Indian transcendentalist philosophy.
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The Confessional Mode of Kamala Das: Romanticism and Realism
(summary)
In the following essay, Mishra situates Das's poetry in the confessional genre and discusses her attempts to mythologize her personal experiences. Kamala Das, a recognized feminist poet, writes “autobiographical poems” to “mythologize” her personal life. She expresses her strong feeling of love and admits her inability to realise it in the world of self-centred men. Obviously, her poetry is suffused in emotion. This emotion seems to be a subjective emotion, but it is not so. It is really the psychological consequences of poetic experience and knowledge. Her poetry, therefore, is not merely the confession of “the facts” of her life; it is also the expression of universal truths experienced by an individual soul that longs to be one with men and with the world.
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Napalat House
(summary)
In the following essay, Nair addresses the significance of the poet's ancestral home, Nalapat House, to several of her important poems.
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Text as History, History as Text: A Reading of Kamala Das's Anamalai Poems
(summary)
In the following essay, Raveendran examines how Das's later, more political poems, embody tension between the timelessness of the landscape and the minutiae of human history.
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The Old Playhouse and Other Poems
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Nabar provides extensive stylistic and thematic interpretations of Das's later poetry.
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Kamala Das
(summary)
In the following interview, Das and de Souza explore Das's literary journey, highlighting the influence of her family, the impact of her candid and confessional writing style, her views on feminism, and her experience as a prominent Indian poet and author known for challenging societal norms.
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Kamala Das
(summary)
- Further Reading