Vikshepa

The Sanskrit word "Vikshepa" means "perturbation" or "disturbance". The novel Vikshepa, originally written in the Kannada language of southern India, is a classic of modern Indian literature, now appearing for the first time in translation in a Western language. Rahul has grown up in a small Indian town and yearns for freedom: an escape from the shackles of tradition, far away, where at last he will be able to pursue his ideals. His first step in this direction is to move to Bombay, where he becomes a student of English, which should guarantee success and happiness for a modern Indian man. But then he backs out of a marriage engagement to a fellow student and agrees to an arranged marriage with a girl from his home town. Increasing confusion then leads him further and further away from the fulfilment of his dreams.Shantinath Desai (1929-1998) depicts an Indian village youth who rejects his traditional surroundings and romantically longs for England, trying to achieve his impossible ideal of a hero. Caught in a society where he cannot pursue his dreams, he acquiesces in a marriage that becomes a failure, and his dream of going to England may not materialize. What remains is vikshepa – perturbation. Shantinath Desai (1929-1998) was one of the leading modern authors of the Navya or Modernist movement in Kannada, that began shortly after India achieved independence. In most of his novels, short stories and essays, Desai explores the challenges of a changing society in which traditional values seem no longer so relevant and secure as they first were. The subject matter of Vikshepa is still more relevant for India as it is developing today than it already was at the time of the book's first appearance. Under the apparent lightness of the novel lie the serious problems of disorientation in a changing world.This major work of Desai has been translated from the Kannada into English by Robert J. Zydenbos, professor of Indology in the University of Munich, Germany.