The Feminine and the Familial: A Foray into the Fictional World of Shashi Deshpande

Hailing from Sarem, Puducherry, Ms M. Kanika Priya is a double Majors holder, with MA in both English Literature and Linguistics. She completed her M.Phil degree from Kanchi Mamunivar Centre for Post Graduate Studies, Puducherry in 2015. Her work on Shashi Deshpande won her a first class and a Gold Medal. The present book is a reworking of her MPhil dissertation. An academician and a researcher par excellence, Kanika Priya has published in about 25 reputed international journals. Her research aptitude and taste for literary endeavours are well-documented – she has 43 national and 44 international research papers to her credit. Further, she has been a vibrant presence in Workshops and FDPs, furthering and fine-tuning her knowledge and expertise. The prestigious Kavithilagam Award she won from Solai Pathipakam at Chennai on 13 September 2015 stands testimony to her creative and poetic endowments. Her poems have featured no less than five times in Kovai Vasantha Vasal yearly magazine proving her unrivalled passion and enthusiasm for the endless gifts of the poetic muse. Apart from her creative and critical pursuits, she has excelled as a teacher as well, conducting Tamil classes at PILC and Alliance Francais for foreigners from different countries. She has also served with distinction as a tutor for Government officials from different states. Currently, she is pursuing her doctoral research on Kiran Desai’s fiction.