Introduction to English Prose Texts and Contexts

2023

The paper problematizes various issues, like nomenclature, sense and sensibility, Indian-English and suitability as teaching materials, related to “Indian English Literature” and discusses them in all possible dimensions. The discussion on the appellation concentrates on “Indo-Anglican Literature”, “Indo-English Literature”, “Indo-Western literature” and “Indian English Literature”. The reasons for the last term being dumped by the literary historians, creative writers and critics in favour of “Indian Writing in English” are explored. It is argued that the makers of this hybrid literature neither use Indian English nor do they display Indian sense and sensibility. The paper contests the claim that the diasporic writings are Indian writings. It is postulated that the themes of this literature do not enlighten the reader about the concerns of the main Indian society in the light of the matrix of the multinational publishers and the displaced authors in the capitalists and globalized world. If this literature could be used to achieve the objectives of NEP-2020 and if it could be taught in Indian regional languages are the other issues taken up.

IASET, 2021

The present article entitled 'The Stylistic Study of the Short Stories of Mulk Raj Anand' undertakes the stylistic study of the four popular stories; The Lost Child, The Barber's Trade Union, The Man Whose Name Did Not Appear in Census and The Parrot in the Cage by Anand. To make a better understanding of the short stories-point of view, characters and imagery are discussed elaborately. Under the discussion of stylistic study, there is done the minute scanning of linguistic content. The features like figures of speech-simile, metaphor, anaphora, personification, alliteration transferred epithet, and repetition studied in a focused manner.

India, as a nation, has the unique distinction of accepting foreign influences and not just incorporating it into our daily lives but also nativising it and making it ours. The best example to prove this phenomena is the acceptance of English, a foreign language, as our own. Indian English Literature has been growing in leaps and bounds till this day. The Indian English Writers have written about a variety of issues which can cater to the infinite areas of interest of the reading public. The Indian English novels have proved their mark in the global literary scenario by the manner in which the writers have captured the interest and imagination of the reader through poignant portrayals of various themes such as East-West conflict, multi-culturalism, social realism, gender issues, comic aspect of human nature, ecological concerns, magic realism, diasporic writings and the like. Some of the dominant themes which have captured the imagination of the readers and have managed to create an everlasting niche for themselves are as follows :-Historical, Political and Nationalist themes, Social realism, Indian diaspora and Immigration, Individual Experiences, Feminism and Women's Empowerment and Modern themes. The new English writings exhibits confidence in tackling new themes and experiments with new techniques and approaches to handle these themes. The present day Indian English writers are rapidly expanding India's literary horizons in novels and short stories and have accomplished to produce a phenomenal quantity of work with a magnificent diversity of themes. The unique kaleidoscope of themes in Indian English writing showcases the authenticity and uniqueness of the Indian English writers.

The IUP Journal of English Studies, …, 2011

Beginning with an analysis of how often Indian women writers have been relegated to the limbo while writing a history of the emergence and evolution of Indian Short Fiction in English, this research paper is an attempt to highlight the contribution of Indian women writers in shaping the form of short story as we find it today in India. It takes into its purview almost all the Indian women writers who have published short story collection/collections in English.

Transnational Literature, 2017

Patricia Waugh defines metafiction as ‘fictional writing which self-consciously and systematically draws attention to its status as an artefact in order to pose questions about the relationship between fiction and reality’. Metafictional works, she suggests, are those which ‘explore a theory of writing fiction through the practice of writing fiction’. They are characterised by a tendency to self-reflexivity or, in other words, by a tendency to call attention to the writing process itself. However, even in dedicated critical works, it is not easy to find a clear and all-encompassing definition of metafiction. Generally, various types of texts are mentioned under this term: texts recounting their origin and birth, dealing with the history of narrative, recounting stories of writers. Metafiction is generally considered an important feature of postmodern literature. In the postmodern era pure realist writing is perceived as a limitation and an unsuitable device to render the complexity ...

IJELC, 2018

The purpose of this study was to trace out the historical development of short story specifically in the early 20 th century. The short story as an independent genre got its publicity in the modernist period of English literature. The short story emerged from the magazines of 19the century. This study highlighted the thematic and artistic descriptions of the short stories produced by the modernist short story writers. It also drew attention on their works and collections of the short stories. Moreover, this study would enable readers to be acquainted with the art of short story writing of the writers of 20the century such as

Authors Press-New Delhi, 2015

This critical volume of essays deals with the eight Indian Short story writers in English. A voluminous work, i have taken up eight story writers in English. The bulk of criticism is highly scholarly, analytical and interpretative. It is worth reading as the research is original since the story writers have emerged on the literary world.

Vishwabharati Research Centre, Latur, India, 2018

The book Indian English Novel: Styles and Motives is an anthology of twenty two well explored research articles. It presents diverse facets of motive and stylistic approach adopted by the eminent Indian English novelists from time to time. Authors have tried to bring into surface many new ideas related to Indian English novel. Works and authors taken into consideration are made worthy to be discussed in this anthology and the main focus of this anthology lies in throwing light upon the style and the motive of Indian English novel written by both native and diasporic writers. Works of almost all the Indian novelists from late Indian writer Rabindranath Tagore to recent Indian writer Chetan Bhagat are taken into focal point of discussion and the anthology has hardly missed any important master of fiction and his or her important work of art as regards Indian English novel. In addition to content, the introductory note of this anthology is very resourceful to understand the changing trend of style and motif of Indian English novel. The book will be helpful for both academic and research purposes.

JOURNAL OF INFORMATION, KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH IN HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

Indian English writing is an endeavor to give a nonspecific cover to the Indian thoughts seeking creative outlet in and through English. Today, many Indian writers write in English because they think their creative urge can be satisfied in a better way in English than in the vernacular. Prof. Srinivasa Iyengar rightly pointed out that Indian writing in English is a novel experiment in creative mutation when he said: To be Indian in thought and feeling and emotion and experience, yet also to court the graces and submit to the discipline of English for expression [1], is something that the present writers aim at. The post-independence Indian English writers may write in English, however they are Indian in sensibility as well as in selection of vocabularys, which is rooted in and stems out from the Indian environment.

2012

Nehru and the National Academy of Letters 5 The Nayi Kahani and the Cirukatai I am deeply grateful to many people for their generosity, guidance, and patience during the last ten years that I have been undertaking this project. First and foremost, I am indebted to my committee members, who have kindheartedly and tirelessly encouraged me and whose teaching and scholarship have informed each word of this text. My co-chairs Vasudha Dalmia and George Hart have taught me how to approach the study of literature with openmindedness and intellectual rigor and have offered me unwavering support even in those moments when I believed I could not continue. Vasudha has fostered in me the firm commitment to the study of literary history that has shaped me into the scholar I am today, and George has helped me to hear and feel the sounds and textures of language and express them with eloquence in my writing and translation. Paola Bacchetta has given me the tools to understand and fight against structures of inequality and oppression through academic scholarship and teaching. Raka Ray has offered me critical insights at what seemed to me impossible impasses in this project by asking those difficult questions that enabled me to think through my arguments. Usha Jain and Kausalya Hart, my first language teachers at Berkeley, welcomed me despite my utter lack of training in Hindi and Tamil and have given me the surest of foundations from which to approach my lifelong study of these languages. Swami-ji, Neelam-ji, and Vidhu-ji in Jaipur and Dr. Bharathy, Mrs. Soundra Kohila, and Mrs. Jayanthi in Madurai have been the most rigorous, dedicated, and warm-hearted of language teachers, without whom I could never have dreamed of taking on such an in depth study in languages I did not already know. I continue to draw from the constant encouragement and enduring patience they showed me during my yearlong studies with them, which were unfailing even on those days when I gave into my own frustrations and disheartenment. My dear friends Kannan M. and Anupama K. took me in as a young scholar, gave me a home and a community during my long stays in Pondicherry, and fed me countless, delicious meals. Kannan has helped shape my understanding of modern Tamil literature, opened my eyes to the Tamil writers I have since been studying, and patiently worked through many of my interpretations and translations with me. I am also grateful to V. Arasu, V. Geetha, and Dilip Kumar, all of whom generously entertained my innumerable and sometimes misinformed questions during the early stages of this project. Francesca Orsini happily and unhesitatingly offered me unqualified support during my two years in London. From the moment I arrived, she warmly drew me into the South Asian studies community at SOAS, engaging me as student, colleague, and friend. Despite her incredibly busy schedule and countless commitments, she took the time to read through drafts of several of my chapters (some of them quite rough!), helping me to reshape them into more thorough and readable compositions. Her insightful questions and comments, her breadth and rigor of scholarship, and her strong sense of commitment to her students, colleagues, and friends have inspired my own approach to the study of Hindi literature and life in general.