Contemporary Literary Review India

12-25

Authors: Inakali Assumi

Arundhati Roy in her novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness has talked about numerous socio-political issues as the novel is set against the background of the Indo Pakistan riot. It revolves around a character named Anjum, also known as Aftab who is a hermaphrodite, and through her Roy portrays the third gender of the Indian society. The novel traces the life of Anjum and how she was able to break the misconception and the stereotyping of the hijras. This paper aims to explore the themes of love and sexuality which are vividly portrayed in Arundhati Roy’s novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. The major characters in the novel struggle to find a sense of belongingness and acceptance in the world which is divided in the name of gender, sexuality, class, politics etc. This paper analyses the psychological trauma and the complexity in the relationships of the two major characters Anjum and Tilo.

33-49

Authors: Rani Unnamalai K

Literary realism attempts to illustrate life in texts without romanticizing ordinary experiences. Upamanyu Chatterjee's work English, August presents the people of rural India. The protagonist of the novel, Agastya, is a civil servant and he encounters the people of Madna. I propose that in the novel’s postcolonial setting of rural India, the nation replicates the imperial power. The bureaucratic system in India poses as a mimicry of the imperialist rule; a masquerade of colonial modernity in India. This paper also examines the impact of colonialism on the individual's psyche. The characters face anxiety over self in various instances as bureaucrats and individuals. This paper seeks to explain the modernist method of writing in critiquing the colonial modernity in India and the objective reality that the realist writings tend to produce. My paper claims that the novel in the style of bildungsroman is a comical subversive critique generated against the narratives of the nation.

58-79

Authors: Dr. Tanutrushna Panigrahi

Nineteenth century Indian literary and cultural conventions were the outcome of several historical turning points. One such phenomenon was the intensifying of missionaries’ activities with the objectives of Christian propagation and religious conversion in the country. For the purpose, missionaries wrote, translated and printed massive amount of religious and secular literature and the genre of prose was the vehicle. While doing so, they introduced to the Indian literary soil a new form, and developed an identifiable literary pattern, a common literary core, and interrelatedness throughout the country which can be considered as the result of their taking the stronghold of certain cultural and literary reigns from weaker hands. This essay examines the missionaries’ role and functions in the development of the literary modernity in the nineteenth century India by taking a comparative case study of Assam and Orissa. It takes into consideration both similarities and differences in the development of prose, translation, text books and print technology.

92-108

Authors: Dr. Uttam Balu Koli

The present research article highlights the group of same letters opening with the alphabet ‘C’ in the different words of English language having different pronunciations. The group of same letters opening with the alphabet ‘C’ in the different words of English language, having different pronunciations, are 43 in numbers which are: ca, cce, ccla, cco, ccu, ce, ch, cha, che, chi, cho, chri, chro, chu, ci, cia, cka, cke, cla, cle, clea, cli, clie, clo, co, coa, coe, con, coo, cou, cqui, cra, cre, crea, cri, cro, cru, cry, cta, cti, ctro, cu and cy. The group of same letters opening with the select alphabet of ‘C’ in the different words of English language, having different pronunciations, have been written with examples including words and phonetic transcriptions which will help to acquire the proficiency over the select area of study. Conclusion and references have been included.

115-120

Authors: Arpita Chowdhury

The Stranger is a story by Arpita Chowdhury.

126-130

Authors: Debasmita Das

Just Another Story of a Hobbit a story by Debasmita Das.

137-141

Authors: Sakshi Amit Nadkarni

A Floral Love is a story Sakshi Amit Nadkarni.

145-147

Authors: Dipanjana Bandyopadhyay

Two Sisters is a poem by Dipanjana Bandyopadhyay.

154-155

Authors: Haritha Harekrishnan

Tranquility – To Accomplish is a poem by Haritha Harekrishnan.

158-160

Authors: Pramod Rastogi

Enlightenment is a poem by Pramod Rastogi.

165-166

Authors: Rohan Kumar Mohapatra

Books, not of paper is a poem by Rohan Kumar Mohapatra.

172-178

Authors: Umera Fatima Riyaz

Perplexed Souls is a poem by Umera Fatima Riyaz.

184-187

Authors: Dr. Shiv Sethi

NA

9-29

Authors: Anushmita Mohanty

This paper studies the Madras High Court trial of Perumal Murugan’s novel One Part Woman, focusing on issues of informal and formal censorship this trial invokes. It aims to reconstruct the events and unrest that led to the banning of this novel, and then analyses the rhetoric of the trial itself in order to demonstrate how the judiciary creates distinctions between formal and informal censorship, positing this difference as self-evident. An exploration of both the legal and literary implications of this censorship episode asks crucial questions about ideas of obscenity, literary merit and free speech for contemporary literature in India.

41-56

Authors: Junaid Shah Shabir

This paper attempts to read the past exclusively in terms of the present and takes an interdisciplinary approach by fitting W. H Auden’s poem, ‘The Shield of Achilles’ into the ongoing subjugation and dominance of Kashmir by Indian despotism which uses the most inhuman and forcible means at hand. This occupation has not only created a humanitarian crisis in Kashmir by subjugating the people and trampling their dignity but also kept the global peace in general and the subcontinental stability in particular under threat due to the involvement of three nuclear powers, India, Pakistan and China. Hence, presenting the poem in the status quo of Kashmir is quiet apt so far it helps illuminate the growing political uncertainties, horrible oppression, heinous acts of violence, mass murdering and other grave acts of human rights violation in Kashmir, under the Indian regime. The reader is taken for an expedition to the occupied Kashmir while the poem acts as a boat and print media its rudder.

74-87

Authors: Subhajit Bhadra

The search for identity is the cornerstone of modern literature and it emerges as a major concern not only in the mainstream Indian literature but also in the Northeast literature. Another aspect of Northeast literature is the search for roots and it becomes an overriding concern in the Northeast literature of postcolonial India. Northeast, still suffering from colonial hangover and ethnicity crisis, has always been swamped by the mainstream Indian politics and governance. This political dominance has forced the Northeast writers to explore their distinctive identity and give shape in their writing. Suresh Chakravarty delves deep into the hearts of Northeast people and digs out some of the most intensive crises of modern times and thus constructs each of his short stories depicting specific human sufferings and problems. He shows how the people of modern Northeast society are struggling with their dismantled identities fractured by the colonial legacy and mainstream political domination and how they are searching for their distinctive identities. The present essay discusses the above-mentioned concerns and explores how the writer successfully cultivates some of the most valid issues of modern Northeast people.

104-115

Authors: Debasish Banerjee

Brihannala's Canvas by Debasish Banerjee.

128-136

Authors: Venkatesh Govindarajan

Paths cross for a reason, or do they? is a story by Venkatesh Govindarajan.

150-154

Authors: Dr. K.V. Raghupathi

The Cockroach is a story by Dr. K.V. Raghupathi.

160-166

Authors: Bhupesh Chandra Karmakar

A Trip To America, My Lovely Tree, and I Was A Village Boy are poems by Bhupesh Chandra Karmakar.

170-171

Authors: Chaitali Sengupta

Seeking asylum is a poem by Chaitali Sengupta.

177-180

Authors: Marishobana .

Princess of patriotism and Tyring trauma on February 14, 2019 are poems by Marishobana.

185-188

Authors: Sakshi Kumar

The Coffin and The Unspoken Love are poems by Sakshi Kumar.

198-202

Authors: Aamir Raza

Book Review on Thomas B Hansen’s ‘The Law of Force: The Violent Heart of Indian Politics’.

213-218

Authors: Hema Ravi

Book Review on Sangeeta Gupta’s ‘Ends Are Beginnings’

10-25

Authors: Anupreeta Chatterjee

Any form of poetry is based on imagination and our introspection of what we see in reality. Poetry is a vision that reflects our visualization of reality. Poetry is an art of self-interrogation and it is indeed pictorial in its origin because without visualizing it, we cannot compose poetry. Every word which we choose to compose it is symbolic of the picture which we have visualized in our minds. Herein, imagination acts like mute poetry which enables the poetess to shape it into words. Through this paper, I am willing to understand the power of pictorial poetry which can help us to self-interrogate and enhance our mind’s quantum to integrate the inner world and outer world via using the lens of Zen psychoanalysis which emphasizes on integrating the self and the other. This associative narrative between the self and the other can help in resolving conflicts happening across the world. Thus, pictorial poetry becomes a visual lyric of transformation which helps in self-interrogation.

38-48

Authors: Sakshi Tyagi

The concept of identity has varied facets. It is not a static concept but something that is constantly undergoing change. It is through identity that we define or understand ourselves and the world around us. The idea of a national identity for a newly independent post-colonial nation involves a negotiation between the old and the new, and the product is not simply a homogeneous copy of either, but a hybrid mix of both cultures. In this paper, with the two primary texts Purple Hibiscus and The Fishermen set during tumultuous times of post-independence 80s and the political struggles for democracy in 1990s with the coming to age stories of both texts, these bildungsroman serve as a symbolic representation of Nigeria’s journey as an independent nation free of colonial hegemony. The background of erupting violence within the country in forms of military coup accompanied by a growing instinct of mimicking the colonizer’s culture reflects how a new identity was being developed. In this respect, my research aims to use Homi Bhabha’s concept of ‘mimicry’ and ‘hybridity’ to analyse how this new Nigerian identity is a product of the colonized subject’s mimicry of colonial culture and their negotiations with the pre-colonial traditions. Henceforth, the result is not exactly a duplicate copy but something different. The two secondary readings “Revolutionary Politics” and Poetics in the Nigerian Bildungsroman: The Coming‑of‑Age of the Individual and the Nation in Chigozie Obioma’s The Fishermen and “Half and Half Children”: Third-Generation Women Writers and the New Nigerian Novel will help in identifying in this essay how the works of literature narratively represent this struggle of understanding the complex relationship between the self and the identity that is being formed. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in “The Dangers of a Single story” touches the question of what the identity of is oneself and how the dichotomy between the cultures of the colonizer and the colonized subject work towards establishing the definition of self and identity. This talk will help in analysing how the contemporary writers in Nigeria are using narratives and storytelling techniques in developing an identity for themselves. The aim of this paper is to analyse how these contemporary literary works highlight and trace the development and negotiation of this new Nigerian identity where ideas of culture and religion appear displaced and tangled between the teachings of the fathers and the white man.

57-90

Authors: Shubham Joshi

The study of all of Franz Kafka's work with a gender-based concern has been central to the study of the author's text ever since the evolution of gender studies. The Metamorphosis by Kafka is his most significant work. A critical analysis of the characters of the novella, via the gender lens, unveils the social and political changes that Kafka encapsulates in his short prose about his time. This paper attempts to evaluate a rereading of Kafka's text, its character and the metaphors in the story correlated with the author's biography. The same has been done with the help of Freudian reading, Beauvoirian reading, and theories, and arguments propounded by Mary Wollstonecraft, Judith Butler, and a few other critics.

101-109

Authors: Madan Sarma Subhajit Bhadra

The Swim is a story by Madan Sarma.

116-133

Authors: Sambit Patnaik

M.D.'s Dad is kidnapped!!! is a story by Sambit Patnaik.

138-140

Authors: Dr. A. Chandra Bose

Where Do I Go? is a poem by Dr. A. Chandra Bose.

143-145

Authors: Dr. B. H. S. Thimmappa

Constant Inspiration is a poem by Dr. B. H. S. Thimmappa.

149-152

Authors: Bonobithi Biswas

No Revolution Please and Sequel Inevitable are poems by Bonobithi Biswas.

158-161

Authors: Kumar Sawan

Traffic is a poem by Kumar Sawan.

166-169

Authors: Dr. Prashanta Chandra Panda

Shadow-fit and Treasured Moments are poems by Dr. Prashanta Chandra Panda.

180-182

Authors: Shubha Pai

Blank is a poem jointly composed by Shubha Pai, Raga Lahari, and Pallavi Sharma.

185-191

Authors: Ravindra Rao

Dr Anmol reviews Ravindra Rao’s book titled Aksara Bhagavad Gita.

196-200

Authors: Chanda Rani

Chanda Rani reviews Aparna Vaidik’s book titled My Son’s Inheritance: A Secret History of Lynching and Blood Justice in India.

23-42

Authors: Anamika Kamal

The complexities of the human minds have been discussed and debated over for a long time now. This fascination towards the human psyche could also be observed in literature, especially since the early 20th century. Ian McEwan’s Enduring Love could be considered as one such novel in which the novelist puts in significant efforts to expose the labyrinthine idiosyncrasies of the human mind. The intention of this paper is to study the characters of the novel in order to understand the sinuous functioning of their minds which controls their expressions and reactions to the situations in the novel.

52-64

Authors: Dr. A Savitri

V. S. Naipaul’s novel ‘A Bend in the River’ is set on the East Coast of Africa. Salim is the protagonist of the novel. The writer narrates the story through Salim. Salim left his place to set a shop in the interior part of Africa. His desire was to get settled in his life well. But, throughout the novel he looked very unsettled, displeased, disturbed and aloof. His fear did not leave him ever. Africa was under the colonial rule for many years. Africa was in devastating situation when the colonial rule ended. For the first time, the word ‘development’ is heard from the mouth of ‘The President’. The novel has many twists and turns. As the story progresses, one finds the deteriorating situation rather than the development. Eventually, the Protagonist of the novel, Salim, lost his hope and returned to his place disappointedly on the advice of a commissioner. The whole novel brings out the dystopian sense. It starts with the nature of Utopia but as the story progresses, it turns to Dystopia.

86-99

Authors: Hemanth Kumar

Gandhi has been one of the major sources for literature writing in India, his philosophical reflections can be found in a large number of writings, this involves writers of not only one language or ideology, but of multiple different languages and time periods, all of them have tried to encapsulate his ideology in their writings. These writers are mostly who have deliberated upon social issues or problems prevalent in their respective societies and the most prominent personality, who had a great impact on mitigating and alleviating them is Gandhi, hence his incorporation is an inalienable part of such Literature. The research paper studies and understands the impact of Gandhian philosophy on Indian literature, with a special emphasis on the writings of Premchand and Raja Rao, it analyses their writings, relevance to the then society and Gandhian philosophy incorporated in them.

111-9

Authors: Krupa Shah

The paper examines the significance of the prairie in Canadian literature especially with reference to Canadian writer Robert Kroetsch’s novel The Studhorse Man. The prairie is both a metaphor and an experience and it is also the story. The prairie is also the alien and hostile land unrelenting to human footsteps; a land without history and the echoing warmth of myths told and re-told across generations. This paper argues that Robert Kroetsch’s novel The Studhorse Man is an exemplification of the prairie and that it is through its interrupted self-conscious narration that Kroetsch completes the act of naming and re-telling, thus claiming the prairie both as a source as well as a perpetrator of history and myth.

150-61

Authors: Liya Elsa Sabu

This paper intends to focus on the shared themes in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and ONV’s long narrative poem Swayamvaram. Leo Tolstoy (9 September 1829 - 20 November 1910) is inarguably one of the most influential Russian writers, best known for his novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina(though in later life, he declared himself embarrassed by the latter). Tolstoy also authored numerous philosophical essays, novellas, short stories and plays, of which the most widely read are his fable-like short stories. Ottaplackal Neelakandan Velu Kurup (27 May 1931 – 13 February 2016) is one of the foremost Malayalam poets and winner of the Jnanapith Award. He is widely admired for his ability to paint the grim contemporary realities in beautiful lyrical verse. His works include short lyrical poetry as well as longer narrative poems Ujjayini and Swayamvaram, both focusing on deconstructions of mythological narratives.

187-00

Authors: Dr. Ronny Noor

This paper studies a number of popular songs by the singer of the millennium Mohammed Rafi from Hindi movies to show how they surpass the narrow bounds of organized religion to convey a universal message. Songs like “You will not become a Hindu nor a Muslim will you become” and “You’re there in the temples, in the mosques, and in all beliefs” convey a message proclaimed by the 15th century poet Chandidas: Above all is human, none else. It also relates to what Mahatma Gandhi said: God has no religion. Gandhi’s utterance is based on the idea that “god” is a moral force, a view which dates back to the Vedas, where Indra represents the good principle. This view was borrowed by the Persian Zarathustra, who came up with the concept of Ahura Mazda, later called Ormazd, representing the good principle as opposed to Ahriman, representing evil. This is the basis of monotheism, which Jews and Arabs borrowed. So the roots of Hinduism and Islam, as well as Christianity, are the same, whatever name the good principle is given. Thus, the message contained in popular songs can help people abandon their fanaticism, bigotry and violence, and make not only the Indian subcontinent but also the world a more peaceful place.

220-4

Authors: Debasish Banerjee

His Last Clay is a story by Debasish Banerjee.

239-47

Authors: Swapnil Bhatnagar

The Stardust Child is a story by Swapnil Bhatnagar.

251-2

Authors: Bupinder Singh Bali

Sunken Gravedigger is a poem by Bupinder Singh Bali.

255-7

Authors: Dhanesh Sebastian

The Middle Finger is a poem by Dhanesh Sebastian.

260-1

Authors: Priyanka Sharma

You have muscles, bones and sinews is a poem by Priyanka Sharma.

265-8

Authors: Raad Kareem Abd-Aun

The Necessary Enemy, 25th October, and Away from Nothome: Thoughts on Involuntary Self-Exile are poems by Raad Kareem Abd-Aun.

273-4

Authors: Dr. Subrata Sinha

A Wait is a poem by Subrata Sinha.

280-96

Authors: Arshdeep Singh

Arshdeep Singh reviews Navtej Sarna’s novel titled The Exile: A Novel.

300-5

Authors: Shubhangi Kansal

Shubhangi Kansal Reviews Teresa Rehman's book titled The Mothers of Manipur: Twelve Women Who Made History.