Many renowned writers such as Dostoyevsky, Graham Greene, Patrick White, Joyce Cary, Conrad, Kafka, Colin Wilson, Paul Tillich, Martin Buber, Samuel Beckett, J.D. Salinger, Thomas Hardy etc., have been influenced by existential philosophy. Their writings gives a vivid picture of man who is a stranger in the world and who moves about in a state of homelessness but is always doomed to wander in quiet despair, incommunicado and a defeated man.
In the Indian literary scene though many writers like R.K.Narayan, Kamala Markandaya, Nayantara Sahgal, Raji Narasimhan, Vikram Seth, Arun Joshi, Tara Ali Baig, Gita Hariharan, Salman Rushdie, Bharathi Mukherjee, Sashi Deshpande, R.W.Desai and many others have written on existential themes, however, none has exploited existential philosophy to the extent that Anita Desai has. Desai considers the enduring human condition seriously and for this reason she is considered a true existentialist.
A Writer's Exposé 