Literary Herald , An International Referred /Peer reviewed English e-Journal. ( ISSN 2454-3365), Jun 2021
Epidemics and pandemics are nothing new to human life as from time immemorial human life has been... more Epidemics and pandemics are nothing new to human life as from time immemorial human life has been battered on regular intervals by them that have claimed the life of millions and sometimes even put the very existence of human beings on the brink of annihilation. Literary texts recording the experiences of epidemics can be seen as the exemplary documentation of these moments of crises as they have minutely captured the changes that come upon human life and society in these testing times. In this paper taking Amitav Ghosh"s multilayered historical novel, The Glass Palace (2000) as a case study, I shall try to examine how Ghosh here has presented the effects of epidemics on human life and society as a whole. How Ghosh"s characters, even when they are dislocated, transform themselves into global citizens in these testing times will also be one of the thrust areas of investigation of this paper. In the present paper, I would also attempt to show the interconnection between economic depreciation and epidemics. How the past experiences of epidemic can modify our present will also be explored in this paper and here lies the principal relevance of this paper in the pandemic-stricken world.
From time immemorial forests have been used as one of the dominant tropes in Indian literature. B... more From time immemorial forests have been used as one of the dominant tropes in Indian literature. But the attitude of the Indian writers towards forests is marked by ambiguity as forests have been presented in its benign as well as wild aspects. But in most of the Indian narratives forest along with the forest dwellers known as tribal and jungli are seen to be in conflict with the civilized people who ultimately dominate them and bring them into the fold of the so-called civilization. The mainstream Indian narratives basically depict the indigenous communities living in the hills and jungles as wild, savage and uncultured. But Mahasweta Devi, providing voice and space to her subaltern characters, has debunked this type of stereotypical representation of the tribals in her narratives. This paper will cite her acclaimed short story, Draupadi as my case study and will investigate how she has de-familiarized the usual forest setting here. How the so-called civilized discourse often exploits and humiliates the tribals along with their environment and how this exploitation incites unconventional modes of resistance from the margins are the areas of investigation of this paper also. The contribution of this paper to scholasticism lies in pointing out how tribal culture and the so-called civilized culture are two different cultural spaces running parallel.
Since 1980s, the subaltern studies is one of basic areas of critical discussion in today’s academ... more Since 1980s, the subaltern studies is one of basic areas of critical discussion in today’s academic world. The subaltern project presents how the elitist discourse subjugates, victimizes and exploits others on the basis of such signifiers of identity as class, caste, religion, ethnicity, gender and others. It also explores how the dominant discourse, in order to establish the hegemony of its own perspective, suppresses and even negates the contribution, epistemology and consciousness of the subaltern people and pushes them on the periphery at every step of life. As a result of this victimization and marginalization, the subaltern people feel a terrible sense of identity crisis and suffer from psychic scars. This paper, using Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance (1996) as a case study, will explore how here Mistry in his own unique way has articulated the traumatic experience of the subaltern people, marginalized on the basis of their caste, ethnic and religious identity. This paper also attempts to unearth how during the time of one terrible national crisis in India, the Emergency (1975), the subaltern people, without having any fault of their own, were at the receiving ends of both psychological and physical humiliation from the upper caste people. This paper also aims to unravel how here Mistry has suggested an alternative to the subalterns to overcome their feeling of alienation and psychic crisis.
Indian tribal literature primarily presents tribal society as an ideal society where the tribals ... more Indian tribal literature primarily presents tribal society as an ideal society where the tribals lead a communal life with Arcadian simplicity. The ills of tribal life like drunkenness, sexual debauchery, greed for power and meaningless practice of several superstitions that plague the life of the tribals are generally rendered invisible, even unmentionable in tribal literature. But at present Indian tribal writers like Nirmala Putul have exposed these pitfalls of tribal life in her writing. This paper using Bengali writer Anil Gharai's short story, "Reincarnation of Parshuram" as a case study will show how the tribal society is mired in meaningless superstitious practices-witchcraft, dains and others-that often create rifts even within the family members and shake the basic bonds of life alarmingly. This paper will also try to review and reassess how even in the so-called utopian tribal society, greed for power within the grid of power is the dominant controlling factor. How epistemological shifts in education and health consciousness can bring about radical changes in the Indian tribal cultural space is also the focus of my paper.
Gender and sex are two totally different terms, but we often confuse them as synonymous. Sex refe... more Gender and sex are two totally different terms, but we often confuse them as synonymous. Sex refers to one's biological identity, while gender is an artificial construction rooted in sociology. The hierarchy of gender is dominated by patriarchy that imposes specific attributes for both male and female. Men are often associated with heroism, intelligence, rationality, self-reliance and courage whereas women are supposed to be docile, ineffectual, emotional and timid. And males, even at the cost of their individuality, have to wear the mask of masculinity in order to perform in this revel show of life as the 'Man'.
Now patriarchy, using religion, literature and media as its tools, has propagated the cult of masculinity among its members. Down the ages, literature has held masculinity on a higher pedestal and the male writers usually have presented an exalted image of men in their works. On the contrary, female writers have challenged the conventional image of the 'Man' and all its manliness, defined by patriarchy. This paper, using Virginia Woolf's "To The Lighthouse" (1927) as a case study, will explore how Woolf in her novel has exploded away the mask of the 'Man' . This paper's contribution to scholarship lies in pointing out how men and women are alike in their behavioural patterns and social existence. This paper will also attempt to establish how Woolf in this novel, in her own unique way, has challenged and subverted the normative gender roles, too.
The phenomenal increase in the number of Anglophone narratives by the novelists of previously col... more The phenomenal increase in the number of Anglophone narratives by the novelists of previously colonized countries of Asia and Africa in the last three decades, addressing the issues of culture, citizenship, language and most importantly identity, has garnered serious academic attention. In these narratives the conventional notion of culture and identity as static, stable and homogeneous has been challenged and successfully dismantled. They have shown that in the present globalized and cosmopolitan world the iconography of one’s cultural identity has become plural rather than singular, adapted rather than inherited as one comes in contact with numerous cultural spaces. Actually, the cartography of cultural space has become the focus for the artistic expression of the ‘newer’ identity in this globalized world of large scale migration.
Now this paper, using Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland (2013) as a case study, explores how the stable concepts of culture and identity has become something unnatural in this globalized world. This paper will attempt to show how dislocated people become transcultural and hybridized in various geographical areas around the world in this age of globalization. My endeavor also attempts to establish the view that within the discourses of culture, history and language, identity is not something essentialist, but “a matter of becoming as well as being” (Hall 224). The unique contribution of this paper to scholarship lies in pointing out how one’s identity in this age of globalization is being shaped and reshaped continuously as a result of his/ her negotiation with different cultural spaces.
Key words: Cultural Space, Identity, Globalization, Transcultural Space, Hybridity, Negotiation, Migration.
Drishti: the sight, ISSN 2319-8281, Volume III, Issue II, Page. 85-89, Print. , Nov 2014
In the present century as large-scale migration has created massive challenges to the ideas of na... more In the present century as large-scale migration has created massive challenges to the ideas of nation-states and civil societies, the study of diaspora has evolved as a burgeoning field of research with an immediate practical relevance. Diaspora studies concentrate on the re-imagining of communities and the subjects’ “multi-locationality within and across territorial, cultural and psychic boundaries” (Brah, 1996: 197). Though it shows a primary connection with cartography and geographical borders, the study of diaspora is deeply conditioned by historical episodes like colonization, slave-trade and most recently globalization. Taking Amitav Ghosh’s The Glass Palace as case study I would attempt a survey of the manifestations of diaspora within a larger frame of cross-cultural and transnational contexts, as the novel depicts issues like indentured labour, mass migration during ethno-religious riots and inter-racial violence. I would also attempt to show how diasporic movement is intrinsically connected with power and capital; contribution of the overseas Indians to the anti-colonial movement in India; the memories of home and belonging and Ghosh’s tricky treatment of hybridity in shaping individual identity all through the narrative.
"Journey towards Transculturalism: Reflections on Aruni Kashyap’s The House with a Thousand Stori... more "Journey towards Transculturalism: Reflections on Aruni Kashyap’s The House with a Thousand Stories.
In the globalized modern world it cannot even be imagined that cultures will retain their purity. As now one has to traverse different cultural paradigms, his core cultural paradigm loses its purity and becomes hybridized in contact with other cultural paradigms. Actually, a man also loses his inherited cultural identity in this cosmopolitan world and becomes transcultural as his cultural space is being continuously reshaped and remodeled. Whether rural or urban, none can retain the particular uniqueness of his or her core cultural identity in today’s globalized world.
Now my paper, using the young Assamese novelist, Aruni Kashyap’s debut novel, The House with a Thousand Stories as a case study, will demonstrate how cultural iconography of the rural as well as of the urban people in the Northeast India is becoming heterogeneous, rather than homogeneous and all the people are moving towards transculturalism. This paper’s contribution to scholarship lies in pointing out that cultural identity is not something static or confined, rather it is always fluid and unstable, subjected to the changes of situation and time.
[Key Words: Globalization, cosmopolitanism, transculturalism, hybridity, identity and cultural space]
"
Literary Herald , An International Referred /Peer reviewed English e-Journal. ( ISSN 2454-3365), Jun 2021
Epidemics and pandemics are nothing new to human life as from time immemorial human life has been... more Epidemics and pandemics are nothing new to human life as from time immemorial human life has been battered on regular intervals by them that have claimed the life of millions and sometimes even put the very existence of human beings on the brink of annihilation. Literary texts recording the experiences of epidemics can be seen as the exemplary documentation of these moments of crises as they have minutely captured the changes that come upon human life and society in these testing times. In this paper taking Amitav Ghosh"s multilayered historical novel, The Glass Palace (2000) as a case study, I shall try to examine how Ghosh here has presented the effects of epidemics on human life and society as a whole. How Ghosh"s characters, even when they are dislocated, transform themselves into global citizens in these testing times will also be one of the thrust areas of investigation of this paper. In the present paper, I would also attempt to show the interconnection between economic depreciation and epidemics. How the past experiences of epidemic can modify our present will also be explored in this paper and here lies the principal relevance of this paper in the pandemic-stricken world.
From time immemorial forests have been used as one of the dominant tropes in Indian literature. B... more From time immemorial forests have been used as one of the dominant tropes in Indian literature. But the attitude of the Indian writers towards forests is marked by ambiguity as forests have been presented in its benign as well as wild aspects. But in most of the Indian narratives forest along with the forest dwellers known as tribal and jungli are seen to be in conflict with the civilized people who ultimately dominate them and bring them into the fold of the so-called civilization. The mainstream Indian narratives basically depict the indigenous communities living in the hills and jungles as wild, savage and uncultured. But Mahasweta Devi, providing voice and space to her subaltern characters, has debunked this type of stereotypical representation of the tribals in her narratives. This paper will cite her acclaimed short story, Draupadi as my case study and will investigate how she has de-familiarized the usual forest setting here. How the so-called civilized discourse often exploits and humiliates the tribals along with their environment and how this exploitation incites unconventional modes of resistance from the margins are the areas of investigation of this paper also. The contribution of this paper to scholasticism lies in pointing out how tribal culture and the so-called civilized culture are two different cultural spaces running parallel.
Since 1980s, the subaltern studies is one of basic areas of critical discussion in today’s academ... more Since 1980s, the subaltern studies is one of basic areas of critical discussion in today’s academic world. The subaltern project presents how the elitist discourse subjugates, victimizes and exploits others on the basis of such signifiers of identity as class, caste, religion, ethnicity, gender and others. It also explores how the dominant discourse, in order to establish the hegemony of its own perspective, suppresses and even negates the contribution, epistemology and consciousness of the subaltern people and pushes them on the periphery at every step of life. As a result of this victimization and marginalization, the subaltern people feel a terrible sense of identity crisis and suffer from psychic scars. This paper, using Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance (1996) as a case study, will explore how here Mistry in his own unique way has articulated the traumatic experience of the subaltern people, marginalized on the basis of their caste, ethnic and religious identity. This paper also attempts to unearth how during the time of one terrible national crisis in India, the Emergency (1975), the subaltern people, without having any fault of their own, were at the receiving ends of both psychological and physical humiliation from the upper caste people. This paper also aims to unravel how here Mistry has suggested an alternative to the subalterns to overcome their feeling of alienation and psychic crisis.
Indian tribal literature primarily presents tribal society as an ideal society where the tribals ... more Indian tribal literature primarily presents tribal society as an ideal society where the tribals lead a communal life with Arcadian simplicity. The ills of tribal life like drunkenness, sexual debauchery, greed for power and meaningless practice of several superstitions that plague the life of the tribals are generally rendered invisible, even unmentionable in tribal literature. But at present Indian tribal writers like Nirmala Putul have exposed these pitfalls of tribal life in her writing. This paper using Bengali writer Anil Gharai's short story, "Reincarnation of Parshuram" as a case study will show how the tribal society is mired in meaningless superstitious practices-witchcraft, dains and others-that often create rifts even within the family members and shake the basic bonds of life alarmingly. This paper will also try to review and reassess how even in the so-called utopian tribal society, greed for power within the grid of power is the dominant controlling factor. How epistemological shifts in education and health consciousness can bring about radical changes in the Indian tribal cultural space is also the focus of my paper.
Gender and sex are two totally different terms, but we often confuse them as synonymous. Sex refe... more Gender and sex are two totally different terms, but we often confuse them as synonymous. Sex refers to one's biological identity, while gender is an artificial construction rooted in sociology. The hierarchy of gender is dominated by patriarchy that imposes specific attributes for both male and female. Men are often associated with heroism, intelligence, rationality, self-reliance and courage whereas women are supposed to be docile, ineffectual, emotional and timid. And males, even at the cost of their individuality, have to wear the mask of masculinity in order to perform in this revel show of life as the 'Man'.
Now patriarchy, using religion, literature and media as its tools, has propagated the cult of masculinity among its members. Down the ages, literature has held masculinity on a higher pedestal and the male writers usually have presented an exalted image of men in their works. On the contrary, female writers have challenged the conventional image of the 'Man' and all its manliness, defined by patriarchy. This paper, using Virginia Woolf's "To The Lighthouse" (1927) as a case study, will explore how Woolf in her novel has exploded away the mask of the 'Man' . This paper's contribution to scholarship lies in pointing out how men and women are alike in their behavioural patterns and social existence. This paper will also attempt to establish how Woolf in this novel, in her own unique way, has challenged and subverted the normative gender roles, too.
The phenomenal increase in the number of Anglophone narratives by the novelists of previously col... more The phenomenal increase in the number of Anglophone narratives by the novelists of previously colonized countries of Asia and Africa in the last three decades, addressing the issues of culture, citizenship, language and most importantly identity, has garnered serious academic attention. In these narratives the conventional notion of culture and identity as static, stable and homogeneous has been challenged and successfully dismantled. They have shown that in the present globalized and cosmopolitan world the iconography of one’s cultural identity has become plural rather than singular, adapted rather than inherited as one comes in contact with numerous cultural spaces. Actually, the cartography of cultural space has become the focus for the artistic expression of the ‘newer’ identity in this globalized world of large scale migration.
Now this paper, using Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland (2013) as a case study, explores how the stable concepts of culture and identity has become something unnatural in this globalized world. This paper will attempt to show how dislocated people become transcultural and hybridized in various geographical areas around the world in this age of globalization. My endeavor also attempts to establish the view that within the discourses of culture, history and language, identity is not something essentialist, but “a matter of becoming as well as being” (Hall 224). The unique contribution of this paper to scholarship lies in pointing out how one’s identity in this age of globalization is being shaped and reshaped continuously as a result of his/ her negotiation with different cultural spaces.
Key words: Cultural Space, Identity, Globalization, Transcultural Space, Hybridity, Negotiation, Migration.
Drishti: the sight, ISSN 2319-8281, Volume III, Issue II, Page. 85-89, Print. , Nov 2014
In the present century as large-scale migration has created massive challenges to the ideas of na... more In the present century as large-scale migration has created massive challenges to the ideas of nation-states and civil societies, the study of diaspora has evolved as a burgeoning field of research with an immediate practical relevance. Diaspora studies concentrate on the re-imagining of communities and the subjects’ “multi-locationality within and across territorial, cultural and psychic boundaries” (Brah, 1996: 197). Though it shows a primary connection with cartography and geographical borders, the study of diaspora is deeply conditioned by historical episodes like colonization, slave-trade and most recently globalization. Taking Amitav Ghosh’s The Glass Palace as case study I would attempt a survey of the manifestations of diaspora within a larger frame of cross-cultural and transnational contexts, as the novel depicts issues like indentured labour, mass migration during ethno-religious riots and inter-racial violence. I would also attempt to show how diasporic movement is intrinsically connected with power and capital; contribution of the overseas Indians to the anti-colonial movement in India; the memories of home and belonging and Ghosh’s tricky treatment of hybridity in shaping individual identity all through the narrative.
"Journey towards Transculturalism: Reflections on Aruni Kashyap’s The House with a Thousand Stori... more "Journey towards Transculturalism: Reflections on Aruni Kashyap’s The House with a Thousand Stories.
In the globalized modern world it cannot even be imagined that cultures will retain their purity. As now one has to traverse different cultural paradigms, his core cultural paradigm loses its purity and becomes hybridized in contact with other cultural paradigms. Actually, a man also loses his inherited cultural identity in this cosmopolitan world and becomes transcultural as his cultural space is being continuously reshaped and remodeled. Whether rural or urban, none can retain the particular uniqueness of his or her core cultural identity in today’s globalized world.
Now my paper, using the young Assamese novelist, Aruni Kashyap’s debut novel, The House with a Thousand Stories as a case study, will demonstrate how cultural iconography of the rural as well as of the urban people in the Northeast India is becoming heterogeneous, rather than homogeneous and all the people are moving towards transculturalism. This paper’s contribution to scholarship lies in pointing out that cultural identity is not something static or confined, rather it is always fluid and unstable, subjected to the changes of situation and time.
[Key Words: Globalization, cosmopolitanism, transculturalism, hybridity, identity and cultural space]
"
In the present century as large-scale migration has created massive challenges to the ideas of na... more In the present century as large-scale migration has created massive challenges to the ideas of nation-states and civil societies, the study of diaspora has evolved as a burgeoning field of research with an immediate practical relevance. Diaspora studies concentrate on the re-imagining of communities and the subjects’ “multi-locationality within and across territorial, cultural and psychic boundaries” (Brah, 1996: 197). Though it shows a primary connection with cartography and geographical borders, the study of diaspora is deeply conditioned by historical episodes like colonization, slave-trade and most recently globalization. Taking Amitav Ghosh’s The Glass Palace as case study I would attempt a survey of the manifestations of diaspora within a larger frame of cross-cultural and transnational contexts, as the novel depicts issues like indentured labour, mass migration during ethno-religious riots and inter-racial violence. I would also attempt to show how diasporic movement is intrinsically connected with power and capital; contribution of the overseas Indians to the anti-colonial movement in India; the memories of home and belonging and Ghosh’s tricky treatment of hybridity in shaping individual identity all through the narrative.
Since 1980s, the subaltern studies is one of... more Since 1980s, the subaltern studies is one of basic areas of critical discussion in today’s academic world. The subaltern project presents how the elitist discourse subjugates, victimizes and exploits others on the basis of such signifiers of identity as class, caste, religion, ethnicity, gender and others. It also explores how the dominant discourse, in order to establish the hegemony of its own perspective, suppresses and even negates the contribution, epistemology and consciousness of the subaltern people and pushes them on the periphery at every step of life. As a result of this victimization and marginalization, the subaltern people feel a terrible sense of identity crisis and suffer from psychic scars.
This paper, using Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance (1996) as a case study, will explore how here Mistry in his own unique way has articulated the traumatic experience of the subaltern people, marginalized on the basis of their caste, ethnic and religious identity. This paper also attempts to unearth how during the time of one terrible national crisis in India, the Emergency (1975), the subaltern people, without having any fault of their own, were at the receiving ends of both psychological and physical humiliation from the upper caste people. This paper also aims to unravel how here Mistry has suggested an alternative to the subalterns to overcome their feeling of alienation and psychic crisis.
From the ‘Rooster Coop’ to the ‘Open Jungle’: A Study of Marginalization in Arvind Adiga’s The Wh... more From the ‘Rooster Coop’ to the ‘Open Jungle’: A Study of Marginalization in Arvind Adiga’s The White Tiger
Marginalization on the basis of caste, class, gender, language, colour and other signifiers of identity percolates in different layers in the society. In the last three decades the Anglophone writers of the previously colonized countries of Asia and Africa have addressed the issues of culture, gender, language and most importantly identity with regard to the impact of marginalization and exclusion in their narratives. In these narratives it is noticed that the marginal space is not only the space of dominion and exploitation, but also it is fraught with immense possibilities. In these narratives, the marginalized people are often seen to attempt an acculturation of the life style of the ‘centre’. When they become successful in securing an access to power and money, they, being resourceful and tricky, even exert their newly acquired power in unethical manner.
This paper, using Arvind Adiga’s The White Tiger (2008) as a case study will explore the identity crisis of the individual/s, marginalized on the ground of their class and caste identity. This paper further aims to point out how the contextual marginal space is a site of resistance and produces new identity of the marginal people. Actually my endeavor attempts to establish the view that identity is not something essentialist, but “a matter of being as well as becoming” (Hall 224).
Key Words: Marginalization, Centre, Identity, Acculturation, Domination, Resistance.
The phenomenal increase in the number of Anglophone narratives by the novelists of previously col... more The phenomenal increase in the number of Anglophone narratives by the novelists of previously colonized countries of Asia and Africa in the last three decades, addressing the issues of culture, citizenship, language and most importantly identity, has garnered serious academic attention. In these narratives the conventional notion of culture and identity as static, stable and homogeneous has been challenged and successfully dismantled. They have shown that in the present globalized and cosmopolitan world the iconography of one’s cultural identity has become plural rather than singular, adapted rather than inherited as one comes in contact with numerous cultural spaces. Actually, the cartography of cultural space has become the focus for the artistic expression of the ‘newer’ identity in this globalized world of large scale migration.
Now this paper, using Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland (2013) as a case study, explores how the stable concepts of culture and identity has become something unnatural in this globalized world. This paper will attempt to show how dislocated people become transcultural and hybridized in various geographical areas around the world in this age of globalization. My endeavor also attempts to establish the view that within the discourses of culture, history and language, identity is not something essentialist, but “a matter of becoming as well as being” (Hall 224). The unique contribution of this paper to scholarship lies in pointing out how one’s identity in this age of globalization is being shaped and reshaped continuously as a result of his/ her negotiation with different cultural spaces.
Andro-centric Representation of the Women in Pinter’s The Birthday... more Andro-centric Representation of the Women in Pinter’s The Birthday Party
Gender is not a natural structure but an artificial construction rooted in sociology. This artificial construction is governed by males and they exert their power through the capillaries of life like education, religion, media and others. Literature is also one such capillary in the hands of patriarchy and has been always used by the male writers as a medium for propagating patriarchal ideologies in society. So, the literary works of the male writers foreground the activities of the men and represent the women as subservient to men. Women characters have been represented by the male writers in some stereotyped roles- either as emblems of goodness or as objects of sexual attraction or as demons and their individual tastes, hopes, desires and aims have not been exposed by the male writers. In the literary works of the male writers of the modern age this same pattern of representing women recurs time and again.
Harold Pinter is a major dramatist in the post world war period and he has also followed the similar track in the representation of women characters in his dramas. The Birthday Party (1958) is his first full-fledged drama and here are two women characters- Meg and Lulu. In this paper my endeavour is to show how their characterization has been shaped by the patriarchal ideologies and codes. I have also tried to examine how they have become victims to the patriarchal gender politics. Actually, this paper surveys how they have been dominated and exploited by the males.
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Papers by Soumen Chatterjee
This paper, using Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance (1996) as a case study, will explore how here Mistry in his own unique way has articulated the traumatic experience of the subaltern people, marginalized on the basis of their caste, ethnic and religious identity. This paper also attempts to unearth how during the time of one terrible national crisis in India, the Emergency (1975), the subaltern people, without having any fault of their own, were at the receiving ends of both psychological and physical humiliation from the upper caste people. This paper also aims to unravel how here Mistry has suggested an alternative to the subalterns to overcome their feeling of alienation and psychic crisis.
Now patriarchy, using religion, literature and media as its tools, has propagated the cult of masculinity among its members. Down the ages, literature has held masculinity on a higher pedestal and the male writers usually have presented an exalted image of men in their works. On the contrary, female writers have challenged the conventional image of the 'Man' and all its manliness, defined by patriarchy. This paper, using Virginia Woolf's "To The Lighthouse" (1927) as a case study, will explore how Woolf in her novel has exploded away the mask of the 'Man' . This paper's contribution to scholarship lies in pointing out how men and women are alike in their behavioural patterns and social existence. This paper will also attempt to establish how Woolf in this novel, in her own unique way, has challenged and subverted the normative gender roles, too.
Now this paper, using Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland (2013) as a case study, explores how the stable concepts of culture and identity has become something unnatural in this globalized world. This paper will attempt to show how dislocated people become transcultural and hybridized in various geographical areas around the world in this age of globalization. My endeavor also attempts to establish the view that within the discourses of culture, history and language, identity is not something essentialist, but “a matter of becoming as well as being” (Hall 224). The unique contribution of this paper to scholarship lies in pointing out how one’s identity in this age of globalization is being shaped and reshaped continuously as a result of his/ her negotiation with different cultural spaces.
Key words: Cultural Space, Identity, Globalization, Transcultural Space, Hybridity, Negotiation, Migration.
In the globalized modern world it cannot even be imagined that cultures will retain their purity. As now one has to traverse different cultural paradigms, his core cultural paradigm loses its purity and becomes hybridized in contact with other cultural paradigms. Actually, a man also loses his inherited cultural identity in this cosmopolitan world and becomes transcultural as his cultural space is being continuously reshaped and remodeled. Whether rural or urban, none can retain the particular uniqueness of his or her core cultural identity in today’s globalized world.
Now my paper, using the young Assamese novelist, Aruni Kashyap’s debut novel, The House with a Thousand Stories as a case study, will demonstrate how cultural iconography of the rural as well as of the urban people in the Northeast India is becoming heterogeneous, rather than homogeneous and all the people are moving towards transculturalism. This paper’s contribution to scholarship lies in pointing out that cultural identity is not something static or confined, rather it is always fluid and unstable, subjected to the changes of situation and time.
[Key Words: Globalization, cosmopolitanism, transculturalism, hybridity, identity and cultural space]
"
This paper, using Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance (1996) as a case study, will explore how here Mistry in his own unique way has articulated the traumatic experience of the subaltern people, marginalized on the basis of their caste, ethnic and religious identity. This paper also attempts to unearth how during the time of one terrible national crisis in India, the Emergency (1975), the subaltern people, without having any fault of their own, were at the receiving ends of both psychological and physical humiliation from the upper caste people. This paper also aims to unravel how here Mistry has suggested an alternative to the subalterns to overcome their feeling of alienation and psychic crisis.
Now patriarchy, using religion, literature and media as its tools, has propagated the cult of masculinity among its members. Down the ages, literature has held masculinity on a higher pedestal and the male writers usually have presented an exalted image of men in their works. On the contrary, female writers have challenged the conventional image of the 'Man' and all its manliness, defined by patriarchy. This paper, using Virginia Woolf's "To The Lighthouse" (1927) as a case study, will explore how Woolf in her novel has exploded away the mask of the 'Man' . This paper's contribution to scholarship lies in pointing out how men and women are alike in their behavioural patterns and social existence. This paper will also attempt to establish how Woolf in this novel, in her own unique way, has challenged and subverted the normative gender roles, too.
Now this paper, using Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland (2013) as a case study, explores how the stable concepts of culture and identity has become something unnatural in this globalized world. This paper will attempt to show how dislocated people become transcultural and hybridized in various geographical areas around the world in this age of globalization. My endeavor also attempts to establish the view that within the discourses of culture, history and language, identity is not something essentialist, but “a matter of becoming as well as being” (Hall 224). The unique contribution of this paper to scholarship lies in pointing out how one’s identity in this age of globalization is being shaped and reshaped continuously as a result of his/ her negotiation with different cultural spaces.
Key words: Cultural Space, Identity, Globalization, Transcultural Space, Hybridity, Negotiation, Migration.
In the globalized modern world it cannot even be imagined that cultures will retain their purity. As now one has to traverse different cultural paradigms, his core cultural paradigm loses its purity and becomes hybridized in contact with other cultural paradigms. Actually, a man also loses his inherited cultural identity in this cosmopolitan world and becomes transcultural as his cultural space is being continuously reshaped and remodeled. Whether rural or urban, none can retain the particular uniqueness of his or her core cultural identity in today’s globalized world.
Now my paper, using the young Assamese novelist, Aruni Kashyap’s debut novel, The House with a Thousand Stories as a case study, will demonstrate how cultural iconography of the rural as well as of the urban people in the Northeast India is becoming heterogeneous, rather than homogeneous and all the people are moving towards transculturalism. This paper’s contribution to scholarship lies in pointing out that cultural identity is not something static or confined, rather it is always fluid and unstable, subjected to the changes of situation and time.
[Key Words: Globalization, cosmopolitanism, transculturalism, hybridity, identity and cultural space]
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This paper, using Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance (1996) as a case study, will explore how here Mistry in his own unique way has articulated the traumatic experience of the subaltern people, marginalized on the basis of their caste, ethnic and religious identity. This paper also attempts to unearth how during the time of one terrible national crisis in India, the Emergency (1975), the subaltern people, without having any fault of their own, were at the receiving ends of both psychological and physical humiliation from the upper caste people. This paper also aims to unravel how here Mistry has suggested an alternative to the subalterns to overcome their feeling of alienation and psychic crisis.
Marginalization on the basis of caste, class, gender, language, colour and other signifiers of identity percolates in different layers in the society. In the last three decades the Anglophone writers of the previously colonized countries of Asia and Africa have addressed the issues of culture, gender, language and most importantly identity with regard to the impact of marginalization and exclusion in their narratives. In these narratives it is noticed that the marginal space is not only the space of dominion and exploitation, but also it is fraught with immense possibilities. In these narratives, the marginalized people are often seen to attempt an acculturation of the life style of the ‘centre’. When they become successful in securing an access to power and money, they, being resourceful and tricky, even exert their newly acquired power in unethical manner.
This paper, using Arvind Adiga’s The White Tiger (2008) as a case study will explore the identity crisis of the individual/s, marginalized on the ground of their class and caste identity. This paper further aims to point out how the contextual marginal space is a site of resistance and produces new identity of the marginal people. Actually my endeavor attempts to establish the view that identity is not something essentialist, but “a matter of being as well as becoming” (Hall 224).
Key Words: Marginalization, Centre, Identity, Acculturation, Domination, Resistance.
Now this paper, using Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Lowland (2013) as a case study, explores how the stable concepts of culture and identity has become something unnatural in this globalized world. This paper will attempt to show how dislocated people become transcultural and hybridized in various geographical areas around the world in this age of globalization. My endeavor also attempts to establish the view that within the discourses of culture, history and language, identity is not something essentialist, but “a matter of becoming as well as being” (Hall 224). The unique contribution of this paper to scholarship lies in pointing out how one’s identity in this age of globalization is being shaped and reshaped continuously as a result of his/ her negotiation with different cultural spaces.
Gender is not a natural structure but an artificial construction rooted in sociology. This artificial construction is governed by males and they exert their power through the capillaries of life like education, religion, media and others. Literature is also one such capillary in the hands of patriarchy and has been always used by the male writers as a medium for propagating patriarchal ideologies in society. So, the literary works of the male writers foreground the activities of the men and represent the women as subservient to men. Women characters have been represented by the male writers in some stereotyped roles- either as emblems of goodness or as objects of sexual attraction or as demons and their individual tastes, hopes, desires and aims have not been exposed by the male writers. In the literary works of the male writers of the modern age this same pattern of representing women recurs time and again.
Harold Pinter is a major dramatist in the post world war period and he has also followed the similar track in the representation of women characters in his dramas. The Birthday Party (1958) is his first full-fledged drama and here are two women characters- Meg and Lulu. In this paper my endeavour is to show how their characterization has been shaped by the patriarchal ideologies and codes. I have also tried to examine how they have become victims to the patriarchal gender politics. Actually, this paper surveys how they have been dominated and exploited by the males.