Critical Analysis Of The Novels Of Upamanyu Chatterjee

Upamanyu Chatterjee is one contemporary Indian English author who has attracted adulation and admonition in equal measures. His critics, who find his novels often dealing with unpalatable issues, loaded with heavy negativity, cynicism and turgid expressions, however, unanimously aver that he is witty and intelligent, endowed with a unique style of wry playfulness mixed with keen observation. He defies conventions and is rarely calm or ‘normal’ in his novels. Having emerged as the sort of champion of the de-centred and de-cultured, Chatterjee delves deep in the postmodern ethos of the contemporary Indian scenario. But the question is, are the ‘bleak-books’ of Upamanyu Chatterjee really devoid of any redeeming positive value? This study attempts to get the answer of this question through the process of deconstructing the author’s sensibility and the formative influences on his creativity.
Keywords: Thematic preoccupations, Ideology and Philosophy, Ironic Vision, formative process

His critics, who find his novels often dealing with unpalatable issues, loaded with heavy negativity, cynicism and turgid expressions, however, unanimously aver that he is witty and intelligent, endowed with a unique style of wry playfulness mixed with keen observation. He defies conventions and is rarely calm or ‘normal’ in his novels. Anjana Sharma equates Chatterjee’s vision of humanity with W.B. Yeats. She writes, “Chatterjee recaptures in essence Yeats' vision of a dark and bestial society. Eighty years apart, cultures, civilizations, even craft and temperament apart, Yeats and Chatterjee share an identical vision of a de-centered, de-natured world.” But the question is, are the ‘bleak-books’ of Upamanyu Chatterjee really devoid of any redeeming positive value? Henry James has