Gender violence and home a study of the selected works of amrita pritam and krishna sobti

Abstract

Amrita Pritam (1919-2005) and Krishna Sobti (1925-2019) were two famous contemporary Indian authors who earned international repute and accolades for their path-breaking characters, literary innovations, and bold take on women s issues. In their seven decades of prodigious careers, both Pritam and Sobti led a life of utmost honesty and integrity which also became a blueprint for their respective female protagonists. The formidable contemporaries shared similar socio-historical and cultural backgrounds with their roots in pre-Partition Punjab, first-hand experiences of Partition, and the subsequent migration to Delhi. The present thesis has done an analytical study of their selected works to understand how these two authors have grappled with the themes of gender, violence and home in the chosen texts. The thesis shows that there is an intricate relationship between these three themes, whereby each lends to a greater understanding of the other. The thesis has also argued that the connection between the politics and poetics of these two authors stems from their lived experiences as writers and women in Indian society. Even though they did not like being called and#8213;women writersand#8214; but their writings can enrich the canon of Indian women s writings due to the presence of a latent feminist consciousness in them. The authors writing period predates the feminist movements both in India and abroad, yet the themes of women emancipation, violence against women, and search for home and identity make their writings amenable to a feminist reading. The thesis has also analysed certain forms of violence like Partition, rape, honour killing, psychological manipulation, domestic abuse, and physical and verbal violence in the chosen texts... newline