Tracing the mythological preoccupation in the writings of Arun Joshi: A Study of The Apprentice and Mythic Narratives
Abstract
Mythological associations with literary text are conspicuous in Arun Joshi‘s fiction. His writings have mythic touch both in content and in style. He has tried to modernize ancient myths through his novels. The myths of split personalities which gradually lead to isolation are inter-woven. Arun Joshi‘s The Apprentice is an effort to explore a repentant soul, which strives to find its way in this crooked society. Akin to The Foreigner and The Strange Case of Billy Biswas, the present novel too, Joshi defines the unbearable dilemma of the character. At present, in every walk of life, one is bound to face disorder, bewilderment, dishonesty, insincerity and illogicality. It makes the current man, who is beautifully responsive, feel powerless and estranged not only from the culture and his neighboring but also from himself. He becomes injured party to the ―petrified and frozen‖ society of the contemporary abuses world, which he finds not appropriate for his disposition.
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References
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Hari Mohan Prasad, Arun Joshi, p. 65.
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The Gita. Chapter II, verse 48.
Ibid.... Chapter III, verse 30.
Ibid... . Chapter XVIII, verse 66.
P. Mathur and G. Rai, "Arun Joshi and the Labyrinth of Life" in R. K. Dhawan‘s (ed) The Fictional World of Arun Joshi, p. 148.
Thakur Guruprasad, "The Lost Lonely Queste‘rs in Arun Joshi‘s Fiction" from R. K. Dhawan‘s (ed) The Fictional World of Arun Joshi, pp. 162 - 163.
R. J. Das, "Moral Dilemma in Arun Joshi‘s The Apprentice”, op. cit., p. 45.
V. Gopal Reddy, "The Apprentice, An Existential Study" in R. K. Dhawan‘s (ed), The Fictional World of Arun Joshi, p. 229.
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Sujatha Mathai, "I‘m a Stranger to My Books", The Times of India, July 9, 1983.
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