The Foreigner is a story of a young man who is detached, almost alienated — a man who sees himself as a stranger wherever he lives or goes — in Kenya, where he is born, in England and USA where he is a student and in India where he finally settles down. His detachment transcends barriers of geography, nationality and culture. It propels him from one crisis to another, sucking in the wake several other people, including June, an attractive American with whom he has a short lived but passionate affair. The transitoriness associated with the word 'foreigner' permeates the novel and is handled with remarkable maturity reminding the reader of epoch-making The Outsider by Albert Camus. The protagonist's anguish at the meaninglessness of the human condition and the eventual release from the anxieties of life through karmayoga, the principle of action without attachment, add to the aesthetics of the work.

Arun Joshi S Fictional World Is Most Strange. Peeling The Multiple Layers Of Artificiality, His Protagonists Seek To Confront The Mystery Of Life Beyond The Last Labyrinth. His Work Represents A Unique Depiction Of The Dual Between The Internal And The External, The Intuitive And The Imposed. He Catches The Bewilderment Of The Individual Psyche, Confronted With The Overbearing Socio-Cultural Environment And The Ever-Beckoning Modern Promise Of Self-Gratification/Self-Fulfilment. In The Face Of This Dual Onslaught His Protagonists Ratan, Billy Biswas, Som, Sindi Oberoi And Others Are Seen Poised Tantalizingly At Different Junctures Of The Philosophic Spectrum.Applying Sociological, Psycho-Analytic, Structural And Other Approaches Of Formal Textual Analysis, The Essays In The Present Anthology Take A Fresh Look At Arun Joshi'S Works, Revealing Areas And Stances, Hitherto Left Unexplored, Offer Critical Insights Into The Working Of The Protagonists' Minds, Besides Scrutinizing The Rhetorical Devices And Formal Strategies, Deployed By The Novelist For Coalescing The Matter With The Manner.An Indispensable Source-Book For Students, Researchers And Teachers Of Indian English And Commonwealth Literature In General And Arun Joshi In Particular.An Insightful And Thought-Provoking Casebook For Researchers In Philosophy, Psychology And Sociology.

The Strange Case of Billy Biswas is a compellingly thought provoking novel. A novel in which the normal and the abnormal, the ordinary and the extraordinary, illusion and reality, resignation and desire rub shoulders. The protagonist, Billy Biswas, is a man of extraordinary passions. He has everything going for him — education, wealth, status, travel, and a loving wife. Yet his inner world is rocked by a groundswell of discontent. He is consumed by a restlessness which grows steadily... Characterised by great elan and sophistication, the narrative unfolds in quick succession, and would be hard to believe were it not related in such a matter of fact, down to earth manner. 'In Joshi's hands we are swept into the unknown...' — The Times Literary Supplement, London

The Present Book Is An Addition To The Study Of Arun Joshi S Novels In The Context Of The Theme Of The Crisis Of Identity In The Post-Modern World In The Wake Of Colonial Hangover, Economic Depression, Psychological Split-Up As Well As Existential Angst And Freedom Of Choice. The Major Characters In Joshi S Novels Find Themselves In A Predicament From Which They Find It Difficult To Get Disentangled. The One World Is Dead And The Other Powerless To Be Born. The Worldly Affluence Is Not Enough. The Escape From The Outer World To The Inner Keeps One Engaged. Bred On The Western Literary And Philosophical Obsession In Camus, Sartre, Malamud, And Other American Novelists, Joshi Finds It A Fashionable Craze To Write About The Crisis Of Identity Almost In The Same Vein In Which The Seventeenth Century English Authors Posed To Be Melancholy.

The Last Labyrinth is a splendid novel — serious, disturbing, lyrical and irresistibly readable, a fascinating exploration into the turbulent inner world of a successful urban India. Som Bhaskar is a millionaire-industrialist, married to a woman of his choice who has borne him two children, yet relentlessly driven by undefined hunger which he unsuccessfully seeks to satisfy by possession — of an object, a business enterprise, a woman. Much like Saul Bellow's Henderson he is always crying, 'I want, I want, I want.' His search taken him from Bombay to Benares, at once holy and repellent — with its narrow, dirty lanes, dancing girls and a mystical aura. Amidst this contrasting juxtaposition of locales, the novel explores the meaning of life and death, illusion and reality, desire and resignation. Here is an eternally contemporary theme with all its complexities; the story's spiritual and sensuous dimensions are interwoven with great finesse making this novel a rare, unforgettable treat. 'The Last Labyrinth is considered an outstanding contribution to Indian English literature for its restless search for a meaning in human existence, its treatment of the multiple levels of reality, challenging narrative technique and an evocative use of language.' — Sahitya Akademi Award Citation 'The story is beautifully written... holds the reader's undivided attention to the finis.' — Khushwant Singh

The City and The River is a political fable. Using an artistically satisfying combination of fantasy, prophecy, and a startlingly real vision of everyday politics, this novel is truly a parable of the times. The City is all cities. The River is the mother of cities. The Grand Master rules the city by the river and is determined to become its unchallenged King. Things move smoothly in this earthly Eden, till a strange prophecy is made by the palace astrologer. The learned man predicts the crowning of a new King in place of the Grand Master… With quiet humour and characteristic skill, Joshi plots the path of intrigue and corruption in high places. The Grandmaster is surrounded by a coterie of fawning councillors, whose sole aim is to remain in limelight and improve their hierarchical standing. The politics in the novel has unmistakable echoes of the Emergency period of 1974-75; acquisition of unlimited powers, presence of self-seeking sycophants, shadow of an heir apparent, and loss of individual freedom pose significant questions about identity, commitment and faith in a hostile society. The story is narrated in easy flowing prose blending political satire with philosophical and spiritual dimensions.