Contemporary Literary Review India

1-18

Authors: A. C. Kharingpam

This article attempts to relook at the works of Rev. William Pettigrew from the point of view of the native eyes. The dwindling of the Tangkhul Naga language and the introduction of the western education system to the Tangkhul Naga tribe in the year 1896 led to the tribe embracing Christianity. The systematic overhauling of the education system from being rooted in oral culture to that with a written education system brought a sea change in the lives of the tribe. The article sought to relocate the intricate coupling of the Bible and the school texts in the late 19th century and the early 20th century.

48-59

Authors: C. Satish Reddy & G. M. Sundaravalli

This article focuses on the way slaves are named in antebellum period of America, with examples from select slave narratives. Various stake holders are involved and their motives played a pivotal role in giving names to new born slave children or in changing the names of grown up slaves. Slave traders, plantation masters, slave kidnappers, slave parents particularly slave mothers and others involved in naming the slaves. Assigning names or changing the names by others than the slave parents had deep impact on the slaves. It is like taking away the identity of the slaves by force and thereby giving new identities. Early slaves or the first generation of slaves brought from the African continent had names of African origin. Later the plantation masters named their slaves with the names of Greek and Latin origin, particularly with the names of pagan gods and names of Roman army generals. Later biblical names are given to slaves as the Bible is introduced to them. Slaves had to go through a traumatic experience when their names are changed after they grew up. This paper shows how and why the slaves name changed in American slavery and its impact on slaves.

80-90

Authors: Junaid Shah Shabir

This paper attempts to present Wilde’s enchanting play ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ as a ridicule on the Victorian society of England which remains a quintessence of the so-called gentlemanliness and mannerisms even today. The play has succeeded in displaying how triviality was valued in the then-England and basic human values and morals were given least importance. The paper extrapolates the Victorian society for its derogatory human values and principles through the text. It highlights the trivialities in the lives of the Victorian people and exposes their showy attitudes. The inferences and findings are supported by using extracts from the text which enlighten the readers about the people of the then-England and their social codes and conducts. The paper illustrates how the writer has used the play to hold a mirror to the Victorian people so that they see their own virtual selves and get to know how shallow and materialistic their ways of life are. Wilde has put the characters in the best possible situations so that they reveal their real nature and demonstrate their true selves. These characters inadvertently exemplify the Victorianism while they are busy making their best out a situation and trying their best to win a person.

104-115

Authors: Dr Rakhi Vyas

The paper attempts an analytical study of the poetics of Kamala Das through the specific prism of the feminist ideology. Das, with her novel spectrum of poetry, announced the arrival of a fresh and indomitable female voice on the Indian English literary scene. Debunking the artifice of patriarchy and its oppressive function, she set out to live her life on her own terms. Her writings speak volumes about her extremely free and courageous outlook on life. We barely meet any inhibitions or ambiguities in her. Her verse verily reflects what she felt, thought and actually lived out. She is India’s answer to the American coterie of confessional poets as she limns a brutally honest portrait of her deeply felt angst, pain and bewilderment against the male-dominated superstructure in our society, in the most striking of confessional tones. A perusal of her ballistic verse opens floodgates to the understanding of the plight and predicament of the females’ section entrenched against the particular backdrop of the stereotypical Indian set up. Her anger and exasperation become her panacea. The fire that she sets on the paper through her verse becomes a torch lighting up the pathway to a more dignified, humanistic and cohesive status for the female folk.

132-164

Authors: Dr. Tasleem Ahmad War

Mirza Ghalib does not need any kind of introduction as he is a world famous poet for having made a significant contribution to the Urdu and Persian literature. He says about himself as a poet: ہیں اور بھی دنیا میں سخن ور بہت اچھے کہتے ہیں کہ غالبؔ کا ہے انداز بیاں اور haiñ aur bhī duniyā meñ suḳhan-var bahut achchhe kahte haiñ ki 'ġhālib' kā hai andāz-e-bayāñ aur At the same time Ghalib is very popular in South Asia even among unlettered people both because of the striking universal appeal of his verses and his style. One of the predominant concerns of his poetry is the way Ghalib talks about death. The theme of death is the quintessential feature of his poetry. It is such an important theme of his poetry that it almost gains the status of a character in his poetry as it occurs again and again in his poetry. Therefore the present research paper makes an attempt to highlight this particular obsessional tendency of Ghalib and relates it with these life events which kept haunting him from time to time. An attempt has also been made to look at the different connotations of death as used by Ghalib across his poetry. There are many aspects in his which have been critically examined by critics all over the world but this aspect-the most predominant feature of his poetry has not been examined at all, hence the present research paper makes an attempt to examine it critically. The paper also highlights how Ghalib foregrounds this unconventional technique of the treatment of death which creates defamiliarisation.

178-187

Authors: Subhajit Bhadra

Subhajit Bhadra Interviews Dr. Suresh Chakravarty

203-219

Authors: Madhu S Nair

Suspect by Madhu S Nair.

232-237

Authors: Ripon Handique

Hope by Ripon Handique.

242-244

Authors: Dr Anita Evelyn S

O my! What’s happening to the world around? by Dr Anita Evelyn S.

249-251

Authors: Dr Maria Miraglia

One Nation by Dr Maria Miraglia.

253-262

Authors: Camellia Biswas

Book Review Book Review of Deep Halder’s Blood Island: An Oral History of the Marichjhapi Massacre.

268-278

Authors: Mehak Burza

Book Review of Agnes G Spier’s Women’s Experiences In The Holocaust In Their Own Words.