Deconstructing Embodied Intersectional Narratives in Anita Desai’s Novels Clear Light of the Day and Fasting, Feasting

Abstract

Embodied intersectionality is a dynamic field of study that deals with deep-rooted problems in society. It analyses complications in gender,
race, class, and their intersections with each other, highlighting how women's bodies become both the cause and the site of exploitation. Society
is a structure governed by rules, and when a woman doesn’t fit into the prescribed societal structures, she becomes hypervisible. The oppression
faced by women from an urban background, with privileged labels, is mostly overlooked because of their positionality, isolating them from
their sisterhood. It is through literature that this connection is reestablished. Authors like Anita Desai play a prominent role in giving voice to
women's struggles through the medium of varied female characters and their embodied narratives. This paper attempts to study the portrayal
of embodied intersectional narratives in two prominent novels by Anita Desai, Fasting, Feasting, and Clear Light of the Day, and analyse how
these novels mirror the actuality of embodied intersectional struggles faced by women in the upper strata of society