I would like to share something about My M.A project "STRUCTURAL EXPERIMENTATION IN ANITA NAIR'S MISTRESS". some of my views and  findings are here...

I thank the God Almighty for His blessings and the eternal grace that He showers me on all times to come.

Words can hardly substitute the immense depth of gratitude and indebtedness that I owe to my guide Mr.B.Padmanabhan, M.A, M.Phil, Asst.Prof in Dept of English, Bharathiar University,Coimbatore, for his guidance and support rendered, his scholarly direction, generosity, goodwill, constant concern in my work and for helping me to complete this dissertation.

 "STRUCTURAL EXPERIMENTATION

IN 

ANITA NAIR'S MISTRESS"

ANITA NAIR

Among the contemporary writers, Anita Nair portrays typical Indian society in her novels and has captured the heart of many readers through her writings. Her creative writing career started with short stories and then she moved to novels. Thus she goes through different areas of writing like content writer, novelist, essayist and poet. She was born at Mudakottakurissi near Shornur in Kerala, a state which posses so of much traditional arts and culture. She was educated at Chennai.

Her novels Better Man (2000) and Ladies Coupe (2001) have been translated in to 21 languages. Her novels consist of latest burning issues of women and the existing issues of the society. Her other works are

      ·         Cut Like Wound (2012)
·         Lessons In Forgetting (2010)
·         Puffin Book of World Myths and Legends (2004)
·         Malabar Mind (1997)

Anita Nair writes at the beginning of her novel ‘Mistress’

“The face. That determines the heart’s passage. It is with the face we thoughts   into   language without sound.  The forehead, the eye brows, the nostrils, the mouth, the chin, and thirty-two facial muscles. These are our tools and with these we shall fashion the language without words. The Navarasas: love, contempt, sorrow, fury, courage, fear, disgust, wonder, peace. In dance and as in life, we do not need more than nine ways to express ourselves”.

       STRUCTURAL EXPERIMENTATION

Mistress is a clear evidence of a writer’s skill and pure creative talent. The art of Kathakali sets the structural foundation of Mistress. Anita Nair has experimented with a new writing style in choosing to tell the story from the perspectives of three major characters, Radha, Shyam and uncle Koman and also she infuses nine emotions or Navarasas in the narrative through the use of Kathakali. She never tries to follow sidetracks of other writers and their narrative techniques.  She always avoids structural complexities. She maintains purity and simplicity of style by giving emphasis on Kathakali and Navarasas.

DIVISION OF THE NOVEL

‘Mistress’ starts with a prologue and end with an epilogue. This novel is divided into three books. Each book is divided into chapters and named by Navarasas. Book I includes first three rasas ‘Sringaram’, ‘Hasyam’, ‘Karunam’. Book II consists of another three emotions such as ‘Raudram’, ‘Veeram’, and ‘Bhayanakam’. Chapters in Book III are titled with last three rasas that are ‘Beebhalsam’, ‘Adbhtam’ and ‘Shantam’. To enrich her writing style she added rich amount of magic surrealism in this novel.  This made the novel as a different work apart from the clichéd storyline.

Also she presents the nine emotions is such a simple manner. The brief introduction for Navarasas and some Kathakali techniques in this work reveals the deep understanding of the art and pure creative style of the novelist.

CONCLUSION

 The novel is systematically structured, following the patterns of Kathakali. Varying emotions of the characters are expressed in a way that they can have a long lasting effect on the reader’s mind. According to the researchers, Anita Nair’s structural experimentation with Kathakali and Navarasas in her novel Mistress is impressive. With the narrators inner thoughts and feeling the readers mind will reflect with these Navarasas. While reading this novel the structure will help to analyse each emotions. Kathakali stories show the power of emotions. This novel also shows some characteristic features of Kathakali and this book will serve as guide for an ordinary reader.

Kathakali is the expressive ancient art dance form dance in Kerala and it is the source inspiration for the unique structure of the novel Mistress. Kathakali is an art form using music, acting and dance to convey the greatest Hindu mythological stories. In this novel Koman is a veshakkaran, an artist of Kathakali. He talks about his life as a Kathakali dancer and as a man to Christopher Stewart. This is a novel portrayed in three different perspectives. Each chapter is narrated by the three main characters in this novel Koman, Shyam and Radha. Anita Nair narrates the relationship between these four prominent characters and Koman’s past life with new narrative technique.

For an ordinary audience it is very difficult to understand the mudras, shlokas and stories of the Kathakali. But Anita Nair’s Mistress can be enjoyed by an ordinary reader too because she briefly explained each story that is mentioned in this novel. And also she tries to bring out the actual meaning of the ‘shlokas’ and Kathakali stories. The well structured plot provides freshness to a complex story which is expressed in highly systematic pattern.

                                                                                               (ATHIRA C MANUEL)