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The Boy Who Lived to Become The Chosen One
-- Saradindu Bhattacharya
This paper explores the dynamics of celebrity culture in the Harry Potter books by examining how the eponymous protagonist functions as a locus for intersecting and often conflicting notions of heroism and fame. I demonstrate how Harry Potter is implicated in popular, social structures of celebrity that frame both his private ‘self’ and his public ‘persona’ within discourses of exceptional individual achievement and moral responsibility towards the wizarding community. I argue that Harry embodies the tensions between the movement towards self-knowledge and realization integral to the heroic narrative and the workings of fame crucial to the perpetuation of a celebrity’s popular image. I analyze Harry’s celebrity status as one that (i) functions as a ‘sign’ that exists, in the collective imagination of the magical community, as a counter to the evil represented by Voldemort; (ii) prods him towards and increasingly poses a challenge to his discovery of his true identity; and (iii) leads to his ultimate realization of his social role and responsibility in the final culmination of his personal heroism with his public persona. Therefore, I argue that in negotiating and realizing his fame, Harry Potter goes through a journey that results in self-discovery and moves from being a celebrity-hero to a heroic celebrity.
© 2012 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Music and Dance in Fiction: A Study of Selected Works of R K Narayan
and Thi Janakiraman
-- S Savitha
R K Narayan is a pure artist who doesn’t go into contemporaneity too deeply to create pieces which are mere period literature. He is a realist with a wide range. Thi Janakiraman is considered as one of the major figures of 20th century Tamil fiction. The writing style of Thi Jaa is simple and engaging. Thi Jaa has written about hundred short stories and a dozen novels. Possibly, the greatest work of Thi Janakiraman is the novel Mohamull (Thorn of Desire). The paper deals with how these two writers handled the theme of art and artiste in some of their works. The plots of R K Narayan’s The Guide and “Selvi” actually stand for art in general or feminine art in particular. Neither Karnatic music in “Selvi” nor Bharatanatyam dance in The Guide are explored in depth. Janakiraman brings together in the novel two great forces in human nature. His music goes beyond the ordinary human aspirations for mere melody and money, and penetrates his being. To him, as to Ranganna, naada becomes the reality, and music becomes a mode of exploring his innermost being. That instinct for exploration makes it possible for him to go in search of an ideal of music that he has seen in a different school, disregarding the practical demands of life. Narayan and Janakiraman are both inspired by this quality of music and dance.
© 2012 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
The Intersection of the Personal and the Political: Huda Shaarawi’s
Harem Years and Leila Ahmed’s A Border Passage
-- Asha S
Drawing on Nawar al-Hassan Golley’s thesis that women’s autobiographies and memoirs feature a social rather than an individualistic self, this paper examines the memoirs of two prominent Egyptian women, Huda Shaarawi and Leila Ahmed. Born 61 years apart, both grew up in Egypt under British occupation, the former when the nationalist movement was at its height and the latter in the years of the forging of the national identity of Egypt. The turbulent political climate of their time had its impact on the shaping of their personal identity. Not surprisingly, the personal and the political lie enmeshed in their memoirs. Huda Shaarawi’s memoir Harem Years: The Memoirs of an Egyptian Feminist (1987) is a living testimony of the struggles and ordeals the women of her generation had to undergo and the deep-seated social conventions and prejudices they had to battle in their championing of nationalist and feminist causes. Shaarawi’s unproblematic conceptualization of identity, reflective of her moorings in religion and tradition, gives way in Leila Ahmed’s memoir A Border Passage: From Cairo to America – A Woman’s Journey (1999) to a fractured consciousness of self, one that grapples with questions of truth, identity, politics and religion. The paper also shows how the memoirs demystify orientalist stereotyping of Muslim women’s life in the harem.
© 2012 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Classroom Management: An Approach
-- C V Padmaja
Classroom management which establishes constructive and productive classroom environment is critical to achieve positive results in imparting education. The aim of this paper is to show what classroom management is, issues of classroom supervision, and managing the behavioral trends of the students in tandem with the academic discipline. The paper also focuses on how to manage tempo and time while establishing a connection between the teacher and student, which is imperative in making the class effective. In the process, the importance of components like content management, conduct management and covenant management, illustrating the measures to be employed to improve teacher’s quality through effective classroom management, have been taken into consideration. Besides, the effectiveness of art of communication that plays a pivotal role in imparting education to all students has been looked into.
© 2012 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
ELT Through Films: A Supplementary Aid for the Practitioner
--Karthika Nair
The role of films and literature in English Language Teaching (ELT) has recently emerged as a new field of enquiry. It is the buzzword in the learning domain: edutainment. Empirical studies in language acquisition time and again prove that it is a complex process where surroundings and cognitive processes play important roles. The paper addresses a supplementary approach to ELT through films and literature. It discusses the rationale of this approach along with the framework for implementing the methodology. The paper also seeks to interrogate the counterpoint that films as a pedagogical tool are easier to execute as they would involve only typical classroom discussions. The paper outlines a well-designed, structured approach right from the planning, execution and implementation stages encompassing choice of films and demographics of the learner, methodology and its link to listener/ audience comprehension at the syntactic, semantic and stylistic levels. It also addresses the structural differences of ELT through multimedia versus ELT through films and its comparative merits. With respect to using literature for teaching English, sound suggestions are made by matching the key skills in English language acquisition (reading, writing, listening and writing) to the literary methods used to implement it. Despite growing innovations in ELT, much of it has also not been successful. The paper also addresses the challenges in ELT through films.
© 2012 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
War and the Pity of War: Joseph Heller’s Catch-22
-- Nibir K Ghosh
War has been a recurrent theme in literary works both in the West and the East since time immemorial. Homer’s Iliad and Vyasa’s The Mahabharata are outstanding examples. The magnitude of destruction caused by modern warfare is unprecedented. In the 20th century, war poets in England and novelists like Stephen Crane in the US attempted to present the madness of war. But it is Joseph Heller, himself a participant in the mindless war, who evokes the utter madness of war waged by ruthless politicians with the help of capricious selfseeking military bureaucrats. In this paper, an attempt is made to show the sane effort of Yessaman to escape from the madness of war waged to pursue a causeless cause and survive, when dying is utterly meaningless.
© 2012 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Colonialism, Postcolonialism, and Diaspora in Terms of Translation
-- R K Mishra
In the context of ‘colonialism’, ‘postcolonialism’, and ‘diaspora’, ‘translation’ as a metaphor is taken into account in this paper. Translation is not new but to examine ‘colonialism’, ‘postcolonialism’, and ‘diaspora’ in terms of translation looks a little new. Translation is a junction where two languages and two cultures meet only to result in impurity, artificiality and undecidability. Since translation involves social and power relations, it underwent a chequered career. During ‘colonialism’, translation helped colonizers consolidating colonial regime which turned traitor in ‘postcolonialism’ and diasporism. The base term for ‘colonialism’ is colony. If translation is taken for granted in its etymological use (to carry across), a colony means a second copy of the original located somewhere on the globe. And therefore, ‘colonialism’ refers to the acts of settling down a colony elsewhere on the map. Thus, both terms ‘translation’ and ‘colonialism’ involve the acts of displacements and relocation. Colonizers, to ensure safety, and continuation of their hegemonic rule over natives, invoked translation as a tool for seizing power and pelf. Postcolonialism is mainly marked by its oppositional stance to the self-centered homogeneous topology of ‘colonialism’. It employed mainly ‘mimicry’ and ‘hybridity’ as two avataras (incarnations) of translation to serve the ‘postcolonial’ purposes of getting colonial ideology and belief fragmented, fissured and flawed. Diaspora which deals with dispersed communities worldwide examines translational and transnational nature of diasporics and diasporic experiences. Culture and identity never remain constant. They always modify and get modified in turn. The concept of ‘diaspora’ in all cases bears the sense of translocation, displacement or de-territorialization. Hence, translation is an apt metaphor for ‘colonialism’, ‘postcolonialism’ and ‘diaspora’.
© 2012 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Book Review:
Passionate Pastoral Love: Love Songs of Enki
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