IN CUSTODY

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Anita Desai was born in 1935 in Missouri,
India to a German mother and a Bengali
businessman.
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• She only writes in English.
• Desai is considered the writer who introduced
the psychological novel in the tradition of
Virginia Woolf to India.
• Included in this, is her pioneer status of
writing of feminist issues.
• she says, her writing is realistic
• Her fiction has covered themes such as
women’s oppression and quest for a fulfilling
identity, family relationship and contrasts, the
crumbling of traditions, and anti-Semitism.

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 THEMES
• EXISTENTIALISM
• ALENATION
• ISOLATION
• LOVE AND MARRIAGE
• BOREDOM

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 CHARACTERS
• DEVEN- Protaganist
• MURAD- Deven’s long-time friend and
editor of his own Urdu magazine
• Nur, Sarla or Imtiaz Begum

SETTING- periphery of Delhi that is Mirpore where Deven

with his typical wife and kid leads an insignificant life

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 SYNOPSIS
Desai deals with the purely marital problem of
this materialistic world of glittering civilization in
a pent up city like Delhi, where people have
little time to stand and stare. In such a big city
the relationship between husband and wife is
commonly under strain because of the undue
indulgence of husband in extra-curricular
activities and his attachment to other women
during work hours.
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 “is an effort to discover, and then to underline,
and finally to convey the true significance of
things”
-The Times of India

• Themes like alienation and detachment and knows

how to tackle them in brilliant manner..
• She explores the anguish of individuals living in
modern society. She deals with the complexity of
human relationships as one of her major themes,
which is a universal issue, as it attracts worldwide
readers to her novels.
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