Kamala Das: A Dweller with Existential Alienation

Abstract

The present paper makes an attempt to examine whether Kamala Das is a dweller with existential alienation or not. This discourse, , first of all, tries to figure out what ‘alienation’ is, what its types are, and what its cause and effect bring chaos in one’s life. Moreover, how thinkers, categorizing it into various groups, have dealt with it, is also its inevitable part. Secondly, it tries to find out how it (alienation) affects the world literature— chiefly, the Pan-Indian literature—that witnesses its hallmarks on its aura. Thirdly, it endeavours to define ‘existential alienation’ to find and point out its essential characteristics in Indian English literature. To attain its pinnacle, this paper, finally, aims to investigate such traces of existential alienation in Kamala Das’ oeuvres (be it prose or poetry) that have both a butterfly and tornado effect on her social, psychological, and philosophical life. In doing so, all the possible research methods and approaches—discourse analysis, textual analysis, archival methods, academic, creative, and critical writing, descriptive, explorative, and mixed-method research approaches—are used with hungry eyes for a coveted aftermath..