Depiction of Masculine and Feminine Sensibilities in the Select Novels of Gore Vidal James Baldwin Shashi Deshpande and Arun Joshi

Abstract

The present research study entitled Depiction of Masculine and Feminine Sensibilities in the Select Novels of Gore Vidal, James Baldwin, Shashi Deshpande, and Arun Joshi tends to expose the distinction between femininity and masculinity. The general theme focuses on the exploration of femininity and condemnation of ill treatment, denial of opportunity and education, and unending sufferings of males and females in Indian society. Among the writers of both Indian and African Literature such as Gore Vidal, James Baldwin Shashi Deshpande, and Arun Joshi are inevitable writers who have projected the sufferings of Indian and African men and women in their society in different situations. Their novels are mainly intense to deeply study the interrelationship between race, gender, class, and obstacles to their emancipation. These writers traced to establish an evolutionary pattern of their principles. As novelists, they succeeded in their attempt to combine socio-political consciousness with aesthetic sensibility. Among the vast number of novels, only four novels such as City and the Pillar, Giovanni s Room, Dark Holds no Terrors and The Foreigner have been taken for the research study. The introductory chapter began with an explanation of the challenges defining masculinity and feminism. It then discussed social constructs for masculinity and feminism and ended with concerns about social models that tend to view behaviour as monolithic and predetermined by social forces. The present chapter emphasizes psychological views of gender, masculinity, and feminism, highlighting the trait approach to masculinity and feminism. The second chapter entitled Perception of Manliness traces the horizon and the development of Indian African Literature which also examines the careers, contributions, and status of Gore Vidal and James Baldwin. The literary tradition of male female writings established the interconnectedness of race, gender, class, and issues of femininity and masculinity and how they have been critically analyzed...