Paper Details

Name: Abhishek Yadav
Country: India

Year: 2023
Volume: Volume-10, Issue-1 (January-June)
Page Number: 58-68

ABSTRACT
This study examines women’s negotiation with patriarchy in the fiction of Anita Nair and
Anuradha Marwah, focusing on how their narratives illuminate female subjectivity,
resistance, and resilience within Indian socio-cultural contexts. Drawing on feminist literary
theories—liberal, radical, socialist, postcolonial, and intersectional—the research explores
common themes such as autonomy, desire, identity, and rebellion while analyzing the
narrative strategies and feminist aesthetics employed by both authors. Nair’s fiction often
foregrounds personal journeys of emancipation through intimate portrayals of women’s inner
lives, whereas Marwah emphasizes structural critique, institutionalized oppression, and
collective resistance. The comparative analysis highlights that negotiation with patriarchy in
their works does not culminate in absolute liberation but manifests as an ongoing process of
resistance, accommodation, and transformation. By situating these writers within the larger
landscape of Indian English feminist literature, the study contributes to a deeper
understanding of how women’s struggles are represented and reimagined in literature, while
also identifying gaps for future scholarship that could expand to other South Asian women
writers and intersections with queer and feminist theory.
Keywords: Women’s negotiation, patriarchy, feminist literary theory, Anita Nair, Anuradha
Marwah, autonomy, identity, rebellion, feminist aesthetics, Indian English literature.