ANITA DESAI
Anita Desai was born June 24, 1937 in India to a German mother and an Indian
father. Although she now resides in South Hadley, Massachusetts, teaching
writing at Mount Holyoke College, she is a member of the Advisory Board for
English in New Delhi. Desai writes in English, saying, "I first learned English
when I went to school. It was the first language that I learned to read and
write, so it became my literary language. Languages tend to proliferate around
one in India, and one tends to pick up and use whatever is at hand. It makes one
realize each language has its own distinct genius." Her family spoke German at
home and Hindi to their friends.
Desai's work is part of a new style of writing to come out of India which is not
nearly as conservative as Indian writing has been in the past. One concern that
is part of her work, especially the novel Baumgartner's Bombay, is that about
foreignness and dividedness. Desai grew up during World War II and could see the
anxiety her German mother was experiencing about the situation and her family in
Germany. After the war when she realized the Germany she had known was devasted,
her mother never returned there, nor had any desire to return. Anita herself did
not visit until she was an adult.
Anita Desai was born June 24, 1937 in India to a German mother and an Indian
father. Although she now resides in South Hadley, Massachusetts, teaching
writing at Mount Holyoke College, she is a member of the Advisory Board for
English in New Delhi. Desai writes in English, saying, "I first learned English
when I went to school. It was the first language that I learned to read and
write, so it became my literary language. Languages tend to proliferate around
one in India, and one tends to pick up and use whatever is at hand. It makes one
realize each language has its own distinct genius." Her family spoke German at
home and Hindi to their friends.
Desai's work is part of a new style of writing to come out of India which is not
nearly as conservative as Indian writing has been in the past. One concern that
is part of her work, especially the novel Baumgartner's Bombay, is that about
foreignness and dividedness. Desai grew up during World War II and could see the
anxiety her German mother was experiencing about the situation and her family in
Germany. After the war when she realized the Germany she had known was devasted,
her mother never returned there, nor had any desire to return. Anita herself did
not visit until she was an adult.