The Book : This volume of recent essays on Raja Rao, in conjunction with two earlier but seminal studies, brings together some of the most discerning critical responses to the oeuvre of this pioneering Indian English fictionist. It examines how Raja Rao resolves into controlled art the discords of the individual and the cosmic in human concerns, the meditative and the innovative in his prose, and the varied tropes of his narrative techniques. The volume also includes detailed readings and revaluations of all his major books.The aspects of Raja Rao's art that come under close scrutiny in this volume include his interrogation of the spiritual ferment in modern times, his indigenization of language as a singular contribution towards the evolution of an authentic International English, the unprecedented use he makes of the novel form by positioning metaphysical explorations as the basis of writing itself, the progression in his books and the construction of the Feminine Principle, and his view of literature as a sádhana, quite in the tradition of ancient Indian writers. It is hoped that the volume shall evoke interest and benefit the readers.

The Editor : Ragini Ramachandra was educated at the Universities of Mysore, Bangalore and Utah. Twice gold-medallist, she was also the recipient of National Merit Scholarship, Fulbright Scholarship and UGC Fellowship. She is currently Professor and Head of the Department of English at A.P.S. College, Bangalore University, Bangalore.Dr Ramachandra has published articles in leading journals and widely acclaimed critical anthologies. She has also authored a full-length book titled Literary Criticism: An Enquiry into its Continuity and Vitality (1989), and contributed to The Encyclopaedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English (Routledge, U.K.). An honorary member of Cambridge Society, Cambridge, U.K. she is also on the Editorial Board of The Literary Criterion. Her project on The Feminine Principle in the Works of Raja Rao is nearing completion, and her major interests include Literary Theory and Criticism, Indian Aesthetics, and Indian Responses to Shakespeare.