Possession (Markandaya novel)

{{Short description|1963 English-language novel by Kamala Markandaya}}

{{Infobox book |

| name = Possession

| image = Possession (Markandaya novel).jpg

| caption = First edition

| author = Kamala Markandaya

| cover_artist =

| country = India

| language = English

| genre =

| publisher = John Day Company (US)
Putnam (UK)

| release_date = 1963

| media_type = print

| pages = 249

| isbn =

| dewey =

| congress =

| oclc = 1880201

}}

Possession: a novel is a 1963 English-language novel by Kamala Markandaya.{{cite book|last=Fister|first=Barbara|authorlink=Barbara Fister|title=Third World Women's Literatures: A Dictionary and Guide to Materials in English|url=https://archive.org/details/thirdworldwomens0000fist|url-access=registration|year=1995|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-28988-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/thirdworldwomens0000fist/page/247 247]|chapter=Possession}}

Plot summary

The action of Possession begins around the year 1949, and continues through the 1950s and early 1960s.K. S. Narayana Rao, 'Some Notes on the Plots of Kamala Markandya's Novels', Indian Literature, Vol. 13, No. 1 (March 1970), p. 102 An Englishwoman, Lady Caroline Bell, discovers Valmiki, a teenage goatherd who has been painting in local caves, in a village in South India. Snatching Valmiki from the protection of an elderly local swami, she brings him back to London as an exotic pet artist. Jealously guarding Valmiki's attachment to her, Lady Bell cannot stop him eventually returning to India after the suicide of Ellie, a concentration camp survivor whom Valmiki paints and makes pregnant. She follows him back to India, to find him spiritually reattached to the swami and once again painting in the caves around his village.

The "possession" of the book's title refers to the woman's desire to own the man and the man's possession by a foreign identity with new values.

References

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Further reading

  • Hemamalathy, A. [http://languageinindia.com/oct2012/hemamarkandayapossessionfinal.pdf An Analysis of Kamala Markandaya’s Possessionas a Novel on the Growing up of the Artist], Language in India, Vol, 12 (2012)
  • Nemet, Sofija, 'Hybridity in Jamala Markandaya's Possession.' Filolog, Vol. 13, No. 13 (June 2016), pp.402-416
  • Sethuraman, Ramchandryan. [https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/ariel/article/view/33468/27514 Writing across cultures: sexual/racial 'othering' in Kamala Markandaya's Possession]. ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature, Vol 23, No. 3 (July 1992), pp. 101-120

Category:Indian English-language novels

Category:1963 Indian novels

Category:John Day Company books