india author m 1- a-nan - University of Wollongong

Anand, Mulk Raj
ABIDI, S.Z.H. 'Coolie': A Critical Study Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1978.
Repeats the generalised opinion on Anand's fiction as based on his beliefs in
humanism, socialism and bhakti-yoga. Covers all aspects of critical perspectives in an
extensive appraisal of 'Coolie'.Confirms accepted analysis of Anand's work as social critique.
AGNIHOTRI, H.L. “Gandhian Ethos in Mulk Raj Anand” Journal of Literature and
Aesthetics 3.1 (1083):43-53.
Interested in economic and material reforms, Anand was not inclined to Gandhi’s spiritual and
moral programme but could not be indifferent to him as a nationalist leader. Details the
biographical connections between the two and surveys Untouchable(Gandhi’s appeal is
through human warmth and popular myth but Anand allows practical questioning of his ideals),
Coolie (shows the effect of the Left on the Union movement to be better than that of Gandhi’s
following), Two Leaves and a Bud (Gandhi wallahs try to imporve conditions on tea estates)
and The Sword and the Sickle (Gandhi warped by revolutionary assimilation of his
reputation, and as someone demanding personal reverence despite ideological difference).
The last work fails to integrate its material into its aartistic structure.
ANAND, MULK RAJ. Author to Critic: The Letters of Mulk Raj Anand, with introduction
and notes by S. Cowasjee. Calcutta: Writers Worshop, 1973, 125 pp.
A self-confessed erratic editing of Anand's letters, useful for finding views of the
writer's sense of his own commitment to causes, his critique of "Vedantist" obfuscation over
Indian cultural identity and social change, his position within Indian politics. Expresses real
sympathy for the Indian peasant without putting aside some rather unfavourable traits. Totally
rejects any easy us/them, East/West oppositions in embracing wholehearted support for an
unconquerable humanism still occupying the centre of his worldview.
ANAND, MULK RAJ. "Roots and Flowers: Content and Form in Untouchable and
Kanthapura" Littcrit 8.1 (1982):47-60.
see under Rao, Raja
ANAND, MULK RAJ. "The Sources of Protest in my Novels" The Literary Criterion 18.4
(1983):1-12.
Argument: Expresses his concerns as a novelist based on commitment to the common
folk and his writing as the articulation of holy anger against the dehumanization of lower class
Indians by the powerful elite few. Critical Focus: Provides context to overall assessment by
differentiating himself from western critical categorization in pleading for special treatment
within an Indian perspective. Critical Mode: Sociological analysis of Indian society as a site of
struggle between the traditional force of the powerful and the emergin groups seeking change
and improvement for the masses. 4) Not Applicable! [MG>RL]
ASNANI, SHYAM M. "Untouchability and Mulk Raj Anand's Untouchable" Banasthali
Patrika 6.16 (1971):31-6.
Argues that untouchability is really not an honourable Hindu belief and its continuing
hold on the religious impairs any attempt to eradicate the problem and its unjustifiable
suffering. Thematic critique of Hinduism itself and the rigid intolerance that the higher castes
continue to hold. Moral valuation based on Brahminical investigation of Hindu holy books
denies traditional religious support to untouchability as a tenet of Hinduism.