Contemporary Literary Review India

17-27

Authors: Mrudula Lakkaraju

The flamboyant Nouveau Riche to whom the tall buildings, the cars, the parties belong to and the dirty, hardworking working class are the two polarities one gets to understand in Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Loyal to the book, with little portions omitted which do not directly contribute to the main plot; the cinematic adaptation brings to life from a vast two dimensional narrative into the concise, rich and detailed narrative. The narration is by Nick Carraway and he chooses to tell the story as a man who doesn’t really fit in with either of the classes. This tragic story is a representative of early 1900’s America, brings forth images which stay with us even after we finish assimilating the book. These images are carried into the cinematic adaptation to retain the flavour of the times. Some images are what we started the abstract with. The palatial houses, the vast lawns, the extravagance of those times in terms of dresses, trophies, connections and the splurge in general. Amidst these material excesses Scott Fitzgerald brings in one image, in the background, not so flashy, but yet becomes demonstrative of the emotional tumult the characters undergo. It is the window. Windows are everywhere, witness to some of the defining moments of the novel and the cinematic adaptation. This paper is an effort to decipher these emotional representations the windows stand for. There are nearly 38 mentions of the window as an icon of representation in the novel and equally an important role does it play in the unfolding of the cinematic adaptation.

51-61

Authors: Raghu vamsi Dantuluri

Conflict finds its space in the inner layers of human mind as the relationship cracks and the perspective of the individual and the outside entity lies in contrast owing to the fact of parasitism that operates and spreads its tentacles in varied forms of life. The conflict creates fissures in the psyche and uproots him from the comfort zone. It even prompts him to question his position in the society and the individual takes the path towards liberation crossing the moods of introspection and analysis. When the individual gets liberated, he gets into the flexible mode that accommodates an exclusive space to connect himself with the outer world. It makes him move forward in the pursuit of eternal happiness that shapes him as a complete individual. Anita Nair through her works makes an attempt to portray the intricacy of the relationship that man shares with the world. She delves into the portals of human psyche and reveals the effect of change on man as the natural instinct pressurizes him towards the aspect of static form.

73-113

Authors: Anne Whitehouse

Chapter Two—Poe and Chivers is an extract from an upcoming book titled Longfellow and Poe by Anne Whitehouse.

118-127

Authors: Laura Solomon

Hell’s Unveiling is a story by Laura Solomon.

142-143

Authors: Trisha Ghosal

Seperation is a poem by Trisha Ghosal.

146-150

Authors: Sandeep Kumar Mishra

Sip a Soul, I Painted an Ocean, and First Monsoon poems by Sandeep Kumar Mishra.

155-159

Authors: Vishal Ithape

Inferior Infantiles and Oh! My Sweet Bernadette! poems by Vishal Ithape.

162-172

Authors: Dalip Khetarpal

Unexpressed Truths of the World of Poets and Crises of masks are poems by Dalip Khetarpal.

11-26

Authors: Ramesh Chandra Adhikari

The entire nineteenth-century, especially the second half of it, was a period of cultural and religious ferment in India under the influence of western culture and missions. Believing that the civilization of India is barbaric and superstitious, the Colonisers think Western epistemological structure – culture, political ideology and philosophy, forms of government, educational and social infrastructure – are needed to be implied to civilize their colonies which according to them were inhabited by humanist subclasses. But the Missionaries had different missions. They bring along with them a new world of Christendom who intervene into the interests – livelihood, work, cultural practices, life style, food habit, social behaviour, social infrastructure – of the bulk of the rural population – landless labour, small and marginal farmers, artisans, nomads and various aboriginal without caring to understand the social peculiarities of the place; ignoring the religio-cultural sensitivity of people. Their moral superiority and doctrine of monopoly miserably fails to understand the social solidarity, social cohesion and social integration of the wretched of earth. Moreover, with their aggressive imperialism, the Christian missionaries are perpetrating in nature who can not recognise the dalit, marginalized, downtrodden and subaltern. And the indigenous people who is not a part or choose not to be a part of the course of Christianisation, fall victims to the seductive ideology of the missionaries. It is because their foundational principles and doctrines are alien, unreasonable and uncalled for and have been called into questions. They have been challenging and harmful to their sustainable living. In brief, the worst sufferers are the primitive people who live in isolation and are forgotten. Their liberty and equality and rights and justice are at stake. Those facilities are denied and gasping for breath. Needles to say, there has been a radical change in their ideas, value systems, beliefs, cultural practices and so on and so forth. And its abuses have been examined by writers from varied backgrounds. One of the first authors to address such issues in literary works is Gopinath Mohanty.

63-83

Authors: Dr. Roghayeh Farsi

The present paper studies the concept of spirituality in Gandhi's selected poems entitled The rhyme of the mystic mariner (2017). The paper focuses on spiritual qualities and pragmatics as conceptualized in some of the poems. Spirituality is presented mostly in metaphors and personifications throughout the poems. The adopted methodology is both analytic and interpretive. Spirituality is treated on the three levels of trait, goal, and emotion. It blends Elkins' spiritual qualities with Beck's pragmatics of spirituality. The analysis of these concepts helps one detect a processual pattern. It is argued in addition to universality, phenomenology, mysterious energy, and compassion, Gandhi accentuates eternity (universal timelessness), oneness, love, and harmony. Love is the foremost spiritual emotion that accords one perspective, insight, and awareness. It ends in Zen or contemplation, the pragmatic act that Gandhi's poetry highlights in the spiritual process. The paper concludes for Gandhi the Ultimate truth is harmony, the Ultimate state is silence (peace), and the Ultimate act is contemplation.

88-98

Authors: Ashok Patwari

The Accused is a story by Ashok Patwari.

101-103

Authors: Tania Chakraborty

Not Applicable

114-119

Authors: Sandeep Kumar Mishra

Sleep-On Sale, Bring Me More Pain, Beauty: bliss, When I Breathe Last, Death: A New Life are the poems by Sandeep Kumar Mishra.

122-128

Authors: Ayaz Rasoolnazki

The dedication sets up the tone for this remarkable collection of poems on Kashmir: “When I sang the songs of light, they blinded all my eyes.” He speaks of a world beyond Kashmir, full of light and perhaps joy, “but our blinded and blindfolded eyes cannot see it” - a desolate mirror to Kashmir today, and the writer’s burden as witness and raconteur of the state of his world.

17-34

Authors: Anusree Ganguly

The 1957 Literature Nobel Prize winner, Albert Camus’ The Outsider is an experiment in "obstinate honesty and logic", as Camus himself describes the book that establishes the Truth of the Absurd. The Truth of the Absurd explores "conscious death" for the Absurd Man who will be, at first, acutely conscious to unhappiness from missing Liberty and Truth in Life for he feels that there is nothing – let alone the little goals we set for ourselves in Life, and happiness therefrom – that cannot be made defunct by the ineluctable reality of Death. He will detach from this moral framework, murder to reset the existing framework to start from nothing, feel the agony of imprisonment and soon to be guillotined, know hope of living a second time – whatever little is left of it – and, be happy in spite of death approaching, and thereby, re-establish the moral framework on its pillars of Truth and Liberty. The significant here is to challenge death by searching for happiness, in spite of death. Ignorance implies happiness bypassing death.

57-61

Authors: Sheel Galada Parekh

The Shift is a story by Sheel Parekh. This story recounts a tragic incident that inspires awe.

86-87

Authors: Neelam Dadhwal

Again the Sky is a poem written by Neelam Dadhwal.

91-96

Authors: David Tuvell

A Woman in the Crowd, Before You Know It, and Children in the Agora are the poems by David Tuvell.

102-105

Authors: Amitabh Vikram Dwivedi

Rage and Maze of Words are the poems written by Amitabh Vikram Dwivedi.

113-118

Authors: Meenakshi Jauhari Chawla

Meenakshi Chawla reviews Jayanta Ray’s Tales of Square Field. The stories we tell ourselves tell the story of our life. Through those stories, we create, build and divine the world around us in our unique light. That is the way the world becomes ours — that is the way we derive meaning from it.

33-53

Authors: Chirag Trivedi, Bhargav Hiren Oza

The development of the Dalit identity over the last few decades has been shaped by the revolutionary movements – political and literary. Whatever the term used, being Dalit is a real experience and everyday struggle for the masses living under the curse of the caste system. Over the years, the term Dalit has come to signify the masses that have been exploited and oppressed by the dominant social classes in India. Dalit theory has been widely misrepresented in Indian academia because of two primary reasons: Firstly, the production of Dalit theory in Indian social sciences has so far been controlled by the elite Brahmins, the legitimate subject who has the right to produce knowledge as per the Dharmashastras and Varnashram. Secondly, the alienation of Savarnas from the ‘lived’ experience of those who are at the bottom rungs of caste system and face violence. This kind of scholarship requires critical introspection, since it is produced by ‘Theoretical Brahmins’, not by ‘Empirical Shudras’ (Guru and Sarukkai). This leads us to certain fundamental gaps between a ‘lived’ experience on ground and an elite ‘Brahminical’ theory produced on top: Is not the social sciences in India, itself a product of the Chaturvarna system? Who are the ‘owners’, ‘authors’ of these experiences? This paper further deliberates upon questions like is Dalit-hood merely social stratification or personal experience and by constantly comparing select Gujarati and Marathi Dalit literary narratives the paper interrogates if Dalit literature really ensures emancipation. The focus of the paper is on registering how Dalit literary movement, through its cross-interactions with Dalit theory, struggles between ‘victimhood’ as its stereotypical identity and anti-caste approach as that could ensure movement from margin to the centre space.

77-83

Authors: Niels Hav

Happy and Freshly Loved is an essay by Niels Hav.

103-113

Authors: CG FEWSTON

I am writing today to submit a short story (“The Girl on the River Kwai / 2,624 words) about a young woman who witnesses an event on the River Kwai and has her life changed thereafter.

127-136

Authors: Syed Kazim Ali Kazmi

A Donkey in a Horse Race is a story by Syed Kazim Ali Kazmi.

139-141

Authors: Disha Kapadia-Chinchwadkar

i am is a poem by Disha Kapadia - Chinchwadkar.

144-148

Authors: Sivaprasad Palode

Twenty Poems in Three Lines is a poem by Sivaprasad Palode.

152-161

Authors: Neil Leadbeater

Book Review on Dr Mahendra Bhatnagar’s Struggling For Life by Neil Leadbeater. The full title of this collection is Struggling For Life: Lyrical Glimpses of Life and Experience (A Philosophy of Life). It is a fair summary of its style and content and gives the reader an insight into what is to follow. The title suggests a hard contest that is fraught with difficulty. For Bhatnagar, the mystery of living requires us to expend considerable effort and exertion as we try to comprehend and make sense of our conscious existence. “Life” here is not just the period between birth and death, it is also related to the now and forever: it is the struggle for eternal well-being.