The Polyphonic Feminine Narrative Voice in Anita Nair’s Mistress and Ladies’ Coupe’

Abstract

The present paper aims to distinguish the feminine narrative voice of Radha and
Akhila from their mythological counterparts in Anita Nair’s novels Mistress and Ladies’ Coupe’.
The paper argues that the texts of Anita Nair are dialogic and polyphonic in nature. The
characters are independent of authorial voice. The major finding of this paper is that the voices
are multiple and complex since the characters in the texts have relevance to their mythological
counterparts. The characters Radha of Mistress associates herself with mythological characters
Radha and Ahalya, whereas Akhila of Ladies’ Coupe’ relates herself to the goddesses
Kanyakumari, and Kali. Mythology and religion take a major role in determining the role of
women in the family and society. Nair’s women are caught between the duality of tradition and
modernity. The paper analyses the impact of polyphonic mythological voices in the lives of the
characters Radha and Akhila. It also examines the other feminine polyphonic voices in the select
texts to substantiate the polyphonic nature of narration.