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The Mystical Aura in Rilke’s Duino Elegies and Alfred Tennyson’s
In Memoriam: A Comparison
-- Bibhudutt Dash
This essay makes a critical, comparative study of the mystical elements in the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke’s (1923) Duino Elegies and Alfred Tennyson’s (1850) In Memoriam, two great elegies in world literature. While juxtaposing the mystical notes in the works, it highlights how the ‘mystique’ content contributes to the grand design and the overall effect of the poems. The rationale behind the selection of the texts lies in finding a good deal of similarities between the two, of which the mystical element is an important one.
© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Realism in Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary
-- Ritu R Agarwal
An attempt has been made in this paper to justify that Flaubert, way back in the mid-nineteenth century, had used new realism as identified by Raymond Williams, and Madame Bovary is an illustration of a contemporary novel in which description is used as an element of action, new technique has been used to describe new kind of reality, and ‘apprehended psychological state’ has been portrayed which is a modern feature. It is neither a social nor a personal novel but a novel in which there is a ‘reconciliation of the individual and society’ and it also reflects ‘the struggle for relationships.’ Madame Bovary, an 1857 novel, is about a doctor’s wife, Emma Bovary, who has adulterous affairs and lives beyond her means in order to escape the emptiness of provincial life. It is a novel which is contemporary in content and form and realistic in intent. Gustave Flaubert adopted a new narrative technique which Williams has focused on in his essay. Flaubert ‘shows’ rather than ‘tells’. The use of symbols, contrast and irony has lent an innovativeness to the novel. Madame Bovary is not a novel of a woman and a town. On the larger scale, it is a novel of a generation and a society. Flaubert’s Madame Bovary is a reflection of Raymond Williams’ views wherein he believes that “the way of life is neither aggregation nor unit, but a whole indivisible process.” and that “a new realism is necessary to remain creative.”
© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
In the Hermeneutic Code: Unsolved Enigmas in the Plays
of Tennessee Williams
-- Ramnarayan Panda
Certain studies of literature developed along the line of discourse analyses in relation to other genres such as poetry and fiction can be suitably adopted in study of dramatic literature. The famous S/Z, an exemplary study in intertextuality by the noted French structuralist turned post-structuralist Roland Barthes, denotes such viability. In S/Z, Barthes splits Balzac’s text Sarrasine into several ‘lexias’ or units of reading and examines the role played by the different codes in each ‘lexia’. This paper takes up the method of reading adopted by Barthes in relation to the hermeneutic code, one of the five codes discovered by Barthes, and applies it to selected plays of Williams Tennessee with a view to highlighting the ‘readerly’ as well as ‘writerly’ dimension of Williams’ drama. Even though Barthes has clearly noted that the hermeneutic code is one of irreversible codes, accounting mostly for solved enigmas in literary works, it turns out to be a handy tool to single out ‘writerly’ elements as well. The paper first explains the relevant theoretical notions, and later examines the plays of Williams.
© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Segregation: An Abomination
-- P Sakthi and Stella Thangaraj
This article discusses the theme of segregation, which was derived from the incorporation of institutionalized racism and existed among the Afro-Americans in the early nineteenth century. The hostile and negative feelings of the White racists towards the Blacks, who were treated ‘inferior,’ are focused on the oppressions and dehumanization experienced by the ‘colored people’ are explored in the light of Claude McKay’s and Gwendolyn Brooks’ poems. As Black creative writers, they view this iniquity as an abomination. They raised their voice for their discriminated race and created ‘Black Consciousness’ among them. And their poems taught them to raise their banner of victory from the dust.
© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Thematic Concerns in Nayantara Sahgal’s Rich Like Us
--G Gulam Tariq, M Zafarullah Baig and Syeda Ifrana
The main focus in the novels of Nayantara Sahgal, the celebrated Indian English novelist, is on the plight and problems of educated women, mostly with an urban base. She speaks about the predicament of new Indian woman. In this paper, an attempt has been made to explore the theme of sufferings in post-independence era and maladjustment of an English lady in the Indian social setup. Sahgal also depicts how women grow in strength in spite of many hurdles and how women make many sacrifices and compromises, and how they boldly face the challenges of life with forbearance.
© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Images of Women Presented by Diasporic Writers:
A Study of Chitra Banerjee’s Arranged Marriage
-- Hetal M Doshi
With the rise of women diasporic writers, the images of immigrated women have often been discussed in literature. It has been debated that feminism is now an outdated issue and the women have successfully achieved equality and defied patriarchal norms. More so, Indian women writers in foreign land are equipped with better themes than the perennially penned subjects like rights of women, injustice, gender inequality and so on. This paper discusses the images of women in the work of diasporic female writer Chitra Banerjee and tries to find out whether the immigrated status brings any change in the fate, attitude and life of women.
© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Autobiographical Element in Haroun and the Sea of Stories
-- Indira Reddy
As we read Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories, we recall Grimus, Rushdie’s first novel. Like Grimus, this moral and aesthetic parable oscillates between fantasy and reality and impresses us with the skilful weaving of the real and unreal, dream and reality. Rushdie’s explicit ideas, exuberant language and gumption are expressed powerfully in all his works. Haroun and the Sea of Stories is a cogent narrative enlivened by complex imagery where the characters are scrutinized in detail and artistically presented to us. Since Haroun and Sea of Stories is Rushdie’s first novel written, while he was hiding, the first after the fatwa experience, the autobiographical element in the novel cannot be overlooked. The story starts with a very common theme of a tale of a father and son and starts spinning its magic by adding varied characters, and the dramatic juggling takes off, adding complex developments, climaxing into a poignantly incredible journey. Rushdie was forced into exile and expatriation. His freedom of expression was severely curtailed. At this desperate and gloomy time, Haroun and Sea of Stories was written as a reaction to the menace of censorship of fatwa issued by Ayotollah Khomeini.
© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Maintenance of Lower-Frequency Vocabulary: A Forgotten Issue?
-- Karina Vidal
Teaching Foreign Language (FL)vocabulary is normally reduced to introducing words before or after tasks or to explaining the items included in course books units. In the case of lower-frequency words, much more attention and work is needed for long-term retention to take place. Findings in the field of cognitive science provide guidelines for effective learning practices. However, most of these findings have had little impact on education. The aim of this article is to raise awareness of the importance of promoting conditions that nurture the items in the vocabulary component the teacher has decided to explicitly teach and those which students set out to learn on their own. Unfortunately, lack of vocabulary development hinders the students’ proficiency development. This paper, then, reviews findings in the field of language loss and maintenance and suggests effective practices for the consolidation of less frequent words. It also provides guidelines regarding self-study activities.
© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Ecocriticism in Eastern and Western Traditions
-- Raj Kumar Mishra
Ecocriticism is a consciousness-raising phenomenon about environment. To the students or scholars of literature, Ecocriticism is a critical development to spread consciousness about ecological concerns. It is a multidisciplinary approach. Numberless development programs are being executed not for improving ecology, but instead at the cost of ecology. Ecocriticism as a literary ecological philosophy provides a reliable framework or mechanism to analyze cultural and literary texts which are directly/indirectly preoccupied with ecological concerns and contexts. Moreover, it looks at the depictions of natural sights and landscapes along with people’s attitudes and attention towards nature, may be favorable or unfavorable. In fact, this sort of attempt negotiates between literature and ecology. This paper attempts to trace the prevalence of ecological concerns in the works of writers like Kalidasa and Valmiki as well.
© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
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