FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES IN SELECT PLAYS OF MANJULA PADMANABHAN AND MAHASWETA DEVI

V. Simila; P. Saravanakumar

doi:10.29121/shodhkosh.v5.i1.2024.5640

Authors

V. Simila Research Scholar, Department of English, Sri Vijay Vidyalaya College of Arts & Science, Nallampalli, Dharmapuri.
Dr. P. Saravanakumar Assistant Professor, Department of English, Sri Vijay Vidyalaya College of Arts & Science, Nallampalli, Dharmapuri.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29121/shodhkosh.v5.i1.2024.5640

Keywords:

Padmanabhan, Devi, Paper

Abstract [English]

This research paper explores the feminist perspectives evident in select plays by Manjula Padmanabhan and Mahasweta Devi, two influential Indian writers known for challenging traditional gender norms and societal structures. Drawing from Simone de Beauvoir's concepts of The Other, immanence and transcendence, Situation and Freedom, and myths and reality, the paper examines how these playwrights confront and deconstruct prevailing myths and stereotypes surrounding women in Indian society.
Through an analysis of Padmanabhan's Escape and The Island of Lost Girls, as well as Devi's Mother of 1084 and other works, the paper highlights the portrayal of women's struggles and agency within their respective contexts. Padmanabhan's dystopian narratives challenge societal norms and expectations, while Devi's realistic portrayals shed light on the intersectionality of gender, caste, and socio-economic factors in shaping women's experiences.

References

Basu, Argha, and Priyanka Tripathi. "Exploring Womanhood in Manjula Padmanabhan's Futuristic Dystopian Fiction: A Postmodern Perspective." Journal of Literary Criticism, vol. 22, no. 3, 2023, pp. 45-62.

Beauvoir, Simone de. "The Ethics of Ambiguity." Philosophical Library, 1948.

Beauvoir, Simone de. The Second Sex. Random House, 2014.

Debī, Mahāśvetā. Breast Stories. 1997.

Debī, Mahāśvetā. Mother of 1084. 1997.

hooks, bell. "Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism." South End Press, 1981.

hooks, bell. Feminism Is for Everybody. Routledge, 2014. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315743189

Katrak, Ketu H. "Politics of the Female Body: Postcolonial Women Writers." Rutgers University Press, 2006.

Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. "Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses." Feminist Review, vol. 30, 1988, pp. 61-88. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/fr.1988.42

Padmanabhan, Manjula. Escape. Hachette UK, 2015.

Padmanabhan, Manjula. The Island of Lost Girls. Hachette UK, 2015.

Rich, Adrienne. "Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution." Norton, 1976.

Singh, Shivam, and Gunjan Sushil. "Marine Animals and Ethical Dilemmas: A Critical Analysis of The Island of Lost Girls." Speculative Fiction Studies, vol. 18, no. 4, 2022, pp. 78-94.

Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. "Can the Subaltern Speak?" Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, edited by Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg, University of Illinois Press, 1988, pp. 271-313.

Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. "Violence Against Women in Indian Society: A Literary Exploration." Feminist Perspectives, vol. 15, no. 2, 2021, pp. 112-130.