The book "Literature - a Mirror Image of Life?" consists of twenty chapters written by the author with a considerable time gap between them.
V. Lenin had described "Leo Tolstoy as the mirror of the Russian revolution". The question, naturally, arises: is literature a one-to-one reflection of life? Is it the mirror image of life? Yes and no. Yes, because in literature, we may find life depicted through typical episodes, characters, events, and what have you placed in typical circumstances and situations. No, because a mirror image is only a superficial image of objects, persons, etc. It does not reflect deeper layers, aspects and nuances. It may show the contours but not the inner substance, intertwining labyrinths and deeper meaning. Thus, Lenin's statement is both figurative and hyperbolic in its substance.
The content of the book has been divided into four sections: Russian Peasantry in History and Literature. Theory and Practice. Glimpses into Modern Russian Literature. Comparative Literature and Literary Mutualities.
The papers, comprising the first section, constitute a brief overview of Russian peasantry as reflected in literature starting from the early 18th century and culminating into the end of the 1930's.
The second section consists of essays like "The Theory of the Novel: Lukács, Bakhtin and Hindi Literature", "The Theory of Novel and Evolution of Russian Political Novel", "Deciphering Postmodernism", "Three Waves of Russian Symbolism", and others.
The third section, titled "Glimpses into Modern Russian Literature", deals with the current trends in modern Russian literature as propounded by an eminent émigré scholar, Mikhail Epstein, in his monumental monograph titled After the Future.
The last section of the book is on "Comparative Literature and Literary Mutualities". Chapters like "Translation a Bridge between Literatures", "Chekhov and Tolstoy A Comparative View of Their Aesthetico-Philosophical Positions", "Pushkin, Mickiewicz and Idea of Europe", "Russian-Indian Literary Mutuality" and "India and Russia vs the West in Russian Literature" comprise the main body of this section.
