Existential traits in Arun Joshi’s the Last Labyrinth

Authors

  • Mohammed Salman Parcy .M PG & Research Department of English, Jamal Mohamed College (Autonomous),Tiruchirappalli – 620020
  • Dr. Y. Parvas Sharif PG & Research Department of English, Jamal Mohamed College (Autonomous),Tiruchirappalli – 620020

Keywords:

Fear, Isolation, Spiritual alienation, Emptiness, Love, Death.

Abstract

Existentialism, one of the important literary movements in English history. It had a big and wide impact in the twentieth century across the globe. It gained an inevitable place in world literature and also played a vital role in physical and social life. The propounders of this theory are Soren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. The key features of existentialism are fear, loneliness, spiritual alienation, death and God. India also came under the impact of Existentialism. Many people got to know about Existentialism. Many writers exhibited existential traits in their works. Arun Joshi had a prominent role in promoting Existentialism. Existential traits are found in his almost every novel. He consummate as an existential writer. He writings became a example for upcoming existential writers of India. He wrote five novels in his lifetime. His novels are The Foreigner (1968), The Strange Case of Billy Biswas (1971), The Apprentice (1974), The Last Labyrinth (1981) and The River and The City (1990). His fourth novel ‘The Last Labyrinth’ received the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award in 1982. The present paper intends to explore and exhibit the existential traits in Arun Joshi’s ‘The last Labyrinth’.

References

Das, Dr. Anjana. Symbolic presentation of Inner crises in Arun Joshi’s The Last Labyrinth and Foreigner. International journal of research in Humanities

and social science, Vol. 3, issue9, Oct- Nov- Dec. 2015.

Joshi, Arun. The Last Labyrinth. New Delhi: Orient paperbacks, 2023.

Mohan, R.Raj. The Existential experience in Arun joshi’s The Last Labyrinth,shanlax International journal of English, Vol. 1, No. 2. April 2013. P. 36.

Nawale, Dr. Arvind. M. Arun Joshi: Thematic Concerns of His Novels. Delhi:Authorspress, 2012. P.116.

Piciucco, Pier Paolo. An Interview with Arun Joshi, The Journal of Indian Writing in English, 1997, Vol. 25, P.88- 89.

Rani, Dr. Sapna. Existentialism in the novels of Arun Joshi, Quest journals Journal of Research in Humanities and social science, Vol-8, issue 11, 2020. P. 22

Published

2024-09-13