Contents: 1. Introduction. 2. Mulk Raj Anand and Jayakanthan as romantic humanists. 3. Sufferers, strangers and idealists. 4. The curse of untouchability. 5. The new woman. 6. Tradition versus modernity. 7. Religion, sex and modernity. 8. Summing up.

"Mulk Raj Anand (1905-2004), the great humanist writer, is regarded the father of Indian English novel; D. Jayakanthan (1934-      ), the doyen of Tamil literature, has recently won the most prestigious Jnanpeeth Award for his contribution to Indian fiction. Both these writers evince keen interest in the eradication of social evils and their novels are artistic attempts to arouse ' the slumbering conscience of the people.' The life of the poor and the voiceless is the subject-matter of their fiction. The book takes up five identical lines of investigation: untouchability, womanhood, sex, marriage and social disintegration. The basic hypothesis of both the novelists is that conventional religion, traditional ethics and morality are inadequate in dealing with the actual issues of life. They evolve a common code of social consciousness which invalidates social taboos and traditional thought and makes life more significant. The present book purports to make a rich contribution to the areas of Indian writing, comparative literature and the humanistic school of philosophy." (jacket)