Kanthapura Analysis

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The America scholar Janet Gemmill’s essay (1974) on the use of language in Kanthapuracomplements Rao for transcreation of spoken Kannada in the novel. In fact, Gemmill has completed her doctoral thesis on narrative technique of Raja Rao. The essay is considered as an outcome of her thesis and it remains an insightful essay. In 1975, Stephen Hemenway’s critique of the first two novels of Raja Rao appeared. He negatively calls Kanthapura a propagandistic and freedom-now type novel. Riemenschneider comments:
Combining observations on language, audience, point of view, characterization and the East-West theme with reference to other critics, Hemenway’s essay does not only disappoint but is also somewhat repetitive. (D R: 303)
In a way, the general tone of Hemenway’s essay thus considers Kanthapura a novel without substance and it remains far from an outstanding one.
By 1980s, Raja Rao becomes a distinguished novelist according to Dieter Riemenschneider. Events like the publication of his fifth novel, The Chessmaster and His Moves (1988), and the honour of the Neustadt Prize by the University of Oklahoma gave him international acclaim in the field of literature. He clarifies that ‘the quantitative increase of critical writing is astounding and amounts to 130 essays.’ (D R: 311)Kanthapura still attracts attention …show more content…

Along with the nationalistic and anti-imperialist fervour of a small village in South India is the conscious self-assertion of the author who wants to express himself through a dialect “which will someday prove to be as distinctive and colourful as the Irish or the American” (Kanthapura: v). In a lucid manner, Raja Rao reveals and accentuates his linguistic and politico-spiritual

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