English Language & Literature

Keki Daruwalla’s ‘Swerving to Solitude’: Attacking Emergency with a Sheathed Sword

Swerving to Solitude

Daruwalla attacks the brief period of Emergency in India, but falters when it comes to questioning the instruments of Emergency.

Author

Jagdish Batra, Professor and Additional Director, English Language Centre, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India.

Summary

The poetry and short stories of Keki Daruwalla, the leading Indian English poet, have been enjoyed by at least two generations, Long fiction is his recent offering. My paper finds his latest novel Swerving to Solitude: Letters to Mama, a stylistic tour de force. 

The thematic part touches on a sensitive phase of Indian political history, however, fails to move the reader. 

The author attacks the Emergency but falters when it comes to questioning the instruments of Emergency. This is intriguing because, having been part of top administrative set-up, he was aware of a lot of behind-the-scene machinations and manipulations.

Published in: International Journal of Social Science & Humanity

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