Signification of Desire: A Study of Selected Novels of Anita Desai

In almost all of Desai's novels, the protagonist(s) wants to follow his or her own path governed by his/her desire mechanism. That is why there are conflicts, maladjustments, suffering, pain, chaos and death. The artist elucidates the most sensitive issues of the life of an individual where one has to care and respect the desires of the others as well to lead a meaningful and happy life and it is possible only if one transcends the barriers of the ‘self’. Most of the characters fail to transcend the barriers of the ‘self’ due to which they have to suffer from repression, complexes and even “neurosis”. The characters of her fiction remain in a closed, separate compartment even while being in the midst of the crowd. The present book studies the thematics of desire through the dialectics of lack and desire in selected fiction of Anita Desai.