A Literary Luminary – Critical Appreciation of S. L. Bhyrappa’s Novels

India’s foremost novelist Dr. S L Bhyrappa (1931–2025) enthralled readers across generations with twenty-four novels exploring a variety of themes and characters. For over sixty years, his works have remained in the bestseller lists. Bhyrappa’s writings have been the subject of many PhDs but this is the first time a full-fledged work of literary criticism on his novels is appearing in English.

For over two decades, the scholar, literary critic, author, and translator Prof. L V Shanthakumari has been writing essays and books in Kannada about Bhyrappa’s novels and now she has put together this anthology of essays in English. The learned professor employs Indian and Western literary tools as she analyzes these works—concepts from Indian philosophy (like the four purusharthas) and Indian aesthetics (like rasa, dhvani, and auchitya) on the one hand and Western concepts of criticism (like plot, theme, character, conflict, resolution, etc.) on the other. This book, written in lucid and endearing prose, offers a remarkable perspective to peek into the wonderful universe of S L Bhyrappa’s novels.

• First full-length literary criticism in English on all of S L Bhyrappa’s novels
• Combines Indian (purusharthas, rasa, dhvani, auchitya) and Western critical frameworks
• Anthology of essays originally written in Kannada, now translated and compiled in English
• Written by a scholar who has studied Bhyrappa for over 20 years

Title: A Literary Luminary
Subtitle: Critical Appreciation of S L Bhyrappa’s Novels
Author: L. V. Shanthakumari
Editors: Vedavyas M G & Arjun Bharadwaj
Publisher: Rashtrotthana Sahitya, Bengaluru
ISBN: 978-93-93991-42-3
Language: English
Genre: Literary Criticism
Format: Paperback
Country: India