Emerson
and Iqbal: Dismantling Boundaries of the East and the
West
-- Nusrat Jan
Ralph
Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) and Sheikh Muhammad Iqbal
(1877-1938) are creative writers as well as thinkers
dealing in their writings with fundamental issues surrounding
the human condition. Despite their religious and cultural
differences, these eminent poet-philosophers evidence
similar propensities in the course of their individual
journeys of inquiry. Through a comparative study of
Emerson's essays and Iqbal's poetry as well as his philosophical
work The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam,
this paper explores some of these similarities. The
assumption on which such a comparative approach is based
is that human nature is essentially similar all over
the world and partakes of similar quests and experiences.
This paper attempts to show that temporal and spatial
boundaries do not restrain the literary imagination;
the give-and-take across cultures is a continuous, sometimes
conscious, at other times unconscious, activity of the
poetic imagination. Emerson, a Western mind borrowed
from the East, and Iqbal, an Eastern one, drew on the
best of the Western tradition. As creative writers,
they defy insularity and advocate reciprocity between
cultures. The paper tries to argue the relevance of
such an attitude in today's world which is shrinking
at a rapid pace by adopting a critical perspective which
sees creative works as products of cross-culturality
and syncreticity. A universal consciousness is dawning
in the world slowly but surely and this needs to be
strengthened.
©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
The
Quest for the Absolute: To a God Unknown and
The Serpent and the Rope
-- R Swaminathan
This
article is a comparative study of the theme of Self-Realization
in the novels To a God Unknown (1933) by John
Steinbeck and The Serpent and the Rope (1960)
by Raja Rao, in the light of the four stages or Ashramas
of life and the four objects of life or Purusharthas
as enunciated in the Hindu philosophy. The paper discusses
how the protagonists, Joseph Wayne of To a God Unknown
and Ramaswamy of The Serpent and the Rope attain
Self-Realization. Both the protagonists realize the
oneness of all beings and from the beginning their words
and deeds embody this advaita principle. Joseph
sacrifices his life not to perpetuate himself but to
perpetuate life on earth by bringing down the life-giving
water, the water of life. Likewise, Ramaswamy by fulfilling
his familial and social commitments reaches his ultimate
goal of reunion with the Great Soul through Jnana
Yoga. Both of them identify their individual souls
with the Supreme Soul in their own unique ways, within
the ambit of their domestic and social environments.
The protagonists are clearly portrayed as reaching the
peak of Self-Realization with a neat framework of the
ascending stages. This comparative analysis reveals
that the novelists, Steinbeck and Raja Rao, though divided
by locale, culture and religion, converge at a point
at which both of them are influenced by the Indian advaitic
philosophy. Besides their own textual references in
their respective novels, the theme of man's reunion
with the Absolute runs through both the novels quite
conspicuously.
©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
The
Mimesis of Maya and the Maya of
Mimesis: Hamlet as an Exploration of Reality
-- A Raghu
This
paper attempts to explain the magnet-like quality of
Hamlet, the ability of the play to attract almost
endless critical attention. The contention of this paper
is that one of the basic issues explored by Hamlet
is the nature of reality and that this is largely what
makes the play what it is. It theorizes that the play
represents several levels of realitythe Ghost,
the characters in the play, the "mad" charactersall
operate within the layers of reality. It argues that
Hamlet establishes the fundamental principle
that all these forms of reality carry within themselves
a core of unreality. There are several passages in this
play that establish this perspective. The play demolishes
the concept of a unified, monolithic reality, which
is shared by all, and instead presents the spectator/reader
with a number of levels of reality of varying solidity.
Bringing in the ancient Indian term maya and
the ancient Greek term mimesis, the paper also
discusses the concepts of representation and reality
with reference to the play and attempts to demonstrate
that Hamlet blurs the borderline that separates
reality and representation. It would be mistaken, the
paper holds, to confine Hamlet within the rubric
of nihilism. The exploration of reality that is Hamlet
does not suggest that everything is nothing but that
everything is something and also that that something
is, ultimately, nothing.
©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
`I
am Envious of Writers who are in India': Kiran
Desai, the Man Booker Prize and Indian Diasporic Writing
--Somdatta
Mandal
Publishers,
critics, and the writers themselves, acknowledge the
seminal influence of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's
Children (1981) in the post-independence era in
triggering off the boom in Indian writing in English.
Its impact was also decisive in making The New York
Times dub the young crop of Indian English novelists
as "Rushdie's Children". Though the status
of all these writers is not the same, most of them happen
to be diasporic Indians residing outside the nation-state
of India, and many of them have been awarded literary
prizes and astronomical sums as advance. Looking at
the recently awarded Man Booker Prize to Kiran Desai
(something that eluded her illustrious mother), this
article focuses on the politics behind the prizes and
how Kiran was hailed by The New Yorker way back
in 1997 as one of India's leading novelists, when she
was just writing her first novel, Hullabaloo in the
Guava Orchard. It also includes a discussion on
diasporic writers through a witty essay written by Desai
herself. Further it deals with the status of Kiran Desai
as an Indian diasporic writer and discusses in detail
the reaction of the writer herself as well as the critics
in assessing the novel The Inheritance of Loss.
A bio-bibliographical introduction of the writer is
given in order to show how the diasporic and transcontinental
nature of Kiran Desai's extended family members recur
in the novel. The article concludes with the view that
with just two very different books behind her, it is
difficult or may be too early to gauge where Kiran Desai
is heading.
©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
The
Matrix of Indianness and the Poetry of Nissim Ezekiel
-- Nibir K Ghosh
In
an extremely perceptive review of V S Naipaul's An
Area of Darkness, Nissim Ezekiel had clearly demonstrated
that his own vision of India was not one that appealed
to the West, but the India to which he truly belonged.
Confronting Naipaul's "condemnatory judgements,"
Ezekiel acknowledges without hesitation the existence
of "all the darkness Mr Naipaul has discovered"
but emphatically states: "India is simply my environment.
A man can do something for and in his environment by
being fully what he is, by not withdrawing from it.
I have not withdrawn from India...I believe in anger,
compassion and contempt...They are not without value.
I believe in acceptance that incorporates all three,
makes use of them. I am incurably critical and skeptical.
That is what I am in relation to India also." Taking
cue from Ezekiel's essay, the author describes the grounds
of his own fascination for both the man and the poet
and goes on to explore and examine how Nissim Ezekiel
strives, in both life and poetry, for "a human
balance humanly acquired" to unite poetry and living,
his avocation and vocation that reflect his living awareness
of India as his only home. Ezekiel's Indian sensibility
through which he has learnt to recognize and resolve
the dilemma of double consciousness could serve as a
precedent for creative writers, critics and academics
who find it difficult to overcome the anxiety of colonial
influence in projecting an authentic image for India.
©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Attia
Hosain's Sunlight on a Broken Column: A Muslim
Point of View of the Partition
--
N S Gundur
The
present article examines Attia Hosain's Sunlight
on a Broken Column as a Partition narrative. It
is observed that the novel is an outstanding presentation
of the crisis of partition. It is unique among Indian
English novels on partition as it is not only the first
woman writer's response but also the first Muslim writer's
response towards the holocaust. Being much closer to
another bildungsroman Ice-Candy-Man
by Bapsi Sidwa, a Pakistani writer, Attia's novel offers
the Muslim point of view of the Partition, whereas the
former is an account of an outsider's viewParsi
perception of the tragedy. The novel captures the poignant
political event very artistically with elegant style.
©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Bernard
Shaw and Feminism
-- E
Nageswara Rao
Bernard
Shaw was a feminist long before the term became familiar.
In his plays and prefaces, he exposes the iniquities
suffered by women; his women characters do not conform
to the Victorian notions of femininity. He was the first
to present the New Woman on the British stage. His portrayal
of three great historical figures, Cleopatra, Joan of
Arc and Catherine II, shatters their romantic image.
Cleopatra masters statecraft; Joan defies the well-entrenched
feudal system and the Church; Catherine who dominated
18th century Europe, appears human with her
frailties. The de-romanticized New Woman appears in
Shaw's nonage novels as early as 1880. Marian Lind in
The Irrational Knot anticipates Henrik Ibsen's
Nora Helmar by six years. She yearns to be "a wife
and not a fragile ornament kept in a glass case."
She even uses the word `doll', while referring to her
position in her husband's home. Candida, Ann Whitefield
and Eliza Doolittle are a few examples to show Shaw's
concern for women. Shaw accords woman the nobler role
of the life force which, in his view, would eventually
produce a superior race. He says that he had always
assumed that `a woman is exactly like a man.'
©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
The
Ground of Our Being: A Study of Eroded Scapes in Terry
Tempest Williams' Refuge: An Unnatural History of
Family and Place
--
Vidya Sarveswaran
The
concept of wildernessideating nature in a state
untarnished by civilization, is the eminent construct
of nature available to modern environmentalism. The
hermeneutics of wilderness embedded in literature, often
explores the tenuous spaces between human beings and
nature. Wilderness in a sense, reminds us of what it
means to be vulnerably human. Terry Tempest Williams
belongs to this American literary tradition, which explores
Nature as the fountainhead of all experience. An author,
environmentalist and activist, Williams published her
novel Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and
Place in 1991. In her novel, Williams weaves a poignant
memoir of seven yearsher mother's battle with
ovarian cancer and the synchronous flooding of the `Refuge',
a natural comfort zone for Williams since childhood.
A narrative of terrible loss, "Refuge" records
life that spirals earthwards from a once vibrant and
cherished plane. In a profoundly symbolic memoir, Williams
struggles to mediate her relationship with Nature, her
mother's terminal illness and the lacerations of her
own psyche. This paper explores the understanding of
these lost scapeslandscape, bodyscape and mindscapein
the context of eco-critical thought, with these three
significant positions situated as striations in Nature's
larger design.
©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
The
Library as a Labyrinth: The Levels of Abstraction in
Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose
-- Mitchelle Mary Norbert
The
metaphor of `library' is an epistemological conceit,
which focuses primarily on the image of the librarian
and explores its representation vis-a-vis a perceived
stereotype. Much of the critical analysis of the library
as an institution of fear centers on Umberto Eco's library
in The Name of the Rose. It is a detective story,
a mystery, set in 14th century European monastery,
and its setting is a labyrinth of secret chambers, imposing
doors, and booby traps. In The Name of the Rose
it is like a crypt, a prison, or an institution of fear,
partly because of the genre of the work. In The Name
of the Rose, the greatest value is assigned to books.
The mission of the abbeypreservation of knowledge
versus search for knowledgealso addresses one
of the major intellectual debates of librarianshipthe
role of the library as a producer of knowledge and truth.
By semiotizing it across genres and historical settings,
The Name of the Rose appears remarkably attuned
to the debates that are of vital importance to librarianship
today. The sign of the library in The Name of the
Rose is a sign of cultural subversion and difference
rather than conformity, order, and discipline. Umberto
Eco is apparently fascinated with mazes. The medieval
library is a labyrinth designed to confuse any imprudent
violator of the secrets of knowledge. It was also a
punishment for those who, without being initiated, dare
to pass the limit set for common men. Eco seems to be
implying that modern humanity seeks to become all-powerful,
all-knowing, and in doing so steps out of the allowed
limits, thus incurring punishment. The present paper
examines whether our post-modern society is subject
to deceit or will it ever resolve the dichotomies between
truth and falsehood, assurance and doubt, trust and
deception.
©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Seshendra
Sarma: `Stream of Multiple Consciousness'
-- S S Prabhakar Rao
Seshendra
Sarma, who passed away recently, was a distinguished
Telugu poet. He started his career as a translator and
a romantic poet. Later, he exhibited his social concern
for the plight of the common man in works like My
Country, My People and Guerilla. The distinguishing
feature of his poetry, however, is his fresh and vibrant
imagery. The author pays a personal homage to the late
poet, who has left a gaping void in Modern Telugu poetry.
©
2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved. |