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Stale, though informative, insights on the feminism of Sylvia Plath
Randeep Wadehra

A Woman’s Own Language?
by Sat Pal Jindal. Suraj Prakashan, Ambala City. Pages 170. Rs 390.

SYLVIA Plath was a sensitive, talented poetess. She was mentally unstable and had suicidal tendencies. Her suicide made her an icon of feminism posthumously, and perhaps fortuitously. She was born in October 1932, when the so-called first wave of feminism had about ebbed. She killed herself in February 1963, when the feminist movement’s "second wave" was gathering momentum. Her works are considered to be a "pioneering" contribution to the cause of women’s lib.

While reading her poems, journals and the only novel she wrote, one does not espy the archetype fire-eating, bra-burning feminist, but a tortured soul whose protests are only occasionally peppered with flashes of anger — hardly the avant-garde new woman that some feminists have tried to discover in her.

She was scarcely eight when her father died. Brought up in a single-parent family, commonplace in the then post-War society, she developed a sort of love-hate attitude towards the dead man, as reflected in her works Daddy and The Collossus. As a young woman she considered herself as "dangerously brainy"; in fact, she set very high standards for herself. Failure invariably depressed her, leading to emotional breakdown and a failed suicide attempt. The fact that she was wrongly given electro-convulsive therapy only added to her misery. Her marriage to British poet Ted Hughes, who later on left her for another woman, was an unhappy one that temporarily smothered her creativity. Through the character of Esther, The Bell Jar reflects various shades of experiences and emotions (in Caroline King Barnard’s words, "confusion, disintegration, and renewal") from Plath’s life. Needless to say men do not emerge exactly in eulogistic hues in the narrative.

Jindal’s book is a modified version of his research thesis on Plath’s solitary novel The Bell Jar. He has methodically analysed the work, giving appropriate background material. His notes and observations, presented lucidly, should give lay readers a perception of Plath, her works and a bit of the related literature on women’s movement. Yet his dissertation has nothing new to add to the Plath legend, nor does it provide fresh insights into the relevance of her work to today’s times when feminist movement has simmered down. Now when there is a yearning for the old family values in the West, and informed women in Asia and elsewhere, even though miniscule in numbers, are still not sure whether to reject the feminist dogma in its entirety or to adapt it to their respective socio-cultural environments, it is pointless to merely repeat what has already been said elsewhere.

Nonetheless, students of English Literature will find this book useful in getting acquainted with Plath’s novel. They will also get a glimpse into the various dilemmas faced by her as a creative person, as well as the factors that acted as catalysts for her creativity.

Icons from the World of Business

by Devangshu Dutta. Puffin Books, N. Delhi. Pages viii+130. Rs 150.

WHEN precocity meets vision and attitude, a leader is born. Leaders are not products of their circumstances. Instead they mould or transcend these to attain cherished goals. This is true of people in all walks of life. There is a plethora of literature on political and social leaders. But this book is different, as it highlights modern-day achievers in the field of business.

Dutta has included only such businesspersons in the list as are alive, successful first generation entrepreneurs and preferably pioneers. He ominously informs that this paradigm has been set because, "It is not considered polite to speak ill of the dead and it is impossible to present anything remotely resembling a balanced profile if one abides by that restriction".

Consequently, this book deals with such personages as Narayana Murthy, Sabeer Bhatia, Azim Premji, Ekta Kapoor and six others. However, there is only one woman in this august list, turning Groucho Marx’s jest on its head, "Only one man in thousand is a leader of men – the other 999 follow women". Witticisms apart, this is certainly worth a serious read.

Glimpses of Kashmir

by Prof. S.K. Sopory. A.P.H., N. Delhi. Pages xv+147. Rs 300.

A victim of history, Kashmir was once looked upon as paradise on earth. Unfortunately poverty, violence and international intrigue have ravaged it beyond recognition. 

However, it has proved to be resilient enough to renew its quest for all-round progress. 

In a seminar titled "Science and Synthesis and Kashmiri Heritage", organised by the Kashmir Education Culture and Science Society, intellectuals from different fields presented their views on such topics as scientific research and philosophical, cultural and spiritual aspects of Kashmiri legacy.

Sopory has done well to meticulously compile the proceedings of the seminar in the form of this book, which will be useful to those interested in Kashmir’s social, economic and cultural evolution.

The Why-Why Girl

by Mahasweta Devi. Tulika Publishers. Pages 24. Rs 100.

NOTED writer Mahasweta Devi has brought her experiences of working among tribals, particularly children, in Bihar, West Bengal, Gujarat and Jharkhand to her book titled The Why-Why Girl.

The author’s first picture book, it tells the tale of Moyna, a Shabar tribal girl, who is unable to go to school as she has to attend to household chores. But between tending goats and collecting firewood, this little girl, with her unbridled curiosity, keeps throwing up questions about the world around her. She is always brimming with so many ‘why-whys’ that she earns the sobriquet The Why-Why Girl. Her quest for knowledge leads her to books, which she herself learns to read and wherein she finds the answers that she seeks.

Moyna thus embodies the spirit of inquiry and the close bond with nature that characterises most tribal children and even non-tribal ones.

The only children’s book that Mahasweta Devi has penned in English, this slim but colourfully illustrated volume has been translated into several regional languages. The Malayalam translation has been done by Paul Zacharia, the Tamil one by Ambai and the one in Kannada by Girish Karnad.

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