Contemporary Literary Review India

1-14

Authors: Arsha Junaid

There are many war narratives in literature especially after the terrifying Second World War. Along with discussing the horrors of war, writers popularized the concept of ‘trauma’ which is an after effect of all the brutalities the soldiers and the citizens witnessed as part of the war. Concepts like PTSD began to be discussed and there came several different types of trauma narratives. ‘Abandonment trauma’ is one such where we discuss the psychological after effects of abandonment on an individual. Abandonment can be from different sources. But a child who is neglected of parental care and love in their childhood is likely to exhibit certain severe psychological impacts even after he grows into an adult. This academic paper discusses a novel written by the Senegalese writer David Diop At Night All Blood is Black which is primarily a war narrative discussing the story of a soldier Alfa Ndiaye, who is continuously exposed to the brutalities of the war and his transformation from an innocent soldier to a monstrous one seeking revenge by the ritualistic enemy killings. Alfa was like all the rest of the soldiers who obeyed his captain without any second thought, until he witnessed the death of his friend Mademba Diop in the war field. After that night he started transforming into a blood thirsty human monster who starts to kill his blue- eyed German enemy soldiers each a day and returned to his trench with the severed hand of the dead. He does this each single day until he is sent to the military asylum after the eighth enemy hand. This violence in Alfa has something to do with his childhood. The paper delves deeper into his childhood and the parental abandonment which he experienced at the early age of 9 and how it has affected his actions in the adulthood. It thus makes use of abandonment trauma theory and its psychological implications upon an individual.

25-38

Authors: Bishnupada Ray

Arun Kolatkar’s Jejuri is a key text in Indian English Poetry and it has been subjected to various readings. One reading that is still possible is its politics of representation, that beneath its seemingly innocent surface of a journey poem involving a city-bred modern-day tourist visiting the temple town of Jejuri near Pune in Maharastra, it takes up the serious issue of the dynamics of cultural misrepresentation in the way of marginalization and displacement. The poem can be read as one classic example of how the centre perceives the margin and at what cost. And in the process it reveals its economy of subjection. By ‘economy of subjection’ one can mean, in Saidian sense, the Orientalist process of subjecting the Other or the Oriental, the member of a subject race, into subjection; because one can find here the same process of othering by using the patterns of a travel narrative. However, a sense of alienation from one’s own culture on the part of the observer-recorder also comes to the fore, rendering the master-slave narrative problematic. Other manifestation of the Orientalist representation is a sort of internalisation of the Western way of looking at the Oriental irrationality and chaos and viewing it from the perspective of rationality and imposition of a rational form over the irrational chaos. One thematic aspect of Indianness in the poem is the internal colonialism and the resistance of it, rather than the external one; the cultural markers of which are always found in the form of our attitude towards the womankind and the subaltern, and in the pervasive sense of hopelessness and guilt, as manifested in our overriding religious feelings.

51-62

Authors: Theorizing the Quasi-Private

The family has, for centuries, engaged the Latin American imagination, as a quasi-private sphere where the subject negotiates with the inner/private and outer/public realms of existence, in compliance with, and at times in discordance with the state. The rapidly changing contours of the Latin American socio-political scenario have made its presence felt in the depiction of the family in literature. The paper attempts to explore the family as a kinship unit as depicted in the works of Mario Vargas Llosa, with special reference to Conversation in the Cathedral (1969) and The Discreet Hero (2013). Llosa’s works are unique in their depiction of the family in that the rupture of the established unit marks the movement of the narrative in conspicuous ways. The family serves as an interface between the public and the private and serves as the link connecting the characters to the outside world-i.e., the politico-jural domain” (Goody 93). The paper would explore the family as depicted in Llosa’s works as a quasi-private site of rupture existing in a complementary relationship with the state.

79-95

Authors: Rishav Devrani, Poojan Bulani

Motherhood is a prominent theme in Toni Morrison's works that she has emphasized in her novels as well as her essays. Through the thematic exploration of her stories, Morrison philosophizes the power and the sacrifices that flow from motherhood and attempts to dismantle the patriarchal poster image of a mother and the experience of motherhood. Building upon the same, she beautifully sews together her political stance on black womanhood, her ideas on slavery, its aftermath in the United States vis-à-vis the infinite struggles of maternal identity. In the essay, the authors have tried to analyze and anatomize the paradigm of stereotypical notions associated with motherhood. By deconstructing Toni Morrison's 'Sula,' 'A Mercy,' and 'Beloved,' the authors have attempted to explain how Morrison rebukes the status quo and run-of-the-mill motherly standards and writes fearlessly on concepts that have been seldom evaded and diverted by her contemporaries. By making a comparative analysis of her works, the authors have illustrated how Morrison tackles different themes of black womanhood; developing them from day-to-day experiences to an evolution of a new resistance. She enables, through her characters, African American women to come forward, counter, and challenge the discourse on black womanhood. Different eras beget different expectations where women are romanticized, and their traditional roles are reaffirmed. It, therefore, becomes pivotal for voices like Morrison's to encourage women all around through her innocent portrayal of the complexities of societal affirmation. For example, she disregards the conventional understanding that biological mothers are the sole domain holder of motherhood. The authors have discussed Morrison’s background to understand why she writes the way she does. Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993 and was one of the flagbearers of Black Feminist literature; due to her flair for dismantling complex and controversial subjects without stripping them off of reality. And as she always said, the power of changing the world for the better lies not in the great people we mourn, but with ourselves, the essay is an attempt to honor her unmatched legacy.

105-121

Authors: Suryendu Chanda Chaudhury

“Wuthering Heights” has intrigued the critics since its inception, even in the third decade of the 21st Century the novel still holds importance. Apart from its socio economic and psychological aspects, which have mostly been discussed upon, the novel is relevant in the context of life itself as can be perceived in the present situation. Although the plot seems to dwell on the personal problems involving two families and a stranger (Heathcliff), its reflective of the less spoken matters of life and society as well. The cruelty is indeed symbolic; the characters though bearing symbolic and allusive significance appear to be flesh and blood at least in the present context of time.

127-148

Authors: Ranjan Sen

The Edge of Violence is a story by Ranjan Sen.

157-166

Authors: Sudanthan Sudesamithiran

The Mural is a short story by Sudanthan Sudesamithiran.

170-171

Authors: Biswanath Dash

My old ink pen is a poem by Biswanath Dash.

174-177

Authors: Gary Beck

Dabbler, Blind to Emergencies, and Cure Needed are the poems by Gary Beck.

181-185

Authors: Raunak Kumar

An Unlikely Company During The Long Weekend is a poem written by Raunak Kumar.

186-192

Authors: Dr. Ronny Noor

Oh, Rohingyas, A Mother’s Lament, and Emerson: The Noble Sage are the poems by Dr. Ronny Noor.

196-202

Authors: Dian Parker

Obsession with Books is an essay by Dian Parker.

211-217

Authors: Dr. Anmol, Sumita Bose

Book Review of Sumita Bose’s Growing up Gracefully by Dr. Anmol.