Among modern Indian English women writers, Shobha De is one of the most eminent and popular novelists of the present time. She was born in Maharashtra in 1948. She had graduated with a degree in Psychology from St. Xavier’s College, Bombay. She began a career in Journalism in 1970 in the course of which she founded and edited three popular magazines Stardust, Society and Celebrity. She is unique in her writings and makes an intimate understanding of the psyche of woman and her problems. Her treatment of the contemporary urban woman’s position and the challenges she faces is not without significance. She writes with a great deal of empathy towards women. Without waving the feminist’s flag she feels very strongly about the woman’s situation. Largely speaking, Indian fiction depicts three kinds of women: First, rural class women, portrayed by writers like Kamala Markandaya and R.K. Narayan; secondly, the middle class women, especially the educated and employed, characterised by writers like Nayantara Sahgal and Shashi Deshapande and thirdly, the neo-rich aristoacratic women depicted by writers like Namita Gokhale and Shobha De.
Faculty Member, Dept. of Management Studies, Gaya College, Gaya
