Existentialism… In Context to the Novels by Arun Joshi

The term existentialism was coined by the French Catholic philosopher Gabriel Marcel in the mid-1940s. Existentialism is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on the subjective experience of thinking, feeling, and acting. For example, in the view of an existentialist, the individual’s starting point has been called “the existential angst”, a sense of dread, disorientation, confusion, or anxiety in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning , purpose, and value of human existence. Existentialism is associated with several 19th- and 20th-century European philosophers who shared an emphasis on the human subject, despite often profound differences in thought. Arun Joshi is one of the important novelists, who explores the existential crisis at different levels as personal, social, economic and political. It is an attempt to analyse existentialism in his novels.