Anita Desai, Clear Light of Day

Catherine Pesso-Miquel (Université Lyon II)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

Anita Desai stands out as one of the best of the numerous Indian novelists who chose to write in English.

Clear Light of Day

, her seventh novel and one of the finest, first published in 1980, is widely taught in universities across the world, and has received considerable critical attention.

In Clear Light of Day there is very little “plot”, and useful references in terms of genre would be to Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner or Marcel Proust, as Desai explores the effects of history on individual characters, the interaction between past and present, and the workings of memory. Readers who enjoy “action” find the pace of Desai’s novels too slow: nothing much happens, and only the inner selves and vision of life of the characters matter. As Anita Desai explained in an interview

3923 words

Citation: Pesso-Miquel, Catherine. "Clear Light of Day". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 July 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5969, accessed 19 March 2024.]

5969 Clear Light of Day 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.