Kamala Markandaya

2022-02-09T14:58:18Z

80.0.102.41:

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2017}}
{{More footnotes|article|date=January 2008}}
{{Infobox writer
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| name = Kamala Markandaya
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| birth_name = Kamala Purnaiya
| birth_date = {{Birth date |df=yes|1924|01|01}}
| birth_place = [[Mysore]], India
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2004|05|16|1924|01|01}}
| death_place = [[London]], [[England]]
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| occupation = Novelist and journalist
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| alma_mater = [[Madras University]]
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'''Kamala Markandaya''' (1 January 1924 – 16 May 2004),<ref>[https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/58634.Kamala_Markandaya "Kamala Markandaya"] at Goodreads.</ref> pseudonym of '''Kamala Purnaiya''', married name '''Kamala Taylor''', was a [[British Indian]] [[novelist]] and [[journalism|journalist]]. She has been called "one of the most important [[Indian English literature|Indian novelists writing in English]]".<ref name="Donnell2002">{{cite book|author-first=Paola|author-last=Marchionni|editor-link=Alison Donnell|editor=Alison Donnell|title=Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VfdpdZ9DwH0C&pg=PA192|year=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-70025-7|pages=192–3|chapter=Markandaya, Kamala}}</ref>

==Life==
===Early life===
Markandaya was born into an upper-middle-class [[Madhva Brahmin]] family.<ref>{{cite book|title=World Literature Today, Volume 76, Issues 1-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gqgPAQAAMAAJ|page=133|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|year=2002|quote=Markandaya was born a Madhwa Brahmin , and , typical of some subsects of the Madhwas who live in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka ( some of them still remember Marathi and speak it ) , knows about the customs of the Tamilians.}}</ref><ref name="Donnell2002"/> A native of [[Mysore]], India, Markandaya was a graduate of [[University of Madras|Madras University]], and afterwards published several short stories in Indian newspapers. After India declared its [[independence]], Markandaya moved to [[UK|Britain]], though she still labelled herself an Indian [[expatriate]] long afterwards. Kamala was a descendant of diwan [[Purnaiah|Purnaiya]] and was fluent in [[Kannada language|Kannada]] and [[Marathi language|Marathi]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CukvAAAAIAAJ|title=Indian Writing Today, Volumes 3-4|page=35|publisher=Nirmala Sadanand Publishers|year=1969}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Kamala Markandaya: A Critical Study of Her Novels, 1954-1982|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qbwLAQAAMAAJ|page=13|author=Angara Venkata Krishna Rao|publisher=B.R. Publishing Corporation|year=1997|isbn = 9788170189411|quote=Born in 1924, Kamala Markandaya hails from a well-to-do orthodox Brahmin family of Dewan Purnaiya of Mysore in South India. Her maiden name was Kamala Purnaiya; and her pen-name is Kamala Markandaya.}}</ref>

===Career===
She was well-Known for writing about [[culture]] clash between Indian urban and rural societies, Markandaya's [[Debut novel|first published novel]], ''[[Nectar in a Sieve]]'', was a bestseller and cited as an [[American Library Association Notable Book]] in 1955. Her other novels include ''Some Inner Fury'' (1955), ''A Silence of Desire'' (1960), ''[[Possession (Kamala Markandaya novel)|Possession]]'' (1963), ''A Handful of Rice'' (1966), ''[[The Nowhere Man (Kamala Markandaya novel)|The Nowhere Man]]'' (1972), ''Two Virgins'' (1973), ''The Golden Honeycomb'' (1977), and ''Pleasure City'' (1982/1983).

===Death===
Kamala Markandaya died aged 80 on 16 May 2004.

==Works==
* ''[[Nectar in a Sieve]]'', New York: John Day, 1954
* ''Some Inner Fury'', New York: New American Library, 1955
* ''A Silence of Desire'', New York: John Day, 1960
* ''[[Possession (Kamala Markandaya novel)|Possession; a novel]]'', New York: John Day, 1963
* ''A Handful of Rice'', New York: John Day, 1966
* ''The Coffer Dams'', New York: John Day, 1969
* ''[[The Nowhere Man (Kamala Markandaya novel)|The Nowhere Man]]'', London: Allen Lane, 1972
* ''Two Virgins'', New York: John Day, 1973
* ''The Golden Honeycomb'', New York: Crowell, 1977
* ''Pleasure City'', London: Chatto and Windus, 1982. Published in the United States under the title ''Shalimar''.
* ''Bombay Tiger'', New Delhi: Penguin, 2008. (Posthumously published.)

==Literary criticism==
* Almeida, Rochelle. ''Originality and Imitation: Indianness in the Novels of Kamala Markandaya''. Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 2000.
* Jha, Rekha. ''The Novels of Kamala Markandaya and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: A Study in East-West Encounter''. New Delhi: Prestige Books, 1990.
* Joseph, Margaret P. ''Kamala Markandaya'', Indian Writers Series, N. Delhi: Arnold-Heinemann, 1980.
* Krishna Rao, A. V. ''The Indo-Anglian Novel and Changing Tradition: A Study of the Novels of Mulk Raj Anad, Kamala Markandaya, R.K. Narayan, Raja Rao, 1930–64''. Mysore: 1972.
* Parameswaran, Uma. ''Kamala Markandaya''. Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 2000.
* Shrivastava, Manish. "Conflicts of Sensibility in Kamala Markandaya's ''A Silence of Desire''". ''Synthesis: Indian Journal of English Literature and Language''. vol.1, no.1.
* Singh, Indu. "The Feminist Approach in Kamala Markandaya's Novels with Special Reference to ''Nectar in a Sieve''", ''Synthesis: Indian Journal of English Literature and Language'', vol. 1, no. 1.

== See also ==
* [[Indian writing in English]]

== References ==
<references />

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928150532/http://www.sawnet.org/books/authors.php?Markandaya+Kamala Kamala Markandaya biography]
* Francis C. Assisi, [http://www.outlookindia.com/article/A-Pioneer-Who-Influenced-All-Of-Us/224017 "A Pioneer Who Influenced All Of Us..."], ''Outlook'', 25 May 2004.
* {{cite web |last1=Ramaswamy |first1=S. |title=Perhaps, the most outstanding novelist |url=http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/jun132004/sh2.asp |publisher=Deccan Herald |access-date=9 October 2020 |archive-url=http://web-old.archive.org/web/20040823120012/http://deccanherald.com/deccanherald/jun132004/sh2.asp |archive-date=23 August 2004 |date=13 June 2004}}

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Markandaya, Kamala}}
[[Category:1924 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:Journalists from Karnataka]]
[[Category:Writers from Mysore]]
[[Category:Women writers from Karnataka]]
[[Category:British people of Indian descent]]
[[Category:English-language writers from India]]
[[Category:Indian women journalists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian journalists]]
[[Category:Novelists from Karnataka]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women writers]]

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Kamala Markandaya