One of the pioneers of feminist writing in India, Kamala Das is known for her provocative writing on female sexuality and desire. Padmavati the harlot and other Stories includes some of her very best fiction. In ‘a little kitten’, a newly married woman finds her life turning dull and insipid as the tedium of marriage begins to settle in. An old woman believes she is a princess and is delighted to be courted by three suitors in ‘the princess of avanti’. a man realizes, too late, that he is in love with the woman he is breaking up with in ‘the sea lounge’. in these and other Stories, Kamala Das is bold and unflinching in her exploration of themes such as violence, desire, sex, marriage, family, communalism, and death. Foreword by jaisurya Das.
Author
See also Madhavikutty Kamala Suraiyya (born Kamala; 31 March 1934 – 31 May 2009), also known by her one-time pen name Madhavikutty and Kamala Das, was an Indian English poet and littérateur and at the same time a leading Malayalam author from Kerala, India. Her popularity in Kerala is based chiefly on her short stories and autobiography, while her oeuvre in English, written under the name Kamala Das, is noted for the poems and explicit autobiography. Her open and honest treatment of female sexuality, free from any sense of guilt, infused her writing with power, but also marked her as an iconoclast in her generation. On 31 May 2009, aged 75, she died at a hospital in Pune. Das has earned considerable respect in recent years. (from Wikipedia)
