Summary of literary texts and key concepts of literature

  Translation Project:  The mythological character of Draupadi is reinvented to produce a counter-narrative by deploying the female body and sexuality as the locus of resistance. While translating this piece written by Mahasweta Devi, Gayatri Spivak Chakraborty may have been influenced by her own subaltern discourse in her groundbreaking essay, Can a Subaltern Speak?  In her essay, Spivak substantiates her answer to the question using Marxist theory and Derrida’s deconstructionist methods. Spivak’s essay challenges the notion of colonial subject and exemplifies the boundaries of the capability of Western discourse, in order to interrelate with incongruent cultures. Spivak justifies the fact that this project is destined to fail, not because the subaltern cannot speak words or produce sentences. The subaltern cannot speak because her speech lacks authority, and it is not heard or accepted politically and socially. In the translator’s forewords, she declares, that it appears to her tha

Introduction: The issue of identity in the postcolonial context is a problematic concept which has been further complicated by continuous inclusion of ideas like hybrid nation, constitution of countries with various cultural diversities, migration, transculturation, and other ramifications of the postcolonial phenomenon..The question of identity in the postcolonial world emerged obviously due to the sense of urgency felt on the part of the postcolonial writers to construct their own identity and share experiences from their perspective. Often times their identity appears to be instrumental in accentuating their discourse. In Mamang Dai’s creative writings, the politics of identity has been manifested in myriads of ways. Post colonialism: The term postcolonial refers to the era when colonies of European countries were emancipated from the long colonial rule. Bill Ashcroft and et al in The Empire Writes Back, defines, ‘ more than three quarter of the people living in the world today ha

The Development of English Drama during the Romantic Age (1800-1850) The Romantic era was not fertile for the production of stage drama. Why? That is a matter of conjecture .Some critics believe that drama was neglected during this period due to the dearth of ideas among the contemporary dramatists. A new genre of Drama evolved mainly from the trend of romantic poetry which was popularly known as the Closet Drama .A Closet Drama is written in a dramatic form, with dialogue indicating stage direction and settings. The author writes it with the intention that people should read it rather than seeing the performance. Lord Byron’s Manfred (1817), Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound (1820) are some honourable mentions in this context. It will be surprising to know that Shelley, Byron and Keats also wrote for stage but were later discouraged by the lukewarm response of the audience. Among all the works done during the age, perhaps Shelley’s The Cenci is the best produced work. Apart from Closet

Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in Europe by the end of the 18th century. Romantic literature was characterized by features like, shift in sensibility and feeling, love for nature, primitive and uncivilized way of life, more like vast, untamed, disorderly manifestations of nature, affinity towards expressing intense subjective feelings and the emerging concepts of the Sublime and the Noble Savage. Romanticism exhibits interest in the exotic, distant land. It has a nostalgia for the idealized past, commitment to political and social freedom and yearning to return to nature, use intuition and imagination to express intensely personal feelings. During the Romantic period, the concept of the Sublime was used to connote a surpassing excellence. Edmund Burke’s A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful (1757) contributed to thinking on the subject of the Sublime. The distinction between the beautiful

Romanticism exhibits interest in the exotic, distant land. It has a nostalgia for the idealized past, commitment to political and social freedom and yearning to return to nature, use intuition and imagination to express intensely personal feelings. During the Romantic period, the concept of Sublime was used to connote a surpassing excellence. Edmund Burke’s A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful (1757) contributed to thinking on the subject of Sublime. The distinction between the beautiful and the sublime is ,as Burke puts it, The former is associated with brightness, smoothness and smallness, the later with the infinite, solitude, emptiness, darkness and terror. The sublime is associated with powerful emotions, along with spiritual and religious awe, with vastness and immensity, with the natural order of its grander manifestations. Whatever Burke said about terror and the inspiration of terror had a considerable influence on the Gothic n

  ECONOMIC PROJECT AT THE HEART OF IMPERIALISM:  Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness presents a picturesque narration of the prevalent colonial practices. Although Conrad never explicitly criticizes the system, or the imperialistic system in the manner which was necessary, but simultaneously the poignant depiction of the disastrous experiences of the natives of Congo, as a result of colonial invasion in the novella.   Co nrad told his publisher in 1899, that the idea of the novella was the ‘criminality of insufficiency and pure selfishness when tackling the ‘civilizing work of Africa’ and the ‘subject of our time distinctly’ though ‘not topically treated.’ Beatrice Webb noted in her diary, about the novella, on 25 th June 1897, ‘Imperialism is in the air!-all classes drunk with sightseeing and hysterical loyalty, and it was this atmosphere which bent Conrad’s art in the direction of colonialism in Africa and which somewhat later provoked him to attack the ‘idiotic ‘ Boer war.’ We

  Flash fiction is a new genre of literature, which can be defined as an extremely short story. It is also known as, microfiction, postcard fiction, napkin fiction, microstories, nano tales, sudden fiction. Though this genre is relatively new in literature, it has its origin in fables, parables, Zen stories which were in vogue from the 7 th to 13 th century. Brevity is the most required characteristic of this genre. Though there is no standard word limit for Flash fiction, generally, it is supposed to range from six words to 1000 words. The soul of Flash fiction is the twisted ending that comes as a surprise to the reader and urges him to interpret the true meaning concealed within the text. The given Flash fiction is a classic example of this genre. Franz Kafka’s Give it up qualifies as flash fiction for its brevity which is one of the important features of this genre. It is indeed a condensed short story. The brilliant use of language is also commendable. The scene of the lonely