Women in the 21st Century Indian Women Novels

Literature serves as a window into the outside world and the culture we live in. Authors, through different literary genres, make an effort to define human existence by depicting a variety of characters, situations, and incidents. Among all literary genres, the novel is mostly preferred by contemporary authors, particularly women novelists. It is because the novel is found the most convenient genre to present things. Nowadays, the number of woman novelists increases.

Themes in current Indian women’s fiction and other works of Indian English literature evolve with time and national growth. In contrast to more general topics like nationalism, patriotism, politics, etc., the subjects of the post-independent Indian women authors concentrate on the problems of specific people and the everyday occurrences and episodes of middle-class people, particularly women. They maintain people, particularly women, in the center of their subjects who convey their thoughts and feelings.

Women’s issues, such as gender issues, female exploitation, and oppression, the idea of being ‘other’ in a patriarchal society, the theme of transitioning from childhood to womanhood, liberation through self-discovery, sexual autonomy, human relationships, realism, magic realism, fantasy, the idea of ‘new-women’, Indian culture, urbanization, Indianness, migration, East-West encounter, are frequently the focus of Indian English fiction written by women writers. These writers, in addition to focusing on themes relating to women and society, also presented an entirely different point of view on life and confidently established their abilities on the global literary stage.

With the writing of many famous Indian women writers who depicted women's sufferings, discrimination in society, and pain in family life, twentieth-century writing ushered in a new era. Identity crises, feeling alone, and women rebelling against patriarchal culture are some of the most common themes in contemporary Indian literature. Many writers, Shashi Deshpande, Jhumpa Lahiri, Anita Desai, Smriti Singh, Nomita Gogkhle, Manju Kapur, and Kavery Nambisan are a few to list, have shown both unhappy and rebellious women in their novels. In these novelists’ works, they present the reproductive rights of women, protection from domestic violence, workplace violence, and public place violence, as well as economic rights such as equal pay, equality, pensions, and poverty, as well as political, social, and religious rights.

This book’s goal is to examine the changes in women’s mindset, family life, social life, and issues from a woman's perspective; to determine what kinds of improvements the new Indian woman wants and needs, and to understand how they want to see themselves in this modern world. I believe that it is vital to comprehend the pressing challenges affecting women that need to be dealt with in a constructive manner. That is essential for both the survival of society and the harmony of human life.

The editor hopes that this edited book, “Women in the 21st Century Indian Women Novels” will serve that purpose as it contains a variety of chapters about various issues of modern women. This book contains the following chapters:

1. Women Empowerment in the Context of Covid 19
2. Identity Crisis in Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake
3. Re-Imagining Existing Binary Composition of Queer Identity in contrast to the Homophobic Domain of the Indian Society
4. Ashwini, a victim of tradition-bound society
5. Queerness in “A Romantically Involved Woman” By Manju Kapur
6. Quest for Identity
7. Women Empowerment in India: A Study Defining Women of India
8. A Psycho- Musical Therapeutic Study of Changing Pattern of Attitude of Jail Criminal at Agra

I thank the professors, academicians, and scholars who have contributed their chapters without which, this book would not be in existence. My sincere thanks are due to Kripa-Drishti Publications, Pune, India who gave me this wonderful
opportunity to edit this book.