Socialite Evenings is Shobha De

Shobha De

Shobha Rajadhyaksha known as Shobhaa Dé , Previously Shobha Kilachand is an Indian columnist and novelist.-Early life:...

's first novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

. It describes a backdrop of Bombay high society and the lives of bored, rich housewives trapped in loveless marriages and engaging in ill-fated extramarital affairs, smug selfish husbands who use their wives more for social respectability than for love, fashionable parties, false spiritual leaders, and a portrait of the general moral, spiritual and intellectual bankruptcy and decadence

Decadence

Decadence can refer to a personal trait, or to the state of a society . Used to describe a person's lifestyle. Concise Oxford Dictionary: "a luxurious self-indulgence"...

 of the Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

 Elite who have traded in their traditional culture for near total Westernization

Westernization

Westernization or Westernisation , also occidentalization or occidentalisation , is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in such matters as industry, technology, law, politics, economics, lifestyle, diet, language, alphabet,...

 and the discarding of any discernible values other than materialism

Materialism

In philosophy, the theory of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance...

.

Plot summary

Karuna, the main protagonist and narrator is caught up in a drab, boring life and she seeks to escape by writing her memoir

Memoir

A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...

s. Her memoirs are successful and she achieves a measure of fame and pride in herself as she becomes an active socialite

Socialite

A socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....

and eventually uses her newfound prominence as a celebrity to get herself a position as an advertising copywriter and creator of a television series.ankit patel

Literary significance & criticism

Socialite Evenings was a critical disaster but a commercial success, likely due in part to its racy and controversial content, something that was fairly new in India at the time. Obviously written to shock, it has been widely criticized by many traditional elements in Indian society, De seems to have struck a nerve with many people and it is clear that many, particularly women, in India seem to be able to relate well to the novel. Although a novel, it closely parallels Shobha De's own rise to fame and some consider it to be partially autobiographical.

Release details

• 1989, India, Penguin, New Delhi ISBN 0-14-012267-2, Pub date ? ? 1989, paperback
• 1995, India, Penguin, New Delhi ISBN ?, Pub date ? ? 1995, paperback (as part of The Shobha De Omnibus)