Increasingly the plight of large chunks of marginalized segments of humanity is being highlighted by a variety of agencies and even individuals. Although self-centered politicians champion their cause potently to capture the vote bank, sensitive writers have poignantly evoked their predicament through their fictional constructs. The disturbing scenario of women abused by callous husbands leading to frustration and self-imposed solitude has been portrayed powerfully by women writers and it is interesting that such portrayals have been critically examined by women scholars. Apart from resorting to exile, there are instances of women subjected to existential angst. The trauma suffered by Jewish-American women, as projected by the observant women writers, is compounded by the problem of cultural and linguistic adjustment in alien lands. Language adjustment includes Second Language acquisition, which offers global job opportunities and ELT programs should be reworked to cater to the emerging imperatives. It will be useful to impart knowledge of concepts to enhance language skills.

In this issue, three papers are offered to deal with the trauma experienced by women as presented by women writers in English, apart from a sympathetic survey of short fiction in English by women. In the first paper, “Inter-Personal and Intra-Psychic Defense Mechanisms: Anita Desai’s Fire on the Mountain”, Simmi Gurwara examines the alienation from real self suffered by Nanda Kaul as a result of pathogenic environment. The three women characters adopt different defense mechanisms by withdrawing, rebelling or surrendering to the reality around, when their insatiable neurotic needs are not met. In the second paper, “Exploring ‘Essence’ Behind the ‘Existence’: A Study of Female Characters in Anita Desai’s Novels”, Vaishali Shivkumar explores the hostile situations women protagonists are placed in and their unsuccessful attempts to face the problems of existence and responsibility. The interactions between man and woman and between society and individual are projected through a tragic vision, as in the case of prosaic but pragmatic Raman and poetic but impractical Sita in Where Shall We Go This Summer, helpless women like Ila Das and frustrated girl like Raka in Fire on the Mountain. In the third paper, “Indian Women’s Short Fiction in English: Exploring the Neglected Form”, Priyanka Tripathi and H S Komalesha trace the much neglected short fiction in English by women writers and establish that the first collection of short stories is Love and Life Behind the Purdah (1901) by Cornelia Sorabji, since the other collection, Stories of Indian Christian Life, by Kamala Sathianadhan, published in 1898, is

co-authored by her husband. The authors survey the development of this genre starting with Sorabji’s collection to recent collections like Kamala Swaminathan’s Venue Crossing (2009). Gustavo Sanchez Canales, in his paper, “Three Generations of Jewish-American Women Writers”, examines the trauma experienced by Jews when they try to relocate in an alien society, but barely succeed. He looks at different approaches by three generations of Jewish American women portrayed by Mary Antin in The Promised Land, Cynthia Ozeck in The Shawl and Allegra Goodman in The Family Markowitz. In the first generation, women try to assimilate into the mainstream culture, in the second generation, they suffer from a conflict and in the third, they try to retrieve their Jewish culture.

Among the objectives of travelers, there is a streak of colonial insolence, as indicated by Sachidananda Mohanty, in the paper “Travel, Hybridity and Counter-Memory in William Dalrymple’s In Xanadu: A Quest.” The travelers, while journeying from Jerusalem to fabled Xanadu, run down with acid comicality, the natives of Turkey, Iran and Pakistan, emphasizing the supremacy of the West. Poonam Arora, in her paper “Evolving Faces of Delhi: Exploring Mughal Remains and Punjabi New Delhi with William Dalrymple’s City of Djinns”, traces the changes in the complexion of Delhi right from the times of the partition of India to the riots consequent on Operation Blue Star and examines the evocation by Darlymple of “anarchy, choke of fumes and whiff of spices”, emblematic of Delhi.

As tremendous opportunities open up, resulting from ubiquitous globalization, the situation calls for changed strategies for English Language Teaching. Ravindra B Tasildar, in the paper “Trends in the General English Courses in Indian Universities”, brings out the efforts of some of the progressive universities in Maharashtra to update the contents of General English (GE) courses so that the young learner is equipped with the required skills to face the challenges of job market. The author offers copious data to substantiate his argument, drawing attention to the fact that willingness to welcome changed strategies is more prominent in professional colleges than elsewhere. G Suvarna Lakshmi, in her paper “Language Learning and Concept Expansion: An Experimental Study”, discusses the role of concept in language acquisition, citing the views of psychologists like Jean Piaget and observes that, though knowledge of language, without concepts, can help, expansion of concepts is more useful. To impart better language skills, the author conducted a study with a class of 60 MBA students in a rural environment, focusing on 18 low achievers and taking them along through five phases, registered substantial improvement in their language learning abilities.

Rohitash Thapliyal and Shakuntala Kunwar in the paper “Ecocritical Reading of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies”, examine the essential evil force resident in humans as portrayed by Golding in his disturbing novel. The boys—Ralph, Simon, Piggy and Samneric—start out as innocents stranded in an island, but eventually turn out to be the inheritors of human urge to conquer the order and harmony in Nature through destruction. The authors bring out the anthropocentric nature of humans. Wanton and callous killing of the pig signals what Freud designated as “the failure of ethical concepts,” which is reflected in modern times in the inability of super powers to come to a peaceful agreement for international harmony at Copenhagen. Golding’s critique of human aggressiveness has a durable relevance.

The yeoman service rendered to Telugu literature by C P Brown Academy has received compliments from C Subbarao, reviewer of G R K Murty’s competent translation of short stories of the famous Telugu writer, Tripuraneni Gopichand. While examining the quality of translation of G R K Murty, the reviewer appreciates the direct, simple and faithful attempt to retain the native flavor of the original stories. C Subba Rao starts with an assessment of Gopichand as a distinguished writer, who enriched each genre of literature in Telugu, presenting empathetically the pulsating portraits of Telugu rural life.

-- S S Prabhakar Rao
Consulting Editor