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Imagining the “Enemy”: Adversarial Roles in Rabindranath Tagore’s Short Stories

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Mohammad A. Quayum

Professor, Department of English Language and Literature, International Islamic University Malaysia. Email: mquayum@gmail.com

 

Volume 8, Number 4, 2016 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v8n4.09

Received September 09, 2016; Accepted September 19, 2016; Published January 14, 2017

Abstract

This essay investigates Rabindranath Tagore’s portrayal of antagonists or adversarial characters in a select body of his short stories, and argues that his perception of the antagonist is rooted in the influences of the Upanishads and the Bhagavad-Gita on his literary sensibility. Cut off from the paramatman and their antar-karana, his antagonists live in adviya and in rajasic or tamasic states.

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Politics of Equivocation and Deferral: Queen Elizabeth I and the Execution of Queen Mary of Scotland

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Nabanita Chakraborty

Assistant Professor, Hansraj College, University of Delhi. orcid.org/0000-0001-7182-6246. Email: cnita.in@gmail.com

Volume 8, Number 4, 2016 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v8n4.08

Received October 29, 2016; Revised December 21, 2016; Accepted December 25, 2016; Published January 14, 2017

Abstract

Equivocation, indecisiveness and delay in action have often been viewed pejoratively in a world dominated by the discourse of rationality, dynamic individual action and potentiality. My article argues that procrastination and equivocation can be political strategies to avoid exigencies in the state. To elaborate my argument, a speech of Queen Elizabeth I deferring the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, November 24, 1586 has been closely analyzed to examine how rhetoric of ambiguity and deferral  act as diplomatic and prudent approaches to promote peace and respond to political exigency in early-modern England. This article concludes that Queen Elizabeth’s political statesmanship lies in understanding the dynamics of power related to voluntary inaction rather than to violent action.

 Keywords: deferral, equivocation, politics, Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Mary of Scotland

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Heidegger and the Question of Freedom in The Eumenides

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Bahee Hadaegh1 Mohsen Sohrabi2

1Assistant Professor, Shiraz University, Faculty of Letters and Humanities, Department of Foreign Languages & Linguistics, Department of Foreign Language and Linguistics. Email: bhadaegh@rose.shirazu.ac.ir

2M.A. Graduate of Shiraz University, Department of Foreign Languages & Linguistics. E-mail: soshiant.sohrabi@gmail.com

 

Volume 8, Number 4, 2016 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v8n4.07

Received August 13, 2016; Revised November 20, 2016; Accepted December  22, 2016; Published January 14, 2017

Abstract

This paper first applies Heidegger’s notion of in/authenticity to Orestes in Aeschylus’ The Eumenides. The examination of authenticity is the departure point after which the question of freedom in this tragedy can be addressed mainly with Heidegger’s Being and Time in view. It then discusses a possible interpretation of the Greek god Apollo which frees and yet entangles Orestes in his course of decisions, which is also a harbinger of a new historical era in which the mythos for the historical Dasein brings it to the destiny of people. Heidegger’s understanding of tragedy brings the fate of historical man to the destiny of its people; therefore, in this reading of Aeschylus’ The Eumenides the individual—as in early Heidegger— transforms into a historical gestalt which is meaningful only with a look into the possibilities of future.

 Keywords: Authenticity, Being and Time, Freedom, History, The Eumenides

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Unhappy Consciousness: The (Im)Possibilities of Happiness in Hegel, Adorno, and Badiou

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Jeremy De Chavez1 & Jan Alain Villegas2

1Department of Literature, De La Salle University, Manila, Orcid: 0000-0003-0320-372X. Email: jeremy.dechavez@dlsu.edu.ph

2Department of Political Science, De La Salle University, Manila.

Volume 8, Number 4, 2016 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v8n4.06

Received October 14, 2016; Revised December 10, 2016; Accepted December 12, 2016; Published January 14, 2017

Abstract
Dominant approaches to the study of happiness have primarily tended to be oriented towards the maximization of happiness. This drive toward maximization has entailed looking for ways to quantify and consequently measure the levels of happiness in individuals as well as in social groups. This paper, which represents an initial inquiry into the critical study of happiness, insists on the irreducible and finally profoundly subjective dimension of happiness. Drawing on the work of G.W.F Hegel, Theodor Adorno, and Alain Badiou, this essay attempts to formulate a theoretical framework that would be able to advance a legitimate critique on happiness, a concept that has for the most part evaded criticism, and suggests that the insights drawn from those aforementioned thinkers offer meaningful entry points through which a thorough inquiry of happiness might be pursued.
Keywords: Happiness, Affect, Adorno, Hegel, Badiou

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The Body Move: Revising Portuguese Female Poetry of the First Quarter of the Twentieth Century

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Isabel Pinto

Research Centre for Communication and Culture (the Catholic University of Portugal), Faculdade de Ciências Humanas, UCP, Palma de Cima, Lisboa–Portugal.E-mail: vilhalpandos@hotmail.com

Volume 8, Number 4, 2016 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v8n4.05

Received August 25, 2016; Revised December 15, 2016; Accepted December 20, 2016; Published January 14, 2017

Abstract

The first quarter of the twentieth century in Portugal was characterised by a series of important historical and political events: the Regicide (1st February 1908), the fall of the Monarchy and establishment of the Republic (5th October 1910), and the First World War (1914-1918). By this time, women could not yet vote and they were systematically ignored in the debate of crucial social issues. Therefore, the main question here addressed is how poetry as free embodiment can take part in a gender revolution, promoting the feminist turn. The answer lies in the consequent breakout of female sentimental literature, which entitled women to reveal themselves, by enabling the poetic scrutiny of their intimacy through a particular focus on the body as prime referent. In this way, they dared to expose dreams, desires, fulfilments and despairs, firming an identity pact through poetry, and engendering a collective voice with social meaning. The published poems here analysed convey the idea that being a woman was something valuable and unique, and, at the same time, manage to inscribe female poets such as Virgínia Vitorino and Zulmira Falcarreira in the Portuguese intellectual mainstream.

Keywords: twentieth-century poetry; women; gender; body; feminism.

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The Problem of the Negation of the Conditional

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Miguel López-Astorga

Institute of Humanistic Studies “Juan Ignacio Molina”, University of Talca, Chile. Email address: milopez@utalca.cl

Volume 8, Number 4, 2016 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v8n4.04

Received August 25, 2016; Revised December 16, 2016; Accepted December 30, 2016; Published January 14, 2017

Abstract

People usually seem to negate the conditional in a different way as it is provided by standard logic. Both contemporary experimental results and texts coming from ancient sources appear to demonstrate that individuals tend not to negate the conditionals in entirety, but only their consequents. Obviously, this can lead one to think that there is no relationship between standard logic and human language and reasoning. However, in this paper, I try to show that, in spite of the mentioned results and texts, it is possible to continue to accept that there are certain links between systems such as that of Gentzen and the way people often negate the conditionals. That way is not, in many cases, exactly the one required by standard logic, but it is not absolutely inconsistent with the latter either.

Keywords: conditional; logical form; negation; standard logic; syntax

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Bachelard, Cassirer and Early Interdisciplinary Humanities

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Maria-Ana Tupan

Prof. Dr. Habil., Philology, Doctoral School, Department of Philology and History, Alba Iulia University, Alba Iulia, Romania. Email: m_tupan@yahoo.com

Volume 8, Number 4, 2016 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v8n4.03

Received November 19, 2016; Revised December 15, 2016; Accepted December 30, 2016; Published January 14, 2017

Abstract

Interdisciplinarity is “the ideal entry point into one of today’s most heated critical debates” reads the back blurb of the book published by Joe Moran at the beginning of the twenty-first century (Routledge, 2002). How old was actually the “New Critical Idiom” in the philosophy of cultural representation is the question the present paper is trying to answer.  We are travelling back in time to the point where aesthetics, poetics or art theory extended to include domains that Immanuel Kant had placed on the other side of the disciplinary divide: physics, algebra, geometry. The rise of a meta theory for disciplinary interfaces is related to the writings of Gaston Bachelard and Ernst Cassirer, who were sensitive to radical shifts in contemporary thought: the former responded to the rise of postformal thought (the logique du contradictoire, or polyvalent logic, informing the quantum superposition of states), while the latter took over from Felix Klein’s invariant theory the model of a unified frame for symbolic representation which rendered possible correlations across disciplinary fields and the coming together of the multiple languages of mythology, religion, science and art.

Keywords:  Interdisciplinarity, the New Critical Idiom, cultural representation, disciplinary reconfiguration, postformal thought.

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Barnett Newman, Gandhi, and the Aesthetics of Nonviolence

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Stephanie Chadwick

Assistant Professor, Art History, Department of Art, College of Fine Arts and Communications, Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas. Email: schadwick2@lamar.edu

Volume 8, Number 4, 2016 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v8n4.02

Received November 19, 2016; Revised November 25, 2016; Accepted December 15, 2016; Published January 14, 2017

Abstract

Taking the painting Be I by famous American Abstract Expressionist painter Barnett Newman as a starting point, this paper explores relationships between Mohandas K. Gandhi’s aesthetic life and an emerging aesthetic of nonviolence in the post WWII era. A nonviolent aesthetic is considered in the painting and in relation to two key photographs featured in the exhibition “Experiments with Truth: Gandhi and Images of Nonviolence” at the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas from October 3, 2014 – February 1, 2015: Margaret Bourke-White’s now iconic photograph of Gandhi Spinning and an anonymous photograph of Gandhi’s Earthly Belongings published in a 1954 book by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India, 1954.

 Keywords: Gandhi, Newman, Bourke-White, aesthetics, asceticism, nonviolence

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I’m a high school graduate

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Mavik Banner: physician; scientist. Searching for a way to tap into the hidden strengths that all humans have… then an accidental overdose of gamma radiation alters his body chemistry. And now when David Banner grows angry or outraged, a startling metamorphosis occurs. The creature is driven by rage and pursued by an investigative reporter. The creature is wanted for a murder he didn’t commit. David Banner is believed to be dead, and he must let the world think that he is dead, until he can find a way to control the raging spirit that dwells within him.

What would we do baby, without us?

I bet we been together for a million years, And I bet we’ll be together for a million more. Oh, It’s like I started breathing on the night we kissed, and I can’t remember what I ever did before. What would we do baby, without us? What would we do baby, without us? And there ain’t no nothing we can’t love each other through. What would we do baby, without us? Sha la la la.

Here’s the story of a lovely lady

Here’s the story of a lovely lady, who was bringing up three very lovely girls. All of them had hair of gold, like their mother, the youngest one in curls. Here’s the store, of a man named Brady, who was busy with three boys of his own. They were four men, living all together, yet they were all alone. ‘Til the one day when the lady met this fellow. And they knew it was much more than a hunch, that this group would somehow form a family. That’s the way we all became the Brady Bunch, the Brady Bunch. That’s the way we all became the Brady Bunch. The Brady Bunch!

Who can turn the world on with her smile? Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile? Well it’s you girl, and you should know it. With each glance and every little movement you show it. Love is all around, no need to waste it. You can have a town, why don’t you take it. You’re gonna make it after all. You’re gonna make it after all.

In time of ancient gods, warlords and kings, a land in turmoil cried out for a hero. She was Xena, a mighty princess forged in the heat of battle. The power. The passion. The danger. Her courage will change the world.

Being evil has a price. I hear a lot of little secrets. Tell me yours, and I’ll keep it. You oughta know my name by now, better think twice. Being evil has a price. I’ve got a nasty reputation. Not a bit of hesitation, you better think twice. ‘Cause being evil has a price.

Chosen from among all others by the Immortal Elders – Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles

The time to play the music, it’s time to light the lights. It’s time to meet the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight! It’s time to put on makeup, it’s time to dress up right. It’s time to raise the curtain on the Muppet Show tonight. Why do we always come here? I guess we’ll never know. It’s like a kind of torture to have to watch the show! And now let’s get things started – why don’t you get things started? It’s time to get things started on the most sensational inspirational celebrational Muppetational… This is what we call the Muppet Show!

Chosen from among all others by the Immortal Elders – Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, Mercury – Billy Batson and his mentor travel the highways and byways of the land on a never-ending mission: to right wrongs, to develop understanding, and to seek justice for all! In time of dire need, young Billy has been granted the power by the Immortals to summon awesome forces at the utterance of a single word – SHAZAM – a word which transforms him in a flash into the mightiest of mortal beings, Captain Marvel!

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About the Rupkatha Journal

The Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities (ISSN 0975-2935) derives its name from ‘rup’ (form) and ‘katha’ (words), which,

When you tell them the truth

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Mavik Banner: physician; scientist. Searching for a way to tap into the hidden strengths that all humans have… then an accidental overdose of gamma radiation alters his body chemistry. And now when David Banner grows angry or outraged, a startling metamorphosis occurs. The creature is driven by rage and pursued by an investigative reporter. The creature is wanted for a murder he didn’t commit. David Banner is believed to be dead, and he must let the world think that he is dead, until he can find a way to control the raging spirit that dwells within him.

What would we do baby, without us?

I bet we been together for a million years, And I bet we’ll be together for a million more. Oh, It’s like I started breathing on the night we kissed, and I can’t remember what I ever did before. What would we do baby, without us? What would we do baby, without us? And there ain’t no nothing we can’t love each other through. What would we do baby, without us? Sha la la la.

Here’s the story of a lovely lady

Here’s the story of a lovely lady, who was bringing up three very lovely girls. All of them had hair of gold, like their mother, the youngest one in curls. Here’s the store, of a man named Brady, who was busy with three boys of his own. They were four men, living all together, yet they were all alone. ‘Til the one day when the lady met this fellow. And they knew it was much more than a hunch, that this group would somehow form a family. That’s the way we all became the Brady Bunch, the Brady Bunch. That’s the way we all became the Brady Bunch. The Brady Bunch!

Who can turn the world on with her smile? Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile? Well it’s you girl, and you should know it. With each glance and every little movement you show it. Love is all around, no need to waste it. You can have a town, why don’t you take it. You’re gonna make it after all. You’re gonna make it after all.

In time of ancient gods, warlords and kings, a land in turmoil cried out for a hero. She was Xena, a mighty princess forged in the heat of battle. The power. The passion. The danger. Her courage will change the world.

Being evil has a price. I hear a lot of little secrets. Tell me yours, and I’ll keep it. You oughta know my name by now, better think twice. Being evil has a price. I’ve got a nasty reputation. Not a bit of hesitation, you better think twice. ‘Cause being evil has a price.

Chosen from among all others by the Immortal Elders – Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles

The time to play the music, it’s time to light the lights. It’s time to meet the Muppets on the Muppet Show tonight! It’s time to put on makeup, it’s time to dress up right. It’s time to raise the curtain on the Muppet Show tonight. Why do we always come here? I guess we’ll never know. It’s like a kind of torture to have to watch the show! And now let’s get things started – why don’t you get things started? It’s time to get things started on the most sensational inspirational celebrational Muppetational… This is what we call the Muppet Show!

Chosen from among all others by the Immortal Elders – Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, Mercury – Billy Batson and his mentor travel the highways and byways of the land on a never-ending mission: to right wrongs, to develop understanding, and to seek justice for all! In time of dire need, young Billy has been granted the power by the Immortals to summon awesome forces at the utterance of a single word – SHAZAM – a word which transforms him in a flash into the mightiest of mortal beings, Captain Marvel!

You might be interested in

Call for Reviewers and Copy-editors

Reviewers We invite applications from established scholars to act as Reviewers for the Rupkatha Journal (www.rupkatha.com). Reviewers  familiar with OJS

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