The Chessmaster and His Moves is a most ambitious novel, and like most of Raja Rao's writing, rooted in Indian tradition, thought and sensibility. At one level The Chessmaster is the story of an impossible love between Sivarama Sastri, an Indian mathematician working in Paris, and a married woman which can only end in sorrow and despair. To come to terms with its impossibility, the protaganists turn inward in their search for answer and meaning, transforming the book into a metaphysical exploration. Amidst this search, each and every act, big or seemingly small, gets imbued with special meaning. Sastri's love for the French actress, Suzanne Chantereux, or her beguiling, effervescent compatriot Mireille, for instance, serves to underline the differences between the East and West; while the latter seeks happiness in the world, Sastri is looking for freedom from the world itself. The Chessmaster is rich: in language, plot, in complexity, too, it is rich. And rich in locale and in its large cast of memorable characters; Indian, European, African and Jewish. By turns tender, tragic, sensuous- or filled with laughter and delight- the book nevertheless remains utterly serious, concerned with the author's abstract search for the Absolute. Grand in sweep and range, and functioning at multiple levels, the story moves from France to London, and on to the Himalayas and Bengal and contains, perhaps for the first time ever in a literary work, a dialogue between a Brahmin and a Rabbi: an exploration of reasons for Holocaust and an attempt to expiate it.

Raja Rao, b. 1909, Indo-English novelist.

The Book Presents Raja Rao S Fic¬Tional World From A Refreshingly New Perspective. It Offers A Compre¬Hensive Account Of The Philosophi¬Cal Content In His Novels And Traces The Patterns Of Interaction Between Indian Metaphysical Tradition And The Culture Of The West. Dr. Dayal Shows How Raja Rao Has Developed His Vedantic Tantric Weltenschauung Through Absorption Of Similar Motifs Propounded By Certain Prominent Western Writers. The Study Of This Twin Insemination, Dealt In Depth And Subtlety, Makes A Significant Contribution To Indo-English Scho¬Larship.

Raja Rao Is One Of The Triumvirate Of The Pioneering Indian Novelists In English. His Contribution To The Growth Of The English Novel In India Is Enormous. Each One Of His Novels Is A Trendsetter. Kanthapura, For Instance, Demonstrates How The English Language Can Be Used To Tell A Typically Indian Story Without Violating The Native Speech Rhythms And His The Serpent And The Rope Gave A New Direction To The Indian Novel In English By Philosophising It. His Range And Vision Transcend All Barriers. He Used The Fictional Medium To Portray His Patriotic And Philosophical Concerns In A Masterly Way.In This Volume, An Attempt Has Been Made To Assess Raja Rao S Novels And Short Stories In Terms Of His, Philosophy, Vision, Style, Themes And Techniques. It Is Hoped That Raja Rao Scholars Across The Globe Will Find The Book Irresistible.

On Mulk Raj Anand, R K Narayan, Raja Rao, and Bhabani Bhattacharya, Indo-English novelists.

Contributed artices; covers the period 20th century.

This Book Presents A Collection Of Essays And Research Papers On Indian English Poetry And Fiction. It Has Been Classified In Two Sections. Section A Comprises Essays On Poets Such As Toru Dutt, Aurobindo Ghose, Krishna Srinivas And Kamala Das. Section B Contains Essays On Indian English Novelists Like R.K. Narayan, Raja Rao, Bhabani Bhattacharaya, Anita Desai, Khushwant Singh, Kamala Markandaya, Shashi Deshpande, Shobha De, And Arun Joshi. The Research Papers In The Book By Some Distinguished University Teachers And Professors Of English Posted In Indian Universities Cover A Brief Critical Survey Of Indian English Poetry And Novel Since Their Birth Upto The Present Day. A Brief Survey Of Indian English Religious Poetry And Humanistic Trends In Contemporary Indo-English Fiction Has Also Been Included.

The protagonist of The Chess Master, Wang Yisheng, undergoes a gradual transformation from "chess fool" to "chess master"--from an alienated young man obsessed with the material needs of life to a spiritually enlightened transmitter of the Chinese tradition. A Cheng has created in The Chess Master a radically new fiction that is both thoroughly modern and deeply imbued with the Chinese tradition.

Twenty-five chess games chosen, arranged, and annotated to help amateurs learn how to avoid a variety of weak strategic and tactical moves. Selected, with commentary, by World Chess Champion Max Euwe and by Walter Meiden, an amateur player, the games point out graphically how the chess master exploits characteristic errors of the amateur.