PAPER: 4,indian writing in english

TOPIC: the effect of myth in the novel of raja rao’s kanthapura

PAPER: 4,indian writing in english

NAME: chudasama pratipalsinh v

CLASS: m.a sem -1

SUBMITED : dr.dilip barad sir

Dept,of English,

Bhavnagar university

the effect of myth in the novel of raja rao’s kanthapura

raja rao is great son of mother india and his greatness has receviced national and international recognition.comes of very old and learned south indian brahmin family.he was born in 1909 in the village of hassana in mysore.he lived in france from 1908 to1939,return to india on the out break of world war-2 in 1940.it was in france thousand of miles away from india,that hos frist novel kanthapura(1938) was written he was awarded the padma bhushn by government of india in 1969.

       Literature is a medium of political and society awakening in country and it is natural that during india’s struggle for freedom,literature played itsown part.most of creative writing which influenced india’s national movement had taken into account the presonality and achivement of mahatma gandhi who dominated the indian political scene from 1916 till his death in 1948.for thousand of india’s illiterate peasants gandhi came to stand for a riligious avtar or incranationof a god,and even many of the more sophisticated city dwellers looked upon him as a prophet as wellas a saviour.

       In kanthapura raja rao made an effective use of the mythical technique used with such success by english writers like t.s eliot and joyce.the useof mythical technique means that the past is juxtaposed with the present anh in his way the past may serve as criticism of the present.or it may be used ti highten and glorify the present.in his waste land t.s.eliot has used the mythical technique to criticise the present and in kanthapura raja rao has used this very technique to glorify the present and impart to the novel the dignity and status of an epic or purana.it is in this way that the gandhian movement,”kanthapura is again another and a larger attempt at creating a sthala purana.

       Kanthapura is microcosm of the macrocosm,for what happens in kanthapura was happening all over the country during those stirring days of the gandhian freedom struggle.as raja rao tells us in the very frist sentence of his well known preface to the novel,every village in india has a rich sthala purana or legendary history.it has a legend concerning the local goddess knchamma who protects the villager from harm and presides over their destiny.the novelist style or narrtion makes it a gandhi purana or a gandhi epic.

       Prof. c.d.narasimhiah explains that “there are three strands of expreience in the novel; the political,the religiousand the social and all the three woven in extricably into one complex story of kanthapura.”

       Raja rao gives a glowing description of the village kanthapura.there are five passages of outstanding description which reach potiec climax.moorthy gets so much engrossed in the congress movement that he ignores even his mother’s effecation.raja rao has brought the indian atmosphere thoroghly well into his study.the various ceremonies and their rites:hair cutting ceremony,rice eating ceremony,marriage ceremony and death anniversary ceremony;are all describe with the natural touch and living force.the description of the skeffington coffee estate is a magnificent piece of masterly prose.life in coffee estate is vivified in lurid colours and realisticallyc described incidents of the kartik festival of the lights is a brilliant master piece of poetic prose.the people of kanthapura wear tell tale nickname :waterfall venkamma,front house akkamma,temple rangappa,coffee planter ramayya,post-master suryanarayana.

       Kenchamma is their bread giver,rain giver,and their life giver.the villagers sing a hynm in the honour pf the goddess kenchamma which runs as under:

           Kenchamma kenchamma,
           Goddess benign and bounteous
           Mother of earth,blood of life,
           Harvest queen,rain crowned
           Kenchamma kenchamma,
           Goddess benign and bounteous.

                  The temple has always been a seat of ancient culture and it is still a source of solace and comfort for the troubled humanity.the kanthapurians installed a’lingam’ in the sanctum of the temple after it was first sighted by moorthy,and they come everyday for bhajans and harikathas and religious cum political meeting.moorthy fasts on the veradah of the temple,which later becomes a center of strong political activity.

       The narrator tells us that as soon as gandhi was born “the four wide walls began to shine like the  kingdom of the sun,and hardly was he in the cardle than he began to lisp the language of wisdom”.the harikatha man raises gandhi to the level of god by identifying his activities with one particular feat of krishna:

“You remember how krishna when he was but a babe of
Four,had begun to fight against demons and had killed
The serpent kali.so too our mohandas began to fight
Against the enemies of the country.”

                Men followed him ,as they did krishna,the flute player,as so he gose from village to slay the serpent of the foreigen rule.

       The british rulers who had”come to bind us as to whip us,to make our woman die milkless and our men die slipped into a deep madetation under the serpent pipal tree on the bank of the river himavathy in the presence of his mother.in his meditation ,he remembered the child prahalad who had said that hari was everywhere,”hum me ram,tum me ram,kharag khambhe me ram”.later on when he took to fasting in the sanctum of the village temple,he saw the vision of his mother and spoke to her thus:

            Mother,now you can throw me down the mountain and
            She asked,”why my son?..”I have seen hari….”

At the other extreme there stands bade khan,the police man whi is the “symbol of the oppressive soulles bureaucracy,made visibly repulsive “.but the villagers are not afraid of the police man because

       “what is police man beforec a gandhi’s man?tell me does a boar stand before a lion or a jackal before an elephant”

       Bhatta is the symbol of false orthodoxy and low cunning.in “the serpent and the rope the ganges is asymbol of purity.what the novelist suggest in kanthapura is that the water of the ocean is not enough to”wash this man’s sins away.”bhatta is by all means agreat sinner and an incurable usurer.

       Kanthapura is raja rao’s ramayana and the serpent and the rope is his mahabharata.as c.d. narasimhiah says,”it is a breathless tale from the beginning to the end and fascinatingly told.it gives us an insight into the appealing social condition of our villages as also the values that have preserved our people against flood,fire and famine and exploitation from within and from without and more than all that incomparable manner in which gandhi tapped the deeply religious and spiritual resources of our people living in the remotest parts of india and built up national movement inone life-time.” 

PAPER: 3,literary theory & criticism.

TOPIC:the ancient and modern controversy dryden’s sanity.

PAPER: 3,literary theory & criticism.

NAME: chudasama pratipalsinh v

CLASS: m.a sem -1

SUBMITED : dr.dilip barad sir

Dept,of English,

Bhavnagar university.

The ancient And modern Controversy-Dryden’s       sanity

In the age of dryde there raged a hot debate on the comparative merit and demerit of

the Ancients and modems.

Swift has treated this debate satirically in his well-known work’THE BATTEL OF THE BOOKS’in his essay of dramatic poesy’ Dryded has agued moderately on behalf of moderns,though the mouth of EUGENIUS, one one of the for debtors in the essay. The case for the ‘Ancient ‘ is presented by Crites. In the controversy Dryden take no extreme position, the golden mean, and is sensible enough to give the  Ancient their respect. Trough his dispassionate ,balanced, and san attitude and panitrating and shrewd analysis, he remove the cobwebs which had confused the issue, and make us see clearly the  achievement of the Ancient and the indebtedness’ of the modern to them, as well as the significant advances which have bin made in modern time. Thus he sets the controversy at rest , and makes us see the comparative merit and demerits of each in a clearer light. 

       Dryden in his essay, An Essay on Dramatic Poesy, vindicated the Moderns. The case for the ‘Ancients’ is presented by Crites. In the controversy Dryden takes no extreme position and is sensible enough to give the Ancients their respect. Through his wit and shrewd analysis, he removes the difficulty which had confused the issue. He makes us see the achievement of the Ancients and the gratitude of the Moderns to them. Thus, he presents the comparative merits and demerits of each in a clearer way.

Crites Favours the Ancients:

(i) The superiority of the Ancients is established by the very fact that the Moderns simply imitate them, and build on the foundations laid by them. The Ancients are the acknowledged models of the Moderns.

(ii) The Ancients had a special genius for drama, and in their particular branch of poetry they could reach perfection. Just as they excel them in drama.

(iii) Thirdly, in ancient Greece and Rome poetry was more honoured than any other branch of knowledge. Poets were encouraged to excel in this field through frequent competitions, judges were appointed and the dramatists were rewarded according to their merits. But in modern times there is no such spirit of healthy rivalry and competition. Poets are neither suitably honoured nor are they rewarded.

(iv) The Ancient drama is superior because the Ancients closely observed Nature and faithfully represented her in their work. The Moderns do not observe and study Nature carefully and so they distort and disfigure her in their plays.

(v) The rules of Dramatic Composition which the Moderns now follow have come down to them from the Ancients.

(vi) Crites makes special mention of the Unities, of Time, Place, and Action. The Ancients followed these rules and the effect is satisfying and pleasing. But in Modern plays the Unity of Time is violated and often of the Action of a play covers whole ages.

(vii) The Ancients could organize their plays well. We are unable to appreciate the art and beauty of their language, only because many of their customs, stories, etc, are not known to us. There is much that is highly proper and elegant in their language but we fail to appreciate it because their language is dead, and remains only in books.

Eugenius’ Case for the Moderns:

Eugenius then replies to Crites and speaks in favour of the Moderns.

In the very beginning, he acknowledges that the Moderns have learnt much from the Ancients. But he adds that by their own labour the Moderns have added to what they have gained from them, with the result that they now excel them in many ways. The Moderns have not blindly imitated them. Had they done so, they would have lost the old perfection, and would not achieve any new excellences. Eugenius proceeds to bring out some defects of the Ancients, and some excellences of the Moderns.

(i) The Moderns have perfected the division of plays and divided their plays not only into Acts but also into scenes. The Spaniards and the Italians have some excellent plays to their credit, and they divided them into three Acts and not into five. They wrote without any definite plan and when they could write a good play their success was more a matter of chance and good fortune than of ability. In the characterization they no doubt, imitate nature, but their imitation is only narrow and partial – as if they imitated only an eye or a hand and did not dare to venture on the lines of a face, or the proportion of the body. They are inferior to the (English) Moderns in all these respects. 

(ii) Even the Ancients’ observance of the three unities is not perfect. The Ancient critics, like Horace and Aristotle, did not make mention of the Unity of Place. Even the Ancients did not always observe the Unity of Time. Euripides, a great dramatist, no doubt, confines his action to one day, but, then, he commits many absurdities.

(iii) There is too much of narration at the cost of Action. Instead of providing the necessary information to the audience through dialogues the Ancients often do so through monologues. The result is, their play becomes monotonous and tiresome.

(iv) Their plays do not perform one of the functions of drama, that of giving delight as well as instruction. There is no poetic justice in their plays. Instead of punishing vice and rewarding virtue, they have often shown a prosperous wickedness, and an unhappy piety.

(v) Eugenius agrees with Crites that they are not competent to judge the language of the Ancients since it is dead, and many of their stories, customs, habits, etc., have been lost to them. However, they have certain glaring faults which cannot be denied. They are often too bold in their metaphors and in their coinages. As far as possible, only such words should be used as are in common use, and new words should be coined only when absolutely necessary. Horace himself has recommended this rule, but the Ancients violated it frequently.

(vi) Ancient themes are equally defective. The proper end of Tragedy is to arouse “admiration and concernment . But their themes are lust, cruelty, murder, and bloodshed, which instead of arousing admiration and pity arouse “horror and terror”. The horror of such themes can be softened a little by the introduction of love scenes, but in the treatment of this passion they are much inferior to such Moderns as Shakespeare and Fletcher. In their comedies, no doubt they introduce a few scenes of tenderness but, then, their lovers talk very little.

PAPER - 1 : The Renaissance Literature

TOPIC: historical and biographical approach of hamlet.

PAPER: 1, the renaissance literature.

NAME: chudasama pratipalsinh v

CLASS: m.a SEM -1

SUBMITTED TO: Dr.Dilip Barad sir

Dept, of English,

Bhavnagar University

Historical and biographical approaches of 

                            hamlet                           

 Hamlet is considered by some commentators to be topical and autobiographical in certain places. In a view of Queen Elizabeth’s advanced age and poor health-hence the precarious state of the succession to the British crown-Shakespeare’s decision to mount a production of hamlet, with its usurped throne and internally disordered state, come as no surprise. There is some ground for thinking that Ophelia’s famous  characterizations of Hamlet may be intended to suggest the earl of Essex formally Elizabeth’s favorite who had incurred her severe displeasure and been tried for treason and executed.

            The courtier’s, soldier, scholar,’ eye ,tongue sword
            The expectancy and rose of the fair state.
            The glass of fashion and the mould of form,
            The observed of all observed…….

Also something of Essex may be seen in Claudius’s observation Hamlet’s madness and his popularity with the masses.                  How dangerous it is that is man goes loose!
            You must we not put the strong law  on him.
            He’s loved of the distracted multitude.
            Who like not in their judgment but their eyes.
            And where ’tis so, the offender’s scourge is weighed.
            But never the offence.

Yet another contemporary historical figure, the lord treasure, Burghley, has been seen by some in the character of Polonius. Shakespeare may have heard his patron the Young Henry wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, contempt for Elizabeth’s old lord treasure; indeed this was the many of the gallants of the southmapton’s generation felt. Burghley  possed most of the shortcoming Shakespeare gave to polonius.he was boring,meddling and given to wise old adages and truisms.moreover he had an elaborate spy system that kept him informed about both friend and foe.one is reminded of polonious’s assigning Reynaldo to spy on laertes in paris.this side of burghley’s character was so wellknown that it might have been dangerous for Shakespeare to portray it on stage while the old man was alive.

       Other topical references include Shakespeare’s opinion about the revival of the private theater,which would employ children and which would   constitute a rival for the adult companies of the public theater, for which Shakespeare wrote.it is also reasonable to assume that hamlet’s instructions to the players. Contain Shakespeare’s satire on dull people who profess preferences for rigidly classified genres. Scholars have also pointed out Shakespeare’s treatment of other stock characters of the day osric,the Elizabethan dandy Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, the boot-licking courtiers;laertes and fortinbras,the men of action;horatio,the “true roman “friend ;and Ophelia, the courtly love heroine.

       In looking at hamlet the historical critic might be expected to ask, “What do we need to know about eleventh-century Danish court life or about Elizabethan England to understand this play?”similar questions are more less relevant to the traditional interpretive approach to any literary work,but they are particularly germane to analysis of hamlet.for one thing,most contemporary American students,largely unacquainted with the convention,le alone the subtleties,of monarchical succession wonder why hamlet does not automatically succeed to the throne after the death of his father.

       Shakespeare intended his audiences to think of the entire situation-character, customs, and plot-as English which he apparently did in most of this plays,even though they wear set in other courtries.wilson’s theory is based upon the assumption that ah Elizabethan audience could have but little interest in the peculiarities of Danish government,whereas the problems of royal succession, usurpation,and potential revolution in a contemporary English context would be of paramount concern. He thus asserts that Shakespeare’s audience conceived hamlet to be the lawful heir to his father and Claudius to be a usurper and the usurpation to be one oe the main factorsto in the play, important to both hamlet and Claudius.wherther one accepts wilson’s theory or not,it is certain that hamlet thought of Claudius as a usurper,for he describes him to Gertrude as:

            A cutpurse of the empire and the rule
            That from a shelf the precious diadem stole
            And put it in his poceket!

And to horatio as one

            That hath killed my king and whored my mother,
             Popped in between th’election and my hopes….

        

Modern students are also likely to be confused by the charge of inset against the queen.although her second marriage to the brother of her deceased husband would not be considered incestuous today by many civil and religioys codes,it was so considered in shakespeare’s day.some dispensation or legal loophole must have accounted for the popular acceptance of gertrude’s marriage to Claudius.that hamlet considered the union incestuous,however,cannot be emphasized too much for it is this repugnant character of Gertrude’s sin perhaps more than any other factor,that plunges hamlet into the melancholy of which he is victim.

And hear it is necessary to know what”melancholy””Elizabethans and to what extent it is important in understanding the play.a.c.bradley tells us that it meant to Elizabethans a condition of the mind  characterized y nervous instability rapid and extreme changes of feeling and mood and the disposition to be for the time absorbed in a dominant feeling or mood whether joys or depressed. If hamlet’s actions and speeches are examined closely, they seem to indicate symptoms of this disease. He is by turns cynical, idealistic, hyperactive, letharic ,averse to evil,disgusted at his uncle’s drunkenness and his mother’s sensuality, and the other superficially irreconcilable features in his condct, readers need to realize that at least part of hamlet’s problem is that he is a victim of extreme melancholy.

       One reason for the popularity of hamlet with Elizabethan audiences was that it dealt with a theme they wear familiar with and fascinated by revenge.hamlet is n the grand tradition of revenge tragedies and contains virtually every stock device observable n vastly inferior plays of this type.thomas kyd’s Spanish tragedy was the firest successful English adaptation of the Latin tragedies of Seneca. The typical revenge tragedy began with a crim contined with an injunction by some agent to the next of kin to avenge the crme:grew complicated by various impediments to the revenge,sch as identifying the criminal and hitting upon the proper time,placeand mode of revenge; and concluded with the death of the criminal, the avenger and frequently all the principals n the drama.laertes world risk his own soul and his body and would risk his own sol a horrifying illustration of the measure of his hatred.claudis’s rejoinder

                        No place indeed should murder sanctuarize;
                        Revenge should have no bounds

Indicates the desperate state of the king’s soul. he is condoning murder in a church,traditionally a haven of refuge, protection and legal immunity for murderers.

 

PAPER: 2,the neo-classical literature.

TOPIC: major prose writers of the age.

PAPER: 2,the neo-classical literature.

NAME: chudasama pratipalsinh v

CLASS: m.a sem -1

SUBMITED TO : ms,heenaba zala

Dept,of English,

Bhavnagar university.

  MAJOR PROSE WRITERS OF THE AGE

    The age of pope intensified the movement that,as we have seen began after the restoration the drift away from the poety of passion was more pronounced than ever,the ideals of wit and common sense were more zealously pursued and the lyrical note was almost unheard.this aims received expression in the devotion to the heroic couplet,the aptest medium for the purpose.without pope no one great poet of the age,on the other hand the great names of the period- swift,Addison,steele, defoeare those of prose writers and prose writers of a very high quality.

                       Major prose writers of the age:

<1> Jonathan swift(1667-1745):

      His life::swift was born in Dublin and though boyh his parents were English.his connetion with Ireland very till day he died.he was very wrtched at school.he might have become bishop.his last year were passed in silence and at the very end luncy.

    His prose::almost in one bound swift attanined to a mastery of English prose.his main prose writing are given bellow,

  1.the battle of the book(1704)

  2.A tale of a tub(1704)

  3.the whigs for the tories(1714)

  4.the barrier treaty(1714)

  5.the drapire’s letters(1724)

  6.gullivers travel(1726)

<2>joseph Addison(1672-1719):

    His life::educated at the charterhouse,Addison went to oxford,where he became a fellow of magdalen college.he early made his mark as a serious scholar.marlborough poem brought him fame and fortune.at early age of forty seven he died.

  His prose::several political pamphlets are ascribed to Addison,but as a pamphleteer he is not impressive.in fact almost entirely as an essayist that Addison is justly famed.his major prose writing are given bellow,

  1.the tatler(1709)

  2.the spectator(1709)

  3.tha guardian

<3>sir riched steele(1672-1729):

    His life::steel has a vaired and rather an unfortunate career,due to largely to his own disposition.he was educated at charterhouse and then proceeded to oxford,leaving without taking a degree.he died ten years after his fellow essayist.

  His drama::

       1.the funeral(1701)

       2.the lying lover(1703)

       3.the tender husband(1705)

       4.the conscious lovers(1722)

His essays::

     1.the guardian(1713)

     2.the Englishman(1713)

     3.the reader(1714)

     4.the plebeian(1719)

<4>Daniel defoe(1659-1731):

   His life:much of defoe life is still undermined.he was born in London,become a soldier and then took to journalismhe one of the best prose writer in his time.he died in London.

  His prose:

     1.the dissenters(1702)

     2.the true Englishman(1701)

     3.robinson crusoe(1719)

  4.duncanCampbell,memoris of       cavalier,  captainsingleton(1720)

     5.roxana(1724)

     6.a new voyage round the world(1725)

                       Other prose writers::

     1 john Arbuthnot(1667-1735)

     2 lord Bolingbroke(1678-1751)

        The idea of a patriot king(1736)

     3 george Berkeley(1685-1753)

     4 lady mary wortley montagy(1689-1762)

     5 earl of Shaftesbury(1671-1773)

               All this writers are major prose writers of the age,all of these writers give more contribution in prose writing,because of all these writers prose form developed very well.these major writers contribution is priceless.