CONCLUSION

Many writers of Indian Diaspora have proved their literary mettle through

their remarkable works. Vikram Seth, a man of different connotation has proved

himself as a writer of par excellence and master of all genres. This study by

exploring varied facets of Seth tries to examine various dimensions touched in

his works. Seth’s realism goes along representing the changing themes in

changing locales – India, America, Europe, China, etc. Through his works, it

appears that Seth’s main concern is with the world’s affairs. He being a

cosmopolitan in his outlook enjoys the specific features of each culture and

adapts himself to them to bring out realistic portrayal in his works. But, by the

ruthless erasing of his self, Seth tries to depict liberal humanism in all his works

and mainly with a sympathy for the individuals.

It is an established fact which is historically proved that the life and growth of

an average person of a society depends on the socio-cultural, political, historical and

economic factors which influence and mould him. In the post-colonial and

postmodern dimensions, every society and every culture has been diluted giving place

for multi cultural and cosmopolitan way of living. As a result, human life is subjected

to many pitfalls, sometimes, escaping the control of the individual. In such

condition, the individual needs support and consolation from the institutions of

family and society. Wherever, the family structure and traditional values of a society

are stable and strengthy, there the lives of the individuals and their progression will

run smooth. When there is disruption and dilapidation of these values, the lives of the
individuals result in failures and frustrations. Vikram Seth, the global writer in

multiple genres has attempted various kinds of subjects and themes in varied social,

cultural, geographic and demographic backgrounds. His basic concern and sympathy

is for the average man, but not a celebrity nor highly positioned personage. The

conflict between the individual freedom and traditional value system is a major

subject in all the fictional world of Seth. Due to rapid changes and annihilation of

past and sustainable tradition, the individuals sometimes have to face crises resulting

in failures of individuals in all respects. Like Shakespearean characters, Seth’s

characters are representatives of realistic trends in their respective social and cultural

situations. Namita Gokhale says that Seth is international and should be appreciated

as, “A writer about human beings, not as a peddler of Indian Exotica deeply rooted in

Indian identity, Vikram Seth is yet a citizen of the world in the best sense”

(Pandurang, 2001:168).

When Seth’s fictional world is observed, it is understood that he tends to depict

most about the basic dilemmas and distresses of the present human world such as

confusion, alienation, romantic passion, passionate love, broken marriages and

families, disappointment and despair, corruption, political machinations, racial and

religious strifes, ardour for global security. Seth presents confusion, the anguish and

misery of those characters who have failed to manage their passion. His massage is

that the contemporary life is tough and unless we are tolerant, loving, forgiving and

sensitive to each other, we will be doomed.

Family assumes the centre point in most of the works of Vikram Seth. He

advocates the values like, affection, mutual consideration and compatibility that make
sure ground for the success of any relationship, be it marriage or family or friendship.

Seth considers marriage and family as important means that give stability and success

in life for youth. Family is an essential institution that educates youth and gives them

social and economic security for further progress of the individual. In the pursuit of

the democratic ideals like liberty and happiness, Seth warns to strictly confine

themselves to marriage and family system. He being a cosmopolitan has a

multicultural outlook where he indirectly criticizes the social stigma and over

interference of the society in the individual freedom, and at the same time he suggests

the meaning of life is to be found in the renunciation of passion and tolerant

participation in the comfortable parliament of marriage, family and togetherness; the

qualities he has inherited from his parent land. “Whenever and wherever Seth writes

from, the reality of his geographic roots will remain an intruding factor while

assessing his social contribution as a creative writer”(GJV Prasad,185).

In a television interview with Ashok Kapur, Seth said that he was just a

writer not an Indian or a commonwealth or any other writer. He further says, “Normal

human interest makes people to look for or explore world outside their own, whether

in literature or in person”. His books are set in different countries dealing with

different themes under different cultural and moral backgrounds. Yet we see a

multicultural dimension in all his works. The first and poetic novel The Golden Gate

was written entirely in American English and that too in Californian accent covering

the lives of yuppies belonging to different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. A Suitable

Boy is written in India with Indian mixed cultural background and in Indian English

accent and with Indian sensibility.An Equal Music is set in Europe with European
characters from different countries and backgrounds joined in the field of music. Two

Lives is the work on World Affairs connected with the lives of protagonists lived in a

crucial period of world history. Seth’s cleverly use of language and irony mingled

with humor in his works reveal his goodness and sense of dignity. “Like Chaucer and

Shakespeare, Seth too gives a humane outlook by depicting characters as species

rather than as individuals” (Sinha, 244). Seth’s approach to social reality helps his

novels to set their feet in the real world of man.

The themes he covered in most of his works are common to all locations and

situations. The majority of his characters in his novels are victims of romantic

passion, alienation, isolation, materialism, frustration and aggression. In the pursuit of

self realization, they miserably fail in their illusive pursuits and finally abdicate

passion. After renunciation of passion due to realization, Seth’s men and women are

in search of perfect adjustments and harmony in the family as well as in the social life.

For instance, Liz and John in The Golden Gate, Lata and Maan in A Suitable Boy,

Julia and Michael in An Equal Music and Henny in Two Lives – these male and female

protagonists favor marriage and family life. Marriage and family stand at the centre

of Seth’s works. The denunciation of passion for family and social order is a thematic

preoccupation seen in all his fictional works.

After thorough exploration, it is found that in the works of Seth, cultural

hybridity is highlighted. This hybridity is a hallmark of postmodern element in

contemporary culture and art as a sense of merging and simultaneity of various

cultures. Seth with his broad outlook produced a remarkable corpus of literature with

a concern for international community. This study, apart from the covered dimensions
in the thesis, finds various aspects where Seth’s works can be compared and

contrasted with that of contemporary and living literary giants like, Salman Rushdie,

Amitav Gosh, V.S.Naipaul etc., authors who have created their own brand of image

on the screen of international literature. As Prerana Sinha concludes in her paper:

“What becomes important to assert is the fact that Seth is a writer of the world who is

essentially a creative artist of the global world, a craftsman to reckon with and popular

writer with perhaps the greatest readership among the second generation Indo Anglian

writers”(Sinha, 245).