Contents: Preface. Contributors. Poetry: 1. An archetypal study of selected poems of Jayantha Mahapatra/R. Radhiga Priyadharshini. 2. The Buddhist strain in contemporary Indian poetry in English: Som P. Ranchan's Manjushri--Tibetan Buddha/Roshan Lal Sharma. 3. A feminist study of the poems of Imtiaz Dharker/G. Baskaran and B. Kathiresan. Drama: 4. Human rights in Tagore's Muktha-Dhara/K. Balachandran. 5. The seven phases of Padmini in Girish Karnad's Hayavadana/T. Jayakumar. 6. Myths as sites of split: a post colonial reading of Girish Karnad's select plays/Murugaraj Pandian and K. Kala. 7. The dialectics of myth in select plays of Mahasweta Devi/A. Vinoth. Fiction: 8. R.K. Narayan's fictional world: a feminist perspective/N. Kalaamani. 9. Self actualisation: a study of the novels of Kavery Nambisan/M. Murugesan and M. Ilaya Kanmani Nanmozhi.10. The frustrations of caste discrimination: a study of outcast/C. Isaac Jebastine. 11. New paradigms of desire in Indian writing in English/Sujatha Vijayaraghavan. 12. From Indigo to Orange: a study of Preethi Nair's beyond Indigo/Suresh Frederick. 13. Quest for female space in Anita Nair's ladies coupe/T. Vasanthakumari. 14. Bhabani Bhattacharya's big house and V.S. Naipaul's Hanuman House, an analogical study/J. Samuel Kirubahar. 15. Storming the literary space and breaking the biological boundary in the postcolonial context: an analysis of Shashi Deshpande's small remedies and that long silence/D.E. Benet. 16. The indomitable spirit of woman: a study of Anita Nair's ladies coupe/G. Ruby Davaseeli. Index.

"The Fusing Horizons is a collection of critical essays by professors/academicians in Indian Universities on Indian writing in English. Literary concerns of contemporary interest have been refreshingly examined so as to provide a novelty in critiquing, spontaneity in response and objectivity in insights. Indian writers from R.K. Narayan to the present are revisited and therefore the book encompasses and deliberates on a wide range of topics. The new perspectives from which writers and their works have been seen enhances a fusion of horizons in this hermeneutical tradition.

Dedicated to the memory of Professor Dr. K.S. Ramamurti, the essays seek to be insightful, jargon free and pluralistic in their approach. Sociological, archetypal religious and feminist issues have homogenized here into a refreshing experience. It is hoped that the book would be a rewarding study for students, researchers and teachers alike, and indeed a valuable possession for all lovers of Indian literature in English." (jacket)