In four pages this essay considers how Indian nationality is created within the context of the novel and how the present it affects is also influenced by past perceptions. There are no other sources listed in the bibliography.
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dilemma of her protagonist is a direct result of the gendered nature of Indian nationalism that was formulated during the colonial period. Bibliography lists 8 sources. khdesai.wps Anita Desai/Fire
on the Mountain - April, 2001 - properly! Post-colonial literature, in general, relates the problem of
developing an authentic national identity in the wake of European influence on native cultures. A feminist perspective on this body of literature demonstrates that the problems that women have faced
in post-colonial cultures are particularly problematic. The fiction of Indian novelist Anita Desai epitomizes this characteristic of feminist post-colonial literature. Using her novel Fire on the Mountain as representative of
Desais fiction, an examination of this novel reveals that - as Rege (1996) points out - the "ideological underpinnings of nationalism that are available to Desai and her protagonists are
tried and found wanting but alternative models are either lacking or rendered inarticulate by the political climate" (p. 317). As this indicates, when Desais work is examined in light of
the historical development of Indian nationalism, it becomes readily apparent that the emotional dilemma of her protagonist is a direct result of the gendered nature of Indian nationalism that was
formulated during the colonial period (Rege, 1996). To understand the relationship between Desais fiction and gender in post-colonial India requires a comprehension of the historical development of Indian nationalism.
It is only from the perspective of Indian history that the reader can fully comprehend the reasons behind the emotional isolation of Nanda Kaul in Fire on the Mountain.
Rege (1996) points out that the type of withdrawal from the public sphere that Nanda Kaul demonstrates "speaks volumes on the vexed relationship between national and personal identity, and particularly