The Dark Abode: An Indian Novel of Sarojini Sahoo
Date of Review:
11/01/2008Published Work:
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Writers in the Sky.comReview Excerpt:
The Dark Abode (ISBN : 978-81-906956-2-6) is the English version of an Indian novel Gambhiri Ghara, written in Oriya (an Indian language by eminent Indian writer Sarojini Sahoo), one of the first ranking feminist writers of India, whose outlook is quite sharp. She raises the issues differently in each of her writings. And such issues are introduced in her creative writings without sullying the art of literature.
It is a story of an extra marital affair between two lovers who belong to two enemy countries, India and Pakistan. The lovers have not seen each other. The bridge of communication between them is e-mail. The hero is a perverted artist who enjoyed fifty-two affair in his life while having two wives in Pakistan. He tries to be a perfect man after falling in love with the protagonist, Kuki. Post-colonial situation of Indian sub-continent enhanced the hostility between Hindus and Muslims. But the people have the same group myths that the political authorities always try to rebuff. How the political authorities obstruct and suppress the individual freedom is shown in the version of Safique, the painter, when he writes a letter to Kuki in pseudonym. She understands that it is a ploy to hide his identity from the Military Junta.
Different complexity of life as in the novel, tells us the terrible situation a woman has to face in her conjugal life. It also depicts terrorism from the family level to the international level. The Delhi and London bomb blasts also have an influential role in the lives of two lovers, which make them think that their war is not personal; but it is the clash between the individual and the State.
Picasso’s sketch, La cocu magnific, has also played a crucial role in this novel to represent a female in love. The woman is there to continue this false housewifery. The area marked exclusively as belonging to her, the housewife under the patriarchal system, is too easily intruded by many relationships and attachments. Kuki, the female protagonist, understands that the area is not exclusively hers. There dwells much maladjustment, many falsehoods. Still she was not in a position to leave her family in any way.
The novel is a collage presentation of an Asian female writer's novel and an American poet painter's sketches. Ed Baker has contributed 23 nude sketches to the 23 chapters of the novel to represent female sexuality. The novel is published by Indian AGE Communication, Vadodara, Gujarat, India
It is available in paperback format having a list price 301 INR or $10.85 US
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