Languages, Literature And Culture - Research Publications

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://kr.cup.edu.in/handle/32116/125

Browse

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 113
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Legacy of the Empire: A New Historicist Study of the Colonial and Postcolonial Agenda in Selected Indian and Western Cinema
    (Central University of Punjab, 2020) Singh, Jagdish; Saini, Alpna
    The term Empire refers to an expansion of territory by including other countries or other continents under the rule of a powerful state. The concept of Empire Cinema is focused on the agenda of using some specific kind of films for propagating and justifying the existence of colonial forces on the colonised land. Empire Cinema fulfils this need for the imperial powers. New Historicist analysis of the films helps to analyse, to relate and to reinterpret the focussed colonial issues in the selected films with respect to the Postcolonial period. The study of these films helps to have a glimpse into the colonial socio-cultural as well as political encounter between colonial powers and the colonised subjects. The analysis of the empire films also exhibits the politics of film censorship.The films are becoming a vital and interesting medium for describing the events of the past. The selected films offer representation from both colonial and colonised perspectives while at the same time dealing with the representation of colonial and postcolonial issues like the thugi cult, sati, the communal violence in colonial era, the Indian- British individual interactions, the dilemma of Anglo-Indians and Indian resistance to the British Empire. The New Historicist study highlights the dual role of cinema; as an art form and as medium to propagate a specific ideology by targeting a particular kind of audience, at a specific point of time. The selected films can be analysed to represent the colonial nostalgia in the postcolonial era and remain a useful medium of revisiting the colonial history of a nation.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Towards an Eco-Poetic Vision of the Poetic Works of Agha Shahid Ali and Sylvia Plath: A Comparative Study
    (Central University of Punjab, 2019) Pala, Aadil Muzafar; Kaur, Zameerpal
    The environmental problems became of supreme importance with the dawn of twenty first century. These issues which are faced by both biosphere and human life are flourishing at an alarming speed and are posing a threat to the life proportions upon the earth. There was a time when man was considered as having a close relationship with his surroundings and was nurtured and nourished by it, but with the passage of time man came under the influences of many newly introduced experiences and philosophies that altogether changed the vision of the civilisations towards anthropocentrism. Human being began to develop egotism which ultimately paved way for him to think himself as superior to the entire visible world and hence exploit it to meet his own ends. This new idea replaced man’s earlier thinking of being sentimental towards his survival without the presence of the nature. Nature by no means can be treated as a pleasure giving property to the human being rather it is the precondition for his very survival and prosperity. With the gradual growth of human civilisations on the earth the plundering and exploitation of the natural resources significantly increased by man’s selfglorification and self-indulgence by destroying the trees for his shelter and for iv industry, devastating the beautiful landscapes replacing them with the setting up of industrial establishments, roads, buildings etc. Ecocrticism is an approach to spread awareness and play a role to save the planet earth as it can be seen concerned with the relationships which show how the physical environment is dealt with in literature. It is a unique study which seems to project a natural science and a discipline based on humanistic approach. The present research work focuses on the theoretical framework of Ecocriticism considering its concepts like Ecopoetics and Ecopsychology and their application upon the poems of Agha Shahid Ali and Sylvia Plath. It further focuses on the narratives which explores the elements of nature and environment and the aspects of man nature relationship in the poetry of the selected poets. There can be seen an oriented quest where the ways emotions and feelings get an impact from the nature and vice-versa, the impact of culture on the nature which is seen proving helpful in creating the poetic stance.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Patriarchal Perspectives on Female Subjectivities in the Selected Plays of Atamjit and Mahesh Elkunchwar
    (Central University of Punjab, 2019) Kaur, Amandeep; Saini, Alpna
    The present research is aimed at critically exploring the selected Marathi and Punjabi plays namely Pooran, Farash Vich Uggya Rukh, Main Tan Ik Sarangi Han by Atamjit and Old Stone Mansion, Garbo and Sonata by Mahesh Elkunchwar who are both well-known playwrights of the second half of the 20th century. Their plays are concerned with many social and political problems and divulge various dimensions which help construct female subjectivity. Both demonstrate woman as victim of the caste, class and gender discrimination. Inferior conditions of middleclass women, sexual issues like prostitution, violence, extramarital affairs, rape, murder, gender discrimination, exploitation, psychological disorders have been examined with special reference to construction of a woman’s subjectivity. This research work is significant as these two are important contemporary authors who raise questions about the marginalisation and subjectivities of women in two different societies, languages and cultures of India. The selected plays analyse different women characters in the selected plays who sometimes accept the supremacy of a man, and resist at other times while also representing the psychological constitution of a woman in terms of her gender and her cultural placement. The present study has also undertaken a comparative study of selected plays in order to explore the typically patriarchal perspectives of the two authors in their given cultural locations on how a woman is constructed in contemporary Indian drama. The thesis employs readings of the plays in consultation with diverse disciplines such as Psychoanalysis, Marxism, Gender Studies and Performativity. This study will help forge an understanding of the female subjectivities from varying standpoints under the light of various discourses prevalent in the contemporary Indian locations, particularly, those of the selected playwrights.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Dialectics of South Asian Subjectivity across Borders: A Critical Study of Selected Contemporary English and Vernacular Diasporic Fiction
    (Central University of Punjab, 2019) Kaur, Pardeep; Singh, Amandeep
    The present thesis examines the dialectics of South Asian subjectivity across borders of nation-state, gender, religion, class, culture and ethnicity through the critical study of eight novels by diasporic writers in English and vernacular languages. The thesis is organised into six chapters. The introductory chapter comprises major trends in contemporary South Asian diasporic literature, the review of existing literature, brief introduction to the selected texts, historically theorising the term subjectivity from the Enlightenment to the postmodern era. The second chapter explores the perceptions of different generations regarding tradition, modernity, assimilation and acculturation, evolved through conflicts and dialogue. The third chapter explores how spatial and temporal contexts keep on shaping individual subjectivity, while at the same time personal and collective history spiral together for determining the historical positioning of these subjects. The fourth chapter examines the contestation between normative discourses (heterosexuality, patriarchy, religion, nationalism etc.) and the existing alternative discourses (homosexuality, hybridity, cosmopolitanism etc.) leading to the dynamic process of South Asian subjectivity construction. The changing definitions and nature of culture, existence of plurality of cultures, multicultural overtones represented in the contemporary fiction constitute the fifth chapter of this study. The concluding chapter presents a composite South Asian subjectivity which cannot be claimed as a definite portrayal because subjectivity is not an event but a process. A pattern can be seen through the analysis of these works which shows the common frames of reference in the subjectivity formation of this community through the dialectics among different notions of existence. The critical study of selected diasporic texts shows that subjugated and muted subjectivities occupy the narrative spaces in contemporary English and vernacular fiction.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Exploring Female Identity: A Comparative Study of the Selected Novels of Shashi Deshpande and Mridula Garg
    (Central University of Punjab, 2019) Nancy; Sen, Rajinder Kumar
    Female identity is a very complicated concept in the contemporary era. In addition to that, it becomes more complicated when discussed in reference to gender socialisation, violence, and exploitation. Women have been viewed and perceived within the constructed patriarchal structure of gender difference. In the domain of patriarchal culture, the woman is a social construct. The present research work tries to probe into the silences, subordination and voices of exploited women by undertaking a comparative study of the selected novels of Shashi Deshpande and Mridula Garg by using feminism as a theoretical framework. The contemporary writes are critiquing the unspoken voices to explore their exploitation in various domains. Feminism is a highly innovative concept representing a significant departure from the traditional mode of critical evaluation. In the selected novels both the writers represent the series of female characters who have exploited. They project realistically the women’s plight and exploitation in the patriarchal society. It explores how men establish their masculine power and fulfil their desire by assaulting women. Through the feminist theory, the present study tries to explore the female identity which is constructed by the socio-cultural aspect.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    NEGOTIATING IDENTITY IN POSTCOLONIAL SPACE: A CRITICAL STUDY OF SELECTED SOUTH ASIAN DIASPORIC FICTION
    (Central University of Punjab, 2019) Naik, Showkat Ahmad; Singh, Amandeep
    Delineating identity is a very complex phenomenon because identity has many factors contributing to its development that differ from scenario to scenario. Identities are part of history in which they evolve and are subject to constant change and transformation. Therefore, phenomenon of identity, an enigma till now, has become more enigmatic due to the emergence of postcolonial space, because of the blending in of different identities in it. Postcolonial space created after wide-ranging resistance with intellectual and diplomatic dexterity is intended to exploit the myth that dissenting voices can never be absolutely silenced. However, the paradox that lies amid the postcolonial space is that chaos perpetuates order. For that reason, this thesis is an attempt to illuminate that all noticeable instabilities cannot be identified underneath the heading of chaos as sometimes the assumption of certain negative terms may be used as much in the facility of backing up to remove whatever is made obligatory. There are some postcolonial diasporic writers who describe postcolonial spatial scenario and show how the canon of South Asian English Literature has flourished itself to some definite expectations by forging a counter-Orientalist discourse. Brick Lane by Monica Ali, Queen of Dreams by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai, The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid and Home Boy by H.M. Naqvi are novels that are drenched with issues regarding the notion of identity in postcolonial space particularly in the diasporic contexts. These authors in their respective novels traverse into the new suburban to negotiate identity of the different characters and expose the dilemmas they go through.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Ecocritical Study of Kalidasa’s Lyrics and Selected Poems of William Wordsworth
    (Central University of Punjab, 2018) Yeshpal; Kaur, Zameerpal
    The present thesis is based on an Ecocritical analysis of the selected poems of Kalidasa and Wordsworth from a comparative perspective. The main focus of the thesis is to explore the ecological consciousness and aesthetics as manifested in the selected texts; further, the thesis endeavors to construct the organic relationship depicted between the natural world and human culture in both the poets. The thesis traces the evolution of Ecocriticism over the time; different issues of ecocriticism such as ecology, deep ecology, social ecology, romantic ecology, wilderness, and environmental aesthetics, are likewise investigated in the selected texts. The thesis through the study of the selected works of both the writers tries to show how both the writers envision an idealistic view of life which would empower humans to achieve maximum synchronization and interdependence with their natural or physical environment. Kalidasa represented the Hindu way of life in ancient India; his works mirror the socio-cultural milieu of the ancient India, and a system of shared moral and ethical values towards Nature can be gleaned from his works. In the poetry of Kalidasa, Nature is cherished with a profound spiritual passion; for him, Nature speaks to divine balance, divine music, and heavenly harmony. Kalidasa doesn’t merely use nature as an idealised setting for his works but endows it with living attributes and v a personality of its own. While Wordsworth may represent a cloud, Kalidasa sees the cloud in Meghaduta as having a fully developed consciousness; both the poets invalidate the idea of customary anthropocentrism and support ecocentrism. Wordsworth believes that man is a part of nature and nature is a holistic living organism; he believes in the equality of the natural and the human world, the former is not subservient to the latter. Wordsworth considers it indispensable to have an ethical attitude of humility and the reverence to reestablish the severed connections between humans and the natural habitat. Thus, both Kalidasa and Wordsworth can be seen as eco-spiritual poet-thinkers, remarkable for their ecological consciousness and aesthetics, and could be considered precursors of the present-day environmentalists, and ecologists.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    The Construction of the Mythical Subject in PostColonial Context: A Study of Select Indian Plays
    (Central University of Punjab, 2019) Chandel, Priyanka; Saini, Alpna
    The dramatic foundations of postcolonial Indian dramatists are based on the assimilation of colonial dramaturgical practices into the native dramaturgical traditions which have created a new hybrid space. Earlier the native cultural narratives were used to propagate the hegemonic dominance, but now they have been decentered in such a way that they have paved a way to a unique construction of postcolonial subjectivity. The postcolonial writers translate the native myths and incorporate them in the texts through hybridised language and an entirely new perspective and hence, shift the marginalised colonial subjectivities with the unique postcolonial hybrid subjectivities. The postcolonial playwrights incorporate themes such as the existential interrogations and encounters of postcolonial human, fragmentation, hybridity, disillusionment, isolation, the quest for identity, gender issues, philosophical dualism, and construction of subjectivity. The introduction of pre-colonial past in the forms of aboriginal presentation like rituals, myths, folktales, history, music, songs, dance, local settings, and oral style of storytelling, prove to be effective strategies in restructuring the leading practices of western dramaturgy. They have also assimilated in their works the traditions of some of the famous proponents of modern theatres, such as Samuel Beckett, Bertolt Brecht, and Jerzy Growtowski, etc. The translation of the native texts is also used as a technique to construct a new postcolonial subjectivity and the language used for the translation of native texts is an exclusive new form of nativised language, which is neither a western mimetic form nor a completely native one, but an amalgam of both. Thus, the iv postcolonial playwrights have neither applauded nor judged the native myths, but they have explored the consequences of unyielding codes imposed by culture. Thus, an original, hybrid postcolonial subjectivity, based on the interplay of gender, myth, language, and culture emerges through an exploration of the selected texts.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    The Subaltern Speaks: The Construction of Marginal Identities in Selected Films on Partition of India
    (Central University of Punjab, 2018) Singh, Barjinder; Saini, Alpna
    Recognising the excruciating pain and trauma the Partition of India has caused to the lives of the millions of people in the Indian sub-continent, the present thesis embarks on to study a hitherto unexplored area concerning Partition studies, e.g., construction of marginal identities in Partition films. The present thesis contends that the selected Partition films— that I taxonomise as Subaltern Partition Cinema—as a distinct voice from the mainstream Bollywood cinema, depict Partition history in a radically different way than that of the official, colonialist and nationalist historiographies, giving voice to the subalterns of Indian Partition; like women, Dalits, minorities, and refugees. Taking Rosenstone’s views on the relationship between film and history as a springboard, it considers cinema as a significant medium to engage with Partition history, and attempts to foreground how cinematic narratives and practices can be vital resources for rethinking Partition history. Subaltern Studies’ methodology has been used to demarginalise the subaltern experience in the selected film texts; an attempt is made to study the structure and dynamics of film language concerned with the representations of history, memory, violence (abduction, rape, killing), in the selected films. The methodology of the research work involves an in-depth mise-en-scene analysis and other formal aspects of film semiotics wherever possible. The thesis attempts to retrieve the subaltern historiography of Partition of India as it emerges from the selected films; v further, to see such subaltern revisionings of history as alternative forms of history and as counter-narratives to the perspectives of mainstream history. The analysis of the sufferings of the subaltern identities as portrayed in the selected films entails a critique of the communal nationalisms in South Asia. The post-Partition Hindi cinema can be seen as a site of cinematic heterotopia to dispel the dominant nationalistic perceptions about 1947 perpetuated by the conflicting terrains of the elite nationalist histories of the two nation-states. The study of the representations of history in the films like Gandhi and Jinnah points out the highly discursive nature of Partition history as well as cinema’s potential in the promotion as well as destabilisation of the received history. The study also points out how the refugee experience in the cinema of Ritwik Ghatak can be seen as a cinematic displacement of his latent angst against the idea that the East Bengal and the West Bengal constitute two different cultural or national identities and could be divided on the basis of religion. Partition films should not be seen as capturing the exact picture of the past that must be faithful to the contemporary reality. But these films must also be considered as creative reconstructions, constructions or deconstructions of the past to the extent the specificities of the medium allow.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Exploring Dalit Experiences: A Comparative Study of the Autobiographical Narratives of Balbir Madhopuri, Tulsi Ram, Sharankumar Limbale and Siddalingaiah
    (Central University of Punjab, 2018) Gora, Devendra Kumar; Sen, Rajinder Kumar
    Dalits have been regarded and perceived inferior and substandard within the wisely constructed hierarchical society in which caste controls the behaviour pattern of the subjects. This research tries to explore the marginalisation, oppression, and exploitation of Dalits in Indian social set-up by undertaking the comparative analysis of autobiographical narratives of Balbir Madhopuri, Tulsi Ram, Sharankumar Limbale and Siddalingaiah. The selected four writers represent contemporary Dalits of the different geographical locations Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka respectively. Being the representative of Dalits, these authors deal with the cause of Dalits in their literary creations. They voice against the victimisation of subjugated Dalits into the diverse socio-cultural locations. The research interrogates social and cultural norms in different episodes of selected autobiographies and use the personal experience of writers to expose the discrimination and subjugation of Dalits. A thematic approach from Dalit perspective has been adopted for this study. The research probe into the positioning of Dalits in hierarchical structure and how the basic rights are violated. The study comprehensively exhibits the effort of the writers to create new space using education as the mean for upward mobility.