India in the Twentieth Century European Literature

 India in the Twentieth Century European Literature

a. Rudyard Kipling: Kim (1901)

b. E M Forster: A Passage to India (1924)

c. T S Eliot: The Waste Land (1918-22)

d. Herman Hesse: Siddhartha (1922)

e. Virginia Woolf: To the Lighthouse (1927)

f. H.G. Wells: Around the World in Eighty Days (1872-73)

Rudyard Kipling: Kim (1901)

Kipling’s ideal  of imperialism in India was that of a paternalistic, quasi-feudal imperial one. As “legitimate” and benevolent rulers, the British took a privileged position at the top of the social chain with a systematic mode of government . Kipling could have easily been influenced by the spreading ideal of social Darwinism, a societal spin on Darwin’s order of the natural world. For Kipling, hierarchy was natural and was determined by survival of the fittest. Imperialism could not be corrupt to Kipling, because social order is fated, therefore moral.

In Kim, it is obvious that Kipling did not see imperialism as any type of disruption, exploitation, or subjugation, but as economic development and moral enlightenment for India. In the novel, working as a spy for the British Empire and looking for spiritual harmony work side-by-side. British rule is never challenged; instead Kipling uses several minor characters strictly for the purpose of advocating British rule. Although Kipling shows a knowledge of a number of Indian languages and the capability of using many voices, there is no variety of viewpoint. All voices hold one style and one dominant point of view in favor of British imperialism. Kipling’s use of Indian words and phrases lacks any attempt to represent the their cultural specificity. 

(Gopen, Shina. 'Rudyard Kipling'. https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/postcolonialstudies/2014/06/11/kipling-rudyard/)

E M Forster: A Passage to India (1924)

The story of A Passage to India hinges on a rape that never was. A white young woman accuses a charming Indian Muslim doctor of having assaulted her in a dark cave during a picnic, but at the trial of the accused a few weeks later, she goes to the witness box and says she cannot be sure and is withdrawing all charges.

Forster here boldly reverses many Raj stereotypes. The race-and-rape narrative had been common in English novels about India ever since the “Mutiny” of 1857 when several such incidents were believed to have happened. The trope of an oppressed ill-treated native raping a woman of the master race in a token act of revenge for the greater crime of the coloniser having raped his country had been inaugurated in English literature by Shakespeare in The Tempest (1611). (Trivedi, Harish. The rape that never was: Forster and ‘A Passage to India’)

Virginia Woolf: To the Lighthouse (1927)

(Read this blog to refer to 'India in To the Lighthouse')

Herman Hesse: Siddhartha (1922)

About the novel

On becoming the Buddha - Lessons of Life

H.G. Wells: Around the World in Eighty Days (1872-73)

Dystopian Literature

 Dystopian Literature

• Definition and characteristics of Dystopian literature
• Definition and Characteristics - 2
• Utopian & Dystopian Literature
• List of Dystopian Books
• Best Dystopian Books
• 10 Devastating Dystopian Novels
• A Golden Age of Dystopian Fiction
• Rise of Dystopian Fiction

• a.       George Orwell: Animal Farm (1945), Nineteen Eighty-four (1949)

  b.      Aldous Huxley: Brave New World (1932)

  c.       E M Forster: The Machine Stops (1909)(eBook) (Critical appreciation)

  d.      Franz Kafka: The Trial (1925) (eBook)

  e.       Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451 (1953) (Critical appreciation)

  f.        Pierre Boulle: Planet of the Apes (1963)

Demographic Survey of Students of English Department MKBU

 Demographic Survey of Students of Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

The following links are about the demographic survey of the students studying in Masters of Arts programme in Department of English, MKBU.

1. March 2021: Demographic Information of students

2. Oct 2019: Demographic Information of Students

3. March 2021: Information: BA College, Income and Caste Category

4. Oct 2019: Information: BA College

For comparative analysis, refer to this report of Ashoka University:

What We Know About Diversity at Ashoka: A Look at the YIF Programme

JK Rowling Interview & Talk

 Harvard Commencement address 2008

Transcript

Oprah Winfrey Show: Interview with J K Rowling

Viral Videos

In this video, an unripe and untutored girl questions religious guru the nonsensicality in cutting trees to celebrate Holika Dahan and misuse of milk in worshipping Shiva Linga. The religious guru teachers her lessons in religious reading of these rituals.

 

Puritan and Restoration Age: English Literature

Visit this site for more information

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Presentation on The Puritan Age

   

Presentation on The Restoration Age

 

Browning: Victorian Poet

Robert Browning: Victorian Poet 

Robert Browning, (born May 7, 1812, London—died Dec. 12, 1889, Venice), major English poet of the Victorian age, noted for his mastery of dramatic monologue and psychological portraiture. His most noted work was The Ring and the Book (1868–69), the story of a Roman murder trial in 12 books.

Click here to read more about Browning's Life

Browning's Biography

Browning's Legacy

Legacy

Few poets have suffered more than Browning from hostile incomprehension or misplaced admiration, both arising very often from a failure to recognize the predominantly dramatic nature of his work. The bulk of his writing before 1846 was for the theatre; thereafter his major poems showed his increasing mastery of the dramatic monologue. This consists essentially of a narrative spoken by a single character and amplified by his comments on his story and the circumstances in which he is speaking. (Read more . . . )

About Browning's Poems

Themes in Browning's Poems

All you need to know about Robert Browning - Victorian Web

Check your understanding - Online Test

Tennyson: Victorian Poet

Lord Alfred Tennyson - the Victorian Poet

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, in full Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson of Aldworth and Freshwater, (born August 6, 1809, Somersby, Lincolnshire, England—died October 6, 1892, Aldworth, Surrey), English poet often regarded as the chief representative of the Victorian age in poetry. He was raised to the peerage in 1884. (Source: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alfred-Lord-Tennyson)

Why is Alfred, Lord Tennyson, important?

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was the leading Victorian poet in England. His poetry is remarkable for its metrical variety, rich imagery, and verbal melodies. It dealt often with the doubts and difficulties of an age in which traditional religious beliefs about human nature and destiny were increasingly called into question by science and modern progress.

What was the childhood of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, like?

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was the fourth of 12 children raised in a lonely rectory in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England. Though home conditions were difficult, his father, the rector, managed to give him a wide literary education. The Lincolnshire countryside influenced his poetry, which he began composing before his teens.

Where was Alfred, Lord Tennyson, educated?

 In 1827 Alfred, Lord Tennyson, entered Trinity College, Cambridge. There he made lasting friendships and his reputation as a poet increased. In 1831 Tennyson’s father died, and his grandfather discovered his father’s debts. As a result, he left Cambridge without taking a degree.

What did Alfred, Lord Tennyson, write?

The best-known poems by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, included “The Charge of the Light Brigade” and “Crossing the Bar.” His longer works included In Memoriam, inspired by his grief over the untimely death of a friend, and Idylls of the King, based on Arthurian legend. Later in life he experimented with playwriting but was less successful.

Want to know more about the biography of Tennyson? Click here

Tennyson as poet

Tennyson - the Poet of Our Time

Tennyson's Poetry

Cambridge Author: Tennyson

Check your understanding of Victorian Poets: Tennyson and Browning: Online Test

Hard Times: Charles Dickens

 Introduction

Hard Times, novel by Charles Dickens, published in serial form (as Hard Times: For These Times) in the periodical Household Words from April to August 1854 and in book form later the same year. The novel is a bitter indictment of industrialization, with its dehumanizing effects on workers and communities in mid-19th-century England.

Louisa and Tom Gradgrind have been harshly raised by their father, an educator, to know nothing but the most factual, pragmatic information. Their lives are devoid of beauty, culture, or imagination, and the two have little or no empathy for others. Louisa marries Josiah Bounderby, a vulgar banker and mill owner. She eventually leaves her husband and returns to her father’s house. Tom, unscrupulous and vacuous, robs his brother-in-law’s bank. Only after these and other crises does their father realize that the manner in which he raised his children has ruined their lives. (Britannica) 

Check your understanding of the novel: Online Test

Additional Resources:

Musical Performance of Hard Times in Hindi:

Understanding Hard Times: An Analytic Note by F.R Leavis /The Great Tradition

Article: Why Hard Times is a bad novel? - J. B. Priestley

Video recording of Online Classes on Hard Times

Video recording of the session on the discussion on 'Research Articles on Hard Times':

Jude the Obscure

1. Watch this video for the summary of the novel Jude, the Obscure
2. Watch Jude is a 1996 British period drama film directed by Michael Winterbottom, and written by Hossein Amini, based on Thomas Hardy's 1895 novel Jude the Obscure
3. Video Recording of Online Classes
1. Structure of the Novel 'Jude the Obscure'
2. Research Article - Symbolic Indictment of Christianity - Norman Holland Jr. | Uni. of California
3. Research Article - Bildungsroman & Jude the Obscure - Frank R. Giordano Jr. | John Hopkins Uni 
4. Thematic Study of Jude the Obscure
4. Visit this site for study material on 'Jude, the Obscure'
5. Character Study - Susanna 'Sue' Bridehead
6. Check your progress: Appear in Online Test
7. Listen the audio book

Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde

 The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde

Introduction

The Importance of Being Earnest, in full The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People, play in three acts by Oscar Wilde, performed in 1895 and published in 1899. A satire of Victorian social hypocrisy, the witty play is considered Wilde’s greatest dramatic achievement.

Jack Worthing is a fashionable young man who lives in the country with his ward, Cecily Cardew. He has invented a rakish brother named Ernest whose supposed exploits give Jack an excuse to travel to London periodically to rescue him. Jack is in love with Gwendolen Fairfax, the cousin of his friend Algernon Moncrieff. Gwendolen, who thinks Jack’s name is Ernest, returns his love, but her mother, Lady Bracknell, objects to their marriage because Jack is an orphan who was found in a handbag at Victoria Station. Jack discovers that Algernon has been impersonating Ernest in order to woo Cecily, who has always been in love with the imaginary rogue Ernest. Ultimately it is revealed that Jack is really Lady Bracknell’s nephew, that his real name is Ernest, and that Algernon is actually his brother. The play ends with both couples happily united. (Britannica)

Characters

Plot Summary

Thematic Study

Check your understanding: Online Test

Thinking Activity: Points to Ponder

Ponder upon these points and write a blog. Paste the link of your blog-post in the comment section

1. Wilde originally subtitled The Importance of Being Earnest “A Serious Comedy for Trivial People” but changed that to “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People.” What is the difference between the two subtitles?
2. Which of the female character is the most attractive to you among Lady Augusta Bracknell, Gwendolen Fairfax, Cecily Cardew and Miss Prism? Give your reasons for she being the most attractive among all.
3. The play repeatedly mocks Victorian traditions and social customs, marriage and the pursuit of love in particular. Through which situations and characters is this happening in the play.
4. Queer scholars have argued that the play's themes of duplicity and ambivalence are inextricably bound up with Wilde's homosexuality, and that the play exhibits a "flickering presence-absence of… homosexual desire" Do you agree with this observation? Give your arguments to justify your stance.
5. Below are given various movie and radio adaptations of this play. Write your critique on various adaptations of this play

Additional Resources:

Radio Play Performance of the Importance of Being Earnest

 

Movie Adaptations of Importance of Being Earnest

1986 Movie

   

2002 Movie

 

1952 Movie (with subtitles)

 

The Rover - Aphra Behn

 The Rover or The Banish'd Cavaliers: A Play by Aphra Behn

Introduction

The Rover, in full The Rover; or, The Banish’t Cavaliers, comedy by Aphra Behn, produced and published in two parts in 1677 and 1681. Set in Madrid and Naples during the exile of England’s King Charles II, the play depicts the adventures of a small group of English Cavaliers. The protagonist, the charming but irresponsible Willmore, may have been modeled on John Wilmot Rochester, a poet in the inner circle of Charles II. The hero’s real-life counterpart may also have been John Hoyle, who was a lover of the playwright. (Encyclopedia Britannica)

Aphra Behn's "The Rover" was published in 1677 and first performed in March of that year at Duke's Theatre in Dorset Garden. The play is based upon Thomas Killigrew's drama "Thomas, or, The Wanderer," which was published in 1664. Some dialogue in Behn's "The Rover" closely resembles that found in Thomaso's script; however, the majority of the text was re-written completely, or else is entirely original. As a result of such similarities between texts, Behn was accused of plagiarism on more than one occasion.

Behn's "The Rover" was very well received in the theatre, particularly by Charles II, and also by his successors. Seventy performances of the play are recorded between 1700 and 1725, and another eighty-eight over the course of the following thirty-five years. (Sally Butler)

Download Original Play - The Rover

Characters

Plot Summary

Act wise Analysis

Thematic Study

Online Test: Check your understanding

Inscription on Aphra Behn's Tombstone:

"Here lies a Proof that Wit can never be Defence enough against Mortality."

Aphra Behn's writings (poems and plays) revealed the immoral behaviour of the men of her time. The men of the day, with witty language, used to cover-up their debauched and lascivious (immoral) behaviour. To counter such culture of the civilized nobility of the time, she might have drawn equally immoral women characters. Not only the female characters, even her own life was an example, which scandalously, made a brave statement against the free space given only to the men during her time. Thus, in this context, we can read the inscription as - 'the witty men tried to defend their lascivious behaviour by their wit, however, Behn revealed their true nature and proved that immoral behaviour cannot be veiled or hidden under the garb of witty language. She, herself and her writings, ironically enough, lies to prove that wit can never be defence enough against morality. (Westminister-Abbey's Website)

Video Resources on 'The Rover'

Articles:

1. Carnival Politics, Generous Satire, and Nationalist Spectacle in Behn's The Rover. Adam R Beach. Duke University Press. 2004.
2. Aphra Behn's The Rover engages with the social, political and sexual conditions of the 17th century, as well as with theatrical traditions of carnival and misrule. Elaine Hobby introduces Behn's play and explores how it was first performed and received
3. Rape and the Female Subject in Aphra Behn's "The Rover" Published By: The Johns Hopkins University Press
4. Aphra Behn's The Rover: Evaluating Women's Social and Sexual Options

5. The Sexual Politics of Behn's "Rover": After Patriarchy - Stephen Szilagyi

6. JOURNAL ARTICLE - "Imposing Nought But Constancy in Love": Aphra Behn Snares "The Rover" - Joseph F. Musser, Jr. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43291367