Department of English

Humanities are losing both state funding for teaching and research and student enrolments in universities. But humanities cannot be overlooked to save humankind falling into unthinking zombies: we need to learn serious thinking, power to express our thought felicitously and take pleasure doing it.

Comparative literary studies has a long-standing tradition across the world. Its actual practice though has not been that widespread in Nepal. During the writing career of Mahakavi in the 1940s and 1950s, some critical comments regarding foreign literary influence and imitation in Nepali writing were made by Ramkrishna Sharma. Devkota and many of his contemporaries including Sama, Rimal, Bhikshu were likened to various well-known Western authors, particularly English ones such as Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats, Dickens and at a later date to T.S. Eliot. To call Sama as the Shakespeare of Nepali literature was viewed as a wholesome appreciation even though nothing was illumined to be of Shakespearian in Sama's work by such epithet. Rimal's Masan on the other hand brought an entirely different consequence in comparing the Nepali author with the well-known European literary artist; it hovered around plagiarism, adaptation and not so inspired imitation. The critical debate surrounding Rimal's Masan and Ibsen's A Doll's House was one of the first instances of a sustained discourse touching on comparative literary analysis in Nepal. The comments on foreign influence and imitation were ill-tempered and not many critics followed the tack subsequently. Comparative literary studies do not pursue tracing influence or identifying imitation of other writers as the sole purpose of their activities. Great artists write on themes and subjects they feel strongly about and often come with presentations that seem not only comparable but uncannily close to each other. The plural use 'comparative studies' clearly suggests the field to be quite broad and positive; it can choose themes, chronological bearings on ideas, philosophical approaches, moral and ethical concerns. It incorporates perspectives of culture, nation, class, gender, faith, stylistic convention and many other issues. This paper seeks to make a brief comparative study of some of the poems of Mahakavi Devkota and the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda on the theme of poetry of the mystique of " impure ". What is this poetry of the mystique of the " impure " ? Traditionally certain topics, themes, subjects are viewed as domain of " pure " poetry; romantic love, heroism and personal sacrifice to safeguard one's country, courage to protect the weak and helpless in the face of inhuman action of a bully are some of the concerns of " pure " poetry. With the onset of modernist movement in literature in the 1920s, some of the themes not conventionally subject of poetic composition were brought into poetic treatment. In Spanish speaking America, Neruda was among the first to be fascinated by the mystique of " impure " in poetry. In a note titled " Toward an Impure Poetry " Neruda writes to explain the true scope and commitment of his writing: A poetry impure as the clothing we wear, or our bodies, soup-stained, soiled with our shameful behavior, our wrinkles and vigils and dreams, observations and prophecies, declarations of loathing and love, idylls and beasts and shocks of encounter, political loyalties, denials and doubts, affirmations and taxes. This indeed covers a wide ranging field for poetic exploration for any poet of modernist sensibility. Neruda wrote with passionate feeling on his country, people, political and social conditions, world revolution, liberation of the weak and suppressed as well as pleasures of erotic love. Nepal's Mahakavi is equally prolific and deft in each of these significant areas concerning Nepal and larger humanity.

Nepal Studies is a newly resurgent discipline in critical discourse in intellectual history, south Asian studies, Himalayan studies, comparative literature and religion, and cultural studies. Nepal has attracted scholars from multiple disciplines and diverse scholarly tradition to study human and social conditions in a remote location which has tenaciously preserved its unique culture, customs and national ethos. Nepal's latest attempt to become a full-fledged member of global community in the last two decades  has faced tremendous challenges and uncertainties as the country overlooked its inherent social and cultural norms egged on by motivated parties from home and abroad. Again through serious reassessment  of Nepal's history, society, culture, religion and social tradition Nepal could reaffirm its standing in the world community and surprise outside well-wishers to chart out its own destiny. Nepal Studies curriculum would be a solid beginning in this regard.

War is a major theme in literature from ancient times to the contemporary world. Lyrics, ballads, tales, stories, all kinds of poetry and fictions, philosophical reflections and intellectual analyses have been composed and written about war all over the world in all periods of history. War is the result of conflicting human action and desire, too often it results out of atrocities and inhumanities and wrongful action or desire of one person or group of persons against others. War on many occasions in the long history of mankind has been the only option to salvage one’s dignity and enforce right order and values in society and community of nations and organized groups. In this sense war has proved the most important redress for restoring values, justice and dignity among right-minded people. The First World War that began raging in summer a century ago across the frontiers of Europe to cause havoc to much of the world in subsequent four years bears many features of this characterizat...

Philosophy of Management is a relatively new term compared to the tradition of Philosophy itself. If Management as a university discipline is barely a century old, Philosophy of Management has a history of only a few decades. As Management broadly concerns conducting the affairs of a corporation or a business enterprise effectively, writers on management hesitate to adorn the title Philosophy to the issues they deal in their discourse. Management Department in universities and colleges invariably project their fields as a science with tools, techniques and methods of their own. Increasingly University dons in Management and successful executives of top business corporations began sounding about Philosophy of Management. A century after the first MBAs graduated from the US universities, Philosophy of Management has emerged as an academic discipline of its own. Personal Development of corporate executives, frontline business personnel and lowly staff members of business houses has bee...

Nepal is an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) country where teaching and learning of English was disallowed under the Ranas for political reason while English took root in the rest of South Asia under the British colonial dispensation for over two centuries. English was adopted as a useful tool to enhance Nepal’s standing and to strengthen its relations with the outside world after the Ranas were removed from ower in 1951. This research paper dwells on how choosing English for use in a nation for education, business and foreign relations constitutes a political act and how Nepal’s political history guided the resistance to use English in the nation and how the changed political scenario pushed the country to adopt teaching and learning of English in a big way. Political thinking even determines how the choice of English is described at the official level to camouflage it as a purely nationalistic invention dubbing it as one of the U.N. languages which Nepal as a member must master...

Philosophy of Management is a relatively new term compared to the tradition of Philosophy itself. If Management as a university discipline is barely a century old, Philosophy of Management has a history of only a few decades. As Management broadly concerns conducting the affairs of a corporation or a business enterprise effectively, writers on management hesitate to adorn the title Philosophy to the issues they deal in their discourse. Management Department in universities and colleges invariably project their fields as a science with tools, techniques and methods of their own. Increasingly University dons in Management and successful executives of top business corporations began sounding about Philosophy of Management. A century after the first MBAs graduated from the US universities, Philosophy of Management has emerged as an academic discipline of its own. Personal Development of corporate executives, frontline business personnel and lowly staff members of business houses has been an important sub-field of Philosophy of Management. Dr. Spencer Johnson's Who Moved My Cheese? (1998) has been a popular business classic that is a unique source of constructing a philosophy of personal development. This paper explores the concept of change as a critical element in the life of individuals and business organizations for successfully navigating the constantly changing world which can expand the basis of Philosophy of Management. Ability to perceive change that occurs in a small degree, to anticipate changes in the world of things, to prepare oneself for the changes that arrive and not to fear to confront changes and to understand that changes can bring better options are some of the philosophical lessons in the parable of Johnson's book.

Literature along with music and arts is viewed in both Eastern and Western tradition as an essential mark of civilized human beings. Lacking any of these would render a human to the level of animal existence. We all aspire to rise to the higher level than that. Literature makes us understand our inner feelings and helps us overcome our darker inclinations. It enlightens us about what might be rumbling in the minds of fellow human beings. Literature composed in ancient times or in our own living era, literature of the distant continents or our own homeland makes us evolve into better human beings. The predominance of science and technology in our times makes literature even more important for the mental health and general well-being of humanity.