Arun Joshi’s fictional world is most strange. Peeling the multiple layers of artificiality, his protagonists seek to confront the mystery of life beyond the last labyrinth. His work represents a unique depiction of the dual between the internal and the external, the intuitive and the imposed. He catches the bewilderment of the individual psyche, confronted with the overbearing socio-cultural environment and the ever-beckoning modern promise of self-gratification/self-fulfilment. In the face of this dual onslaught his protagonists — Ratan, Billy Biswas, Som, Sindi Oberoi and others — are seen poised tantalizingly at different junctures of the philosophic spectrum. Applying sociological, psycho-analytic, structural and other approaches of formal textual analysis, the essays in the present anthology take a fresh look at Arun Joshi's works, revealing areas and stances, hitherto left unexplored, offer critical insights into the working of the protagonists' minds, besides scrutinizing the rhetorical devices and formal strategies, deployed by the novelist for coalescing the matter with the manner. An indispensable source-book for students, researchers and teachers of Indian English and Commonwealth literature in general and Arun Joshi in particular. An insightful and thought-provoking casebook for researchers in Philosophy, Psychology and Sociology.

Table of Contents:
1. “Beyond the Last Labyrith : The Strange Case of Arun Joshi” M.K. Bhatnagar 2. “After the Fall” : A Critique on Arun Joshi’s The Apprentice A. Rajendra Prasad 3. Fictional Technique and Rhetorical Devices in Arun Joshi’s The Apprentice Pier Paolo Piciucco 4. The Concept of Humane Technology in Arun Joshi’s : The Foreigner Shivani Vatsa and Rashmi Gaur 5. Quest for Self in Arun Joshi’s The Strange Case of Billy Biswas Urmil 6. A Study of the Corruping Influence of the Technology : The Strange Case of Billy Biswas Shivani Vatsa and Rashmi Gaur 7. Indian Ethos in Arun Joshi’s The Last Labyrinth M. Mani Meitei 8. Orchestra of Discontent : Som’s Quest in The Last Labyrinth Rajeshwar Mittapalli and B. Brahmananda Chary 9. Race Consciousness in Arun Joshi’s The Last Labyrinth Shubha Tiwari 10. “Isolation” in Arun Joshi’s The Foreigner and The Last Labyrinth S.S. Rengachari 11. Symbol as Structure : Arun Joshi’s The City and the River K.M. Pandey 12. The Problem of Alienation and the Quest for Identity in Joshi’s Novels S.P. Swain and S. Samartray 13. Arun Joshi’s Fictional Forte Mallikarjun Patil