Languages And Comparative Literature - Mphil Thesis

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Ecocritical concerns in tracks by louise erdrich and the stone carvers by Jane Urquhart.
(Central University of Punjab, 2017) Kaur, Jaskaran; Kaur, Zameerpaal
Ecocriticism is a new approach to literature and an ecological criticism that examines the human representation of nature. Humans try to dominate the whole Earth and its inhabitants. The Ecocritical theory distributes the fundamental principle that human civilization is connected to the physical world and in return affected by it. Ecocriticism examines the critical apprehensions connected with nature such as deforestation, devastation of wildlife, overuse of natural resources, pollution regarding air, water, soil, and noise and rising level of sea water, etc. These issues are raised by scientists and environmentalists who focus on environmental issues and supremacy of man over non-human living and non-living substance. The comparative study of Tracks and The Stone Carvers reveal the ecocritical perspectives and suggest the preservation of nature and to live in peace with nature. These novels show their deep rooted social consciousness and ecological consciousness of their society. Natural environment has always remained a significant part of these texts and with the current increase environmental problems and issues, writers have exclusively paying attention on environmental problems.
Construction and Treatment of Social Taboos in Contemporary Indian Cinema with Special Focus on Sexual Taboos
(Central University of Punjab, 2014) Sumeet; Saini, Alpana
Diasporic Spaces: A Comparative Study of Selected Diasporic Fiction
(Central University of Punjab, 2014) Shah, Samees Ahmed; Singh, Amandeep
This study is an attempt to do the comparative analysis of three novels by three Indian English women writers, The Namesake, Jasmine and Born Confused by Jhumpa Lahiri, Bharati Mukherjee and Tanuja Desai Hidier respectively. Starting with diaspora, its phases and its types, it focuses on the making of diasporic spaces amid diaspora. It also shows the characters' struggle to make their home and space in a foreign land. Every character is shown as having his/her own perception of home, space and world of belonging. All three novels are an important part of Modern Diasporic Indian English Literature. Study of 'diaspora space' shows how individual identity is shaped and where differences are created, and it also shows how identities are formulated and constructed by physical, mental and social attitudes. Individual identities and his/her relation with homeland have undergone considerable change in recent decades. It has lost its fixity and migrants are in a process of becoming global citizens. The study of the three novels taken up for comparison suggests that all the characters try their best to penetrate their roots deep into the American soil, but everyone is not fully successful in doing so. All diasporic people struggle to create a separate space in host country but everyone struggles in his/her own way. Analysing diaspora space and other identity issues relating to diaspora helps in understanding of how and where identity is shaped and differences are made and remade.
Tribal concerns in literature: A comparative study of things fall apart and the ancestor
(Central University of Punjab, 2014) Chopra, Sayar Singh; Kumar, Rajinder
'Tribe' means a group of people living at a particular place from times immemorial. Tribes are named differently at different places according to their geographical positioning, their social stratification in the society and so on which makes them distinctive from others. Tribes are rich in their culture, customs and folk tradition etc. There are few authors all over the world who writing tribal literature and their social life is rich in their creative works. The foremost objective of this research is to analyze the tribes issue in literature as a discourse in societal, customs, traditional, rituals within the reference of the writings of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Gopinath Mohanty's The Ancestor . Chinua Achebe (African novelist) and Gopinath Mohanty (Indian novelist) are two significant novelists who have made a bold attempt in raising of Canon in tribal literature. Both Achebe and Mohanty represent to their traditional or historically transformed images, rituals and social structures of their own common, but diversified culture. A thematic approach from tribal concerns perspective has been adopted for this study.
Female identy in partition literature: A comparative study of Bapsy Sidhwa's ice candy man and Amrita Pritam
(Central University of Punjab, 2014) Nancy; Sen, Rajinder Kumar
Partition of India was the great historical event in 1947. Partition affected the millions of people and changed the whole scenario of the sub-continent. Women were most affected in partition era. Feminism as a movement explores the suppressing status of women in the Patriarchal society. In the domain of patriarchal culture, woman is a social construct. Feminism is a highly innovative concept representing a significant departure from the traditional mode of critical evaluation. The present study tries to investigate the portrayal of the partition by the two writers from India and Pakistan Bapsi Sidhwa and Amrita Pritam with their novels, Ice Candy Man and Pinjar . In these novels both the writers represents the series of female characters who have survived in the chaotic time of 1947. 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 feminism theory, the present study has tried to locate the identity of women which changes in partition and their actual identity is broken down and they have to create a new identity which mostly forced on them.
Comparative study of Shiv Kumar's birha tu sultan and Jaishankar Prasad's kamayani the perspectives of the theory of alamkara
(Central University of Punjab, 2014) Kaur, Rajandeep; Kaur, Zameerpal
Unlike western critical theories, Indian Poetics focus more upon aesthetic aspects rather than didactic approach to literature. Among the most discussed critical theories of Indian Poetics Alamkara has a unique and extraordinary place . The word Alamkara consists of two words 'alam' and 'kar' which means the elements that add grace or aesthetic sense to the poetry. A number of scholars contribute in the development of this theory. Bhamha (6 th century A.D.) is considered as father of Alamkara theory, who explained Alamkaras in detail in his treatise Kavyalamkara. Alamkaras are not only used in modern literature, but their presence can be seen in Vedas , and Yaska's Nirukat and Mimansa . The focus of present study is to do the comparative analysis of Punjabi and Hindi poetry with reference to Shiv Kumar's Birha Tu Sultan and Jaishankar Prasad's Kamayani in context with the theory of Alamkara to extract different types of Alamkaras used in them. Alamkaras have been used very abundantly in the poetry of both Shiv and Prasad. It is the use of Alamkara which gives a literary touch to their poetry and makes it interesting for readers. They have mastery over the use of Alamkara . The writings of Shiv and Prasad mainly focus on the theme of love and separation, pain and agony of lovers, description of nature, beauty and sufferings of female, theme of lust, theology, patriotism etc. They use historical and mythological events in their writings.
Domestic space: A comparative study of born confused and queen of dreams
(Central University of Punjab, 2014) Naik, Showkat Ahmed; Singh, Amandeep
Within a variety of academic disciplines, diaspora has gained a stupendous magnitude over the times. Dispersion of an established system brought about by the crisis coercion, catastrophe and other forcible movements is called diaspora. After the dispersion the individual needs some specific place to continue his life and the place he chooses subsequent to the dispersion is termed as domestic space, space which allows privacy, security and creativity. Domestic space is imbued with the sense of homeliness and in view of this home is considered as the most imperative element of domestic space which has begin to attract an increasing amount of critical attention across the humanities and social science. While living in the domestic space human being is always at the periphery of the war, the domestic space becomes a scene of conflict. Numerous authors around the world have presented domesticity in their creative works yet little has been written on the experience. Tanuja Desai Hidier and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni had traversed into the new territories and tried to delve into the new suburban's of the domestic space. The foremost objective of this research is to analyse the domestic space in the course of Diaspora alluding from Tanuja Desai's Born Confused and Chitra Divakaruni's Queen of Dreams. The heart of Born Confused is about learning how to bring two cultures together without falling apart yourself in the process. Likewise Queen of Dreams vivifies the arrogant, deceitful and the xenophobia of the Americans towards the immigrants after the 9/11 attack on World Trade Centre. Born Confused and Queen of Dreams are blended with the dwelling of domestic space created by immigrants themselves which not only gives them the impression of place of living but acts as a whole territory.
Engendered subjectiveness: Construction of queer idenity in vijay tendulkar's a friend's story and mahesh dattani's on a muggy night in mumbai
(Central University of Punjab, 2014) Chandal, Priynka; Saini, Alpna
The present study deals with comparative analysis of Vijay Tendulkar's A Friend's Story and Mahesh Dattani's On a Muggy Night in Mumbai with respect to treatment of queer issues, their repression and social stigma faced by queer individuals. The focus is to find out how various social, economic and political discourses work towards repression of queer identities and reaffirming the oppressive discourse of heteronormative sexuality. Both Vijay Tendulkar and Mahesh Dattani have employed the fundamental themes of queer identity, oppressive attitude of society and psychological dilemma of queer individuals in their respective plays. In both the plays under study i.e . A Friend's Story by Vijay Tendulkar and On a Muggy Night in Mumbai by Dattani, there runs the unconventional theme of alternate sexuality which has been dealt with compassion and understanding. This study takes into account various unexplored issues related to queer identity. This study explores how these plays raise the issue of the emancipation of rights of queers and undertakes a comparative analysis of the two plays in order to discover varying attitudes towards this issue in Indian drama corresponding to the periods of the two playwrights.
Socio political protest : a comapartive study of selected plays (Har ik nu jion da haq chahidaye and savere di lo) of gursharan singh and selcted poems of sant ram udasi
(Central University of Punjab, 2013) Kaur, Kiranpal; Kaur, Zameerpal
The present research is based on the comparative study of two Punjabi writers Gursharan Singh and Sant Ram Udasi. If one is famous for his poetry the other is equally famous for his plays. There are similarities in the themes of both the writers. The theme of protest by the labour class especially women is shown in one and in other it is the farmer class which fights for its rights. The writers belong to Punjab and based their writing upon the socio-political conditions prevailing in this part of the country which led to the suppression of one class in the hands of another class. The compared writings belong to the field of political writing and the language and tone of both the authors is revolutionary. It deals with the problems of marginalised sections of society who have to suffer a lot in the capitalist world. The writers do not take any stand based on their religion rather their writing is for the people, to the people and by the people. The study would be across genre but the themes are the main focus. For this examples are given from the respective texts starting from the history of this kind of writing in Punjabi language before these writers came up.
Dalit experience in autobiography: A comparative study of government brahmana and mudrahiya
(Central University of Punjab, 2014) Gora, Devendra Kumar; Sen, Rajinder Kumar
Dalit Autobiography, a recent offshoot, introduces a new world of experience in Indian literature. It widens the range of expression and makes use of the language of the Dalits who have been excluded from the mainstream Indian society and discriminated, exploited, humiliated and marginalised on the basis of low caste status. There are various Dalit autobiographers who portray the sufferings of Dalits in their creative works. Aravind Malagatti and Tulsi ram are two significant Dalit autobiographers who have made attempt in raising the voice of Dalits in hierarchical society. The foremost objective of this research is to highlight social, cultural and economic conditions of Dalits and role of Education in their development within the reference of the autobiographies of Aravind Malagatti's Government Brahman and Tulsi Ram's Murdahiya . Both Aravind Malagatti and Tulsi Ram represent Dalit society in their personal narratives. Both Aravind Malagatti and Tulsi Ram interrogate social norms in different episodes of autobiographies and use their personal experience to expose the domination and subjugation of Dalits. A thematic approach from Dalit perspective has been adopted for this study.
Critiquing anthropocentrism in amitav ghosh's the hungry tide and j.m. coetzee's disgrace
(Central University of Punjab, 2013) Sheenam; Singh, Amandeep
Rapid degradation of environment is an important concern facing all disciplines of knowledge and man centeredness known as anthropocentrism is believed to be one of the major causes behind this. In literary sphere, approach of ecocriticism focuses on environmental issues and dominance of man over non-human living and non-living objects. Both the novels selected for this study, disclose the effects of degradation of environment due to man's anthropocentric approach. Amitav Ghosh in his novel The Hungry Tide deals with the themes of wildlife conservation and preservation of natural flora and fauna taking into consideration the lives of human beings. Focusing on ecologically fragile Sunderbans area, Ghosh raises questions about conflict between humans and animals and shows how anthropocentric model of development results in disappearance of tigers and other natural inhabitants of this region. Likewise, J.M.Coetzee in his novel Disgrace deals with the suffering of animals. Focusing on Post-Apartheid Africa, Coetzee presents the perspective of blacks who had to suffer like animals during colonialism. In this conflict, animals become the first casualty and reclamation of land and other natural resources becomes an important step towards fighting back. Both these writers tries to decentre human beings, they are of the view that non-human other should acquire equal rights and protection as human beings themselves possess. Lucy in Disgrace is the voice of Coetzee as she is concerned towards the well being of the animals. Piyali Roy in The Hungry Tide is also concerned about the animals but she views nature from the perspective of First world nations.
Depiction of dalit explotation and remonstration: a comparative study of salaam and muktiparva
(Central University of Punjab, 2013) Chitra; Sen, Rajinder Kumar
Dalit literature sheds the light on the whole society. Dalit literature depicts the suffering and pain of the Dalits. In Dalit literature, short story and novel writing both the genre has important place. By presenting the problems of the present social structure in India, these texts portray significant social critique of the prevailing problems. Omprakash Valmiki's Salaam (short story collection) and Mohandass Namishrai's Muktiparva replicate the internal distress, pain and revolt of Dalits. This research is an attempt to analyze these two texts and to reproduce as a social critique. Omprakash Valmiki's Salaam represents the discrimination, illtreatment, sufferings, untouchability and harsh realities of Dalits. It also highlights the socio-economic and political exploitation of Dalits by the upper caste. Mohandas Namishrai's Muktiparva is not only the depiction of Dalits, but it is also a mirror of the whole Indian society. Muktiparva shows the conditions of Dalits after independence. Dalits are still exploited and neglected due to their caste in the society. It unveils the social structure that exploits Dalits. It represents the socioeconomic, political and cultural gap between the Dalits and upper castes in Indian society. Through these texts, Omprakash Valmiki and Mohandass Namishrai have tried to bring self-assured attached with the whole society. Both texts highlight the struggle, discrimination against exploitation on the basis of caste system and raise the voice for the upliftment and empowerment of Dalits.
Revisiting history and the question of idenity: a comparative study of the shadow lines and tamas
(Central University of Punjab, 2013) Kaur, Pardeep; Sen, Rajinder Kumar
Identity is the central issue in contemporary literary discourses. The reason behind such centrality lies in the identity crisis faced by individuals or groups due to political and historical movements. In the postmodern world, history is regarded as a process wherein the writing of history has become more central than the history itself. Literature is one of the tools through which history of a particular time gets representation and such representation of an era gives voice to the common people who are ignored in the metanarrative of national history. The aim of present research, a comparative study of Amitav Ghosh's The Shadow Lines and Bhisham Sahni's Tamas is to understand the nature of history and identity. Amitav Ghosh, the postmodernist Indian English writer has huge body of work to his credit; varying in travel essays, novels and historical non-fiction. The present novel deals with the issues of fragmented identities and histories based upon fragmented memories. Bhisham Sahni, a progressive Hindi writer and humanist gives realistic representation to the mid twentieth century India in his novel highlighting constructed divisions among different sections of the society and partition of the country as a consequence. The idea of 'voice to the voiceless' is materialised through relocating the subalterns in history. The comparative analysis has been carried out with an objective to trace the similar impact of dominant discourses upon human subjects. In both the novels, the passive subaltern is suffering and is ignored in official history. It is not about what is in history rather it is about what is missing in history
Search for female self: A comparative study of jasmine and that long silence
(Central University of Punjab, 2013) Kaur, Rajpur; Singh, Amandeep
Bharati Mukherjee and Shashi Deshpande are two prominent Indian writers who portray the plight of Indian women - their hopes, joys, aspirations as well as frustrations and fears. Shashi Deshpande is an Indian writer living in India. Bharati Mukherjee is an Indian writer, but settled in a foreign country. In this study, comparative analysis of the writings of these two writers has been done so as to analyse the struggle of women towards their emancipation. The writings of these women are woman-centred and their characters belong to the urban, middle-class, traditional families. Both the texts Jasmine and That Long Silence under study portray that the historical as well as cultural locations of the writers as well as the protagonists change their attitude towards life. Both the writers have common cultural background as they belong to the same country but their locations bring about changes in their attitude towards life.
Historico-mythical analysis of girish karnad's tugh laqhlaq and swarajbir's krishna
(Central University of Punjab, 2013) Disha; Saini, Alpana
The present study proposes to do the comparative analysis of two plays- Tughlaq by Girish Karnad and Krishna by Swarajbir. Both the playwrights go back to ancient sources to conceive their plays. Karnad exploits the history of intelligent, sharp but unsuccessful Muslim ruler Tughlaq who is popularly known as "mad Muhammad". Swarajbir has used the mythical and historical character of Krishna to construct his play. The thread that unites both the plays is the negotiation of mythical and historical personages used in the plays with the contemporary reality. Both the plays transcend the periods they belong to and emerge as examples of metaphoric depiction of modern times. This study explores how these plays are charged with a contemporary flavour and to analyse these texts from a poststructuralist perspective comprising of various streams of thought such as archetypal criticism, Marxism, Historicity, Discourse analysis, Culture Studies and Gender Studies that further allow the texts to unravel and allow for a multifaceted research.
An Ecocritical Study Of Gita Mehta's A River Sutra And Arundati Roy'S The God Of Small Things
(Central University of Punjab, 2014) Singh, Sapinder; Kaur, Zameerpal
Ecocriticism is one of the most recently emerged interdisciplinary field of literary criticism. It refers to a study of literary texts involving the physical environment. The novels, A River Sutra By Gita Mehta and The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, selected for this study, focus on the depiction of landscape, rivers, non human world etc. This study analyses the role of physical environment in the plot construction of both the novels. The novels deal with beautiful depiction of landscape. A River Sutra deals with Indian culture and mythology. Likewise, The God of Small Things deals with the themes of love, morality, fear and environmental destruction. The study discusses the functions of ecocriticism to trace the interconnectedness of all beings. Both the writers have focused on the impact of biosphere on the characters in their novels. The study reveals that the writers have indeed given primary importance to the place or bioregion in their novels. This study focuses on the burning issue of environmental degradation- a severe threat to human being as well the entire ecosystem, as depicted in the novels.
A filmic historic mapping of 1857 : A comparative study of styajit ray's shatranj ke khiladi and shyam benegal's junoon
(Central University of Punjab, 2014) Singh, Jagdish; Saini, Alpna
The representation of history through the medium of film has been an important trend in the filmic world. While concerning with the different issues raised by the cinematic representation of a historic event, the films involve various types of thematic, ideological and hegemonic discursive practices of the period. The 'discontinuous' nature of history and the deconstruction of established notions from time to time makes the film version of history subordinate to the times in which it is made. The present study focuses on the comparative analysis of two films: Shatranj Ke Khilari by Satyajit Ray and Junoon by Shyam Benegal. Both the films are based on the revolt of 1857. The focus is to analyse how Ray's metaphoric use of chess and Benegal's blending of the historic event with the personal makes the difference in representing history through the medium of film. Both the films showcase the history of the revolt, its background and the colonial strategies of the British. The study focuses on how the filmic representation of a historic event in the non-fictional way differs from the fictional and historic representation.
Ecocentric vision in the works of J.M. Coetzee and AND Amitav Ghosh: A comparative study of life and times of MICHAEL K AND THE GLASS PALACE
(Central University of Punjab, 2014) Singh, Jagmeet; Kaur, Zameerpal
Environmental destruction has been a burning issue from the last few decades. The ego-centric attitude and rational thinking of man has led to the imbalance of the entire environment and its surroundings. The novels selected for this study, highlight the environmental concerns and expose human actions, technological advancement and industrial development responsible for the degradation of environment. Besides environmental degradation being a major issue of the The Glass Palace, the novel also deals with themes such as war, migration, exile, history, and colonial exploitation. Focusing on British invasion in Burma, Ghosh raises the question about nature's exploitation by the colonisers and local people in the form of teak and rubber trade and depicts the conflict between humans and the environment. He also portrays animal exploitation and killing of birds by humans for their personal needs. Likewise, Coetzee in his novel Life and Times of Michael K deals with the impact of war on human life, suffering of animals, loss of basic rights of humans and animals, oppression and degradation of environment. Ghosh primarily focuses on the exploitation of natural resources in Burma for trade, whereas, Coetzee describes the environmental destruction, loss of animal rights, and man's relation with nature during the civil war in South Africa. Both these writers try to delineate the oppression of man by man, environment by man, and reject the cruelty of man over animals for their greed. They are conscious for the non-human "other" and speak for their equal rights and protection as human beings themselves possess.
Struggle for identity comparative study of cry, the peacock and home
(Central University of Punjab, 2013) Romana, Khushwinder Kaur; Kaur, Zameerpal
The present dissertation scrutinises the construction of female identity in Indian society in Anita Desai's novel Cry, The Peacock and Manju Kapur' novel Home. It has been divided in four chapters. The first chapter deals with the key-concepts of Feminism, in which background of western feminism, three waves of feminism, schools of feminist thought and Indian feminism is described. Second chapter analyse the multi-facetedness and constructedness in the identity of Maya in the novel Cry, The Peacock. Anita Desai depicts the protagonist of her novel to be deeply embroiled in the quest for her real self. She is trying to find it in her social, personal and intimate relations. Maya cannot repress her urge to define the completeness in her identity through creation of a new life. The urge constantly nags at her and makes her conceive of her identity as incomplete. Third chapter of the dissertation focuses on Nisha's protest to establish her identity in Manju Kapur's novel Home. In this chapter the key- models of barrenness, dowry system, incestuous abuse, women education and economic independence of women are illustrated. Nisha, the protagonist of the novel is quite modern who discards the traditional thoughts of the society. In the fourth chapter conclusion is discussed with the comparative aspects of Anita Desai's novel Cry, The Peacock and Manju Kapur's novel Home. The conclusion tries to set up a common ground on which Cry, The Peacock and Home are compared. It presents the picture of contemporary Indian society in which women are yearning to ascertain their autonomous selves. The present study presents the plight of Indian women who are caught in traditions and conservative thoughts. It depicts the desire of woman for her autonomous self. The present study in itself is not complete but it brings into focus some issues of women
Mythico-patriarchal constructiuon of a women in githa hariharan's the thousand faces of night and mahasweta devi's stories draupadi and breast-giver
(Central University of Punjab, 2013) Vandana; Saini, Alpna
The present research offers a comparative study of Githa Hariharan's novel The Thousand Faces of Night and Mahasweta Devi's stories ''Draupadi'' and ''Breastgiver''. The focus of the analysis will be on the interpretative use of mythology from feministic perspective underlining women's oppression and predicament in a patriarchal society. Both the writers take mythological tales as patriarchal discourses with implied patriarchal stance and tend to revise these tales with altered ends to give voice to the silenced female perspective. The study explores how by reinterpreting mythical tales from feministic perspective, both writers Githa Hariharan and Mahasweta Devi inclusively expose and question women's suppression in a male-dominated set up.

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