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Dual Identity and Self-assertion: A Study of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter

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Sultan Alghofaili

Department of English Language and Translation, College of Sciences and Arts in Ar Rass, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia. Email: ssgfiely@qu.edu.sa

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 3, September-October 2022, Pages 1–13. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n3.20

First published: October 24, 2022 | Area: American Literature| License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under Volume 14, Number 3, 2022)
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Dual Identity and Self-assertion: A Study of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter

Abstract

The Scarlet Letter serves as both a critique of society and a window into Hawthorne’s thoughts. In opposition to a patriarchal depiction, he wants to allow women’s individuality some room. He does not advocate setting rules and imposing them on the individual to be governed by them. Thus, he created the character of Hester Prynne who appears as commenting upon the situation of women in the 19thand century of New England society. She struggles to win a place in society and she succeeds in winning it in her revolt against the very order that at the first stage humiliates and condemns her, and accepts and honours her later on. The article traces Hester’s individual rebellion in an alien land against an artificially created corrupt religious and moral order which exploits her body and denies her humanity at first and ultimately bows down to her consistent individual morality and actions. In doing so, the article tries to show certain feminist approaches adopted by the author long before feminism would come to the mainstream of literary thoughts.

Keywords: 19th-century New England society, Feminism, puritan, badge of shame.

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Factors Influencing Research Productivity among the Academic Staff: A Case Study at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam

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Bui Ha Phuong1, Duong Thi Phuong Chi1, Duong Minh Quang1, Bui Ngoc Quang1 & Bui Thi Thanh Dieu2

1University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam.

2University of Khanh Hoa, Khanh Hoa Province, Viet Nam

Corresponding email: buihaphuong81@hcmussh.edu.vn

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 3, September-October 2022, Pages 1–13. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n3.21

First published: October 24, 2022 | Area: Higher Education| License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under Volume 14, Number 3, 2022)
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Factors Influencing Research Productivity among the Academic Staff: A Case Study at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam

Abstract

Vietnamese universities expect faculty to become more effective not only in teaching but also in research coordinating activities. However, there are some obstacles to research productivity, thus causing a low level of research outcomes. This study aims to explore the impact of institutional factors as well as personal career development factors on the research productivity of academic staff at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City). The analysis was conducted on a sample of 245 academic staff. Although respondents understood the importance of undertaking research and had a good attitude towards research, their research productivity was significantly affected by research experience, language barriers, and time spent on research. In addition, the research results clarified that the main factors that reduced the research productivity of academic staff were heavy teaching duties, lack of scholarly resources, and insufficient research funding. Furthermore, respondents emphasized that if they had better research funding, and regularly participated in academic meetings, they would have high research motivation which would ultimately increase their research productivity. The findings contribute to our understanding of research productivity in Vietnamese universities, which is useful for educational leaders.

Keywords: Research productivity, Research work, Academic staff, Vietnamese universities

Language Contestation on The Virtual Linguistic Landscape of The Government Website of Bali, Indonesia

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I Made Suta Paramarta1, Ketut Artawa2, Made Sri Satyawati2, Ketut Widya Purnawati2, Putu Eka Dambayana Suputra1, Putu Ayu Prabawati Sudana1

1Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha, Bali, Indonesia. 2Universitas Udayana, Bali, Indonesia. Corresponding Email: suta.paramarta@undiksha.ac.id

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 3, September-October 2022, Pages 1–12. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n3.19

First published: October 20, 2022 | Area: Linguistics| License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under Volume 14, Number 3, 2022)
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Language Contestation on The Virtual Linguistic Landscape of The Government Website of Bali, Indonesia

Abstract

National, local, and international language contestation in Bali has been the government’s concern. The national language policy places Indonesian in the most prominent position, and the local regulation allegedly focuses on the Balinese salience. While most linguistic landscape (LL) research in Bali is conducted on physical LL, few have been conducted on the virtual linguistic landscape (VLL) setting. This study shows the language contestation of Indonesian, Balinese, and foreign languages on the official website of the government of Bali province. Furthermore, the analysis was based on the language contestation point of view and Bakhtinian’s centripetal and centrifugal forces. The results showed that the Indonesian language is the most dominant. Additionally, the Balinese language functions to convey Bali’s identity, and foreign languages play an important role in informational functions for viewers. The Indonesian language represents the centripetal force of centralization, and the existence of Balinese and foreign languages shows the centrifugal force indexes the decentralization efforts.

Keywords: virtual linguistic landscape, language contestation, centripetal force, centrifugal force

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Imagining India / Hinduism from Chile

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Felipe Luarte Correa
Professor, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Chile. Email id: fluarte@uc.cl

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 3, September-October 2022, Pages 1–7. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n3.18

First published: October 17, 2022 | Area: Latin America | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under the themed issue “Across Cultures: Ibero-America and India”)
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Imagining India / Hinduism from Chile

Abstract

Indian culture expresses itself in Chile’s daily life that, until recently, would have been unthinkable both for its real and mental remoteness. Undoubtedly, this is a consequence of globalization and the rapid flow of ideas and practices of the last decades, but it is also due to the sustained increase in the presence of the Indian community in Chile from the mid-’80s onwards, with the economic opening during that time creating favorable conditions for the increased number of Indian immigration in Chilean society. India’s cultural identity is marked by its religious way of life and in general, Hindu immigrants – as a result of the characteristics of Hinduism – have tended to reproduce their culture and religion while having to adjust to local circumstances. Consequently, both are renegotiated. This process implies an enormous effort of adaptability, which is necessary to be able to develop themselves in the new country without having to abandon the cultural baggage they bring with them, creating new strategies of action that at the same time imply and generate new ways of relating and redefining their identity referents.

Keywords: Chile, identity, Immigrant, India, Partial Scope Agreement

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A Model Text Recommendation System for Engaging English Language Learners: Facilitating Selections on CEFR

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Adelina Escobar-Acevedo1, Josefina Guerrero-García1, Rafael Guzmán-Cabrera2
1Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Facultad de Ciencias de la Computación, México. adelina.escobar@alumno.buap.mx
2Universidad de Guanajuato, Campus Irapuato-Salamanca, División de Ingenierías, Departamento de Ingeniería Eléctrica.

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 3, September-October 2022, Pages 1–8. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n3.17

First published: October 17, 2022 | Area: ELT | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under the General Area)
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A Model Text Recommendation System for Engaging English Language Learners: Facilitating Selections on CEFR

Abstract

A pedagogically informed multimodal education system is defined by how well reading tasks are assigned to students in a contemporary classroom. A source that becomes a provider of readings is the web, where it is possible to find information on practically all areas of knowledge and in a wide variety of languages. However, selecting the appropriate material for the level and theme becomes a tedious job to which language teachers must devote a significant amount of their time. Selecting suitable readings to accompany the teaching-learning process is thus not a ‘trivial’ task. Basic-level texts for language competence are easy to recognize and obtain but as is seen in the case of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages recommendations (CEFR), selection of appropriate texts that impart language competencies, especially of vocabulary and grammar at higher levels of communicativeness, selection becomes increasingly complex for teachers. Furthermore, the suggested readings should be raked by complexity in accordance with student capabilities. We suggest, that automatic classifiers based on CEFR levels may help in this process of selections from the already available corpora of authentic texts on the web. The existing facility of access of readers to such material on the web may come to the aid of automated classifiers. Teachers use interest to motivate reading in classrooms, but automatic recommendation systems will allow specific or even individualized recommendations. The authors explore the impact of such multimodal methods on the acquisition of better linguistic and communicative skills.

Keywords: English Language Learners, CEFR Language level, Linguistic Features, Text Complexity.

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The Symbol of the Sea in Rabindranath Tagore and Juan Ramón Jiménez

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Carlos Varona Narvión
Director, Spanish Embassy, Instituto Cervantes Marrakech, Marrakech, Morocco. Email: dirmar@cervantes.es

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 3, September-October 2022, Pages 1–21. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n3.16

First published: October 15, 2022 | Area: Latin America | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under the themed issue “Across Cultures: Ibero-America and India”)
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The Symbol of the Sea in Rabindranath Tagore and Juan Ramón Jiménez

Those of us who were born inland, deep inside the continent, have a fixed memory of the first time we saw the sea, the hugeness that goes beyond anything a child can ever imagine, the roaring that seems to want to share a secret which we shall never learn. One of the constants running through the oeuvre of Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) is an allusion to the beaches of the Ganges, where the poet meditated and on which, as the laureate himself told the world in his speech of acceptance of the Swedish prize, he heard the “muse” that prompted him to compose his verses1. On the other hand, we also know, from his numerous trips to Europe and the United States, that he was acquainted with several oceans, in addition to the Indian one, owing to the many times he sailed their waves on his journeys. Over this course, he started to make out that other boundless, shoreless ocean of which he speaks to us. He does this, for instance, in his Gitanjali (Song Offerings), one of his key works, of which André Gide would say that Tagore was seeking God in a “coloured reflection” 2, thus pointing to the keen and vibrant spirituality of this extremely famous collection of poems, published in the bard’s own translation into English a year before he received the Nobel Prize. Here, he tells us in the poem ‘Ocean of Forms’ (G 101)…Full-Text PDF

Issues and Challenges of the Indian Handloom Sector: A Legal Perspective

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Amrita Mishra1, Chinmaya Kumar Mohapatra2, Prabir Kumar Pattnaik3 & Swayam Prabha Satpathy4

1 Corresponding Author: Assistant Professor, Faculty of Legal Studies, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneshwar, Odisha, India. Email: amritamishra@soa.ac.in.

2Associate Professor, Faculty of Legal Studies, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. Email: chinmayamohapatra@soa.ac.in

3Professor, Faculty of Legal Studies, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneshwar, Odisha, India. Email:  prabirpattnaik@soa.ac.in

4Associate Professor, Dept of Humanities Faculty of Engineering & Technology, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. Email: swayamsatpathy@soa.ac.in

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 3, September-October 2022, Pages 1–11. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n3.15

First published: October 15, 2022 | Area: IPR | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under the General Area)
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Issues and Challenges of the Indian Handloom Sector: A Legal Perspective

Abstract

One of the most significant unorganized industries in the Indian economy is the handloom industry. According to some estimates, the handloom industry employs about forty lakh people. However, weavers involved in handloom production are unable to thrive in the face of fierce global competition and predatory tactics by multinational textile corporations, which threaten the survival of traditional handloom weavers through technical innovation. Due to these factors, the Indian handloom is always on the verge of hunger and starvation. The handloom industry’s strength comes from the fact that it is built on human talent, which is a component of traditional knowledge. Traditional knowledge cannot be adequately protected by the IP system in place. However, GI has developed as a legal tool for the defence and advancement of traditional knowledge. This is especially true in the case of the Indian GI Act, which covers a wide range of handloom products that are solely the result of human talent and independent of natural variables like typical area climatic circumstances. To preserve our rich historical and cultural legacy, it is imperative to safeguard and protect traditional methods, knowledge, and handloom products. Handloom weavers can benefit from Intellectual Property Rights protection under the existing worldwide regime. Some of the problems the handloom industry is currently facing and which give rise to legal issues include the socioeconomic circumstances of the weavers, the profitability of the handloom industry, the difficulties the weavers face, the accessibility of financial support, and innovative marketing strategies. Therefore, it is imperative that we consider these challenges and develop the kinds of plans that could aid the handloom business and weavers in improving their current situation. As a result, the paper looks at the current legal system for intellectual property rights to effectively safeguard the personal rights of handloom weavers as well as the craft itself.

Keywords: National and International Handlooms, Geographical Indication, Intellectual Property.

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Book Review: Tomb of Sand (Ret Samadhi)

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Geetanjali Shree, Trans. Daisy Rockwell, Tomb of Sand, Penguin India, 2022, p.738, INR 700. ISBN: 9780143448471

Reviewed by 
Dr Sharmila Narayana
Professor, Christ (Deemed to be University), Bangalore. Email: sharmila.narayana@christuniversity.in

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 3, September-October, 2022, Pages 1-3.  https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n3.14

First published: October 14, 2022 | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This review is published under Volume 14, Number 3, 2022)
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International Booker prize winner for 2022, Geethanjali Shree’s novel, Ret Samadhi translated as Tomb of Sand by Daisy Rockwell, is about borders – between genders, religions and nations. The story, set in Northern India, is about the eighty-year-old protagonist, Ma, who recovers from deep depression after her husband’s death and much to the consternation of her children, expresses the desire to travel to Pakistan – to her roots and thus reclaims her identity as Chandraprabha Devi. Ma’s travel is also a journey into her own self, opening doors and scaling walls, hitherto unknown.

The book is divided into three sections, indicating three phases of Ma’s life – the first section is titled ‘Ma’s back,’ and it focuses on her life after her husband’s death and her daily routine before that. The readers are also subtly made aware of the patriarchal structures in place in this house. The extensive use of metaphors like walls, doors and borders clearly indicates the confined life of women.  Ma has spent all her life taking care of the family that she now lays, “back to the world, as though dead” (Shree, 2022,p.39). This section concludes with Ma deciding to shift to Beti’s house for a while, moving away from Bade (eldest son), with whom she had been residing all along.

The second section titled ‘Sunlight’ begins with Ma entering Beti’s house. The one sentence in the beginning, “this is the door that opens to reveal a world created by Beti alone” says it all. The darkness, doors and walls in Bade’s house give way to light and colours. “The sunlight arrived each morning, kissing Ma’s face…and the two of them would sit and gaze affectionately at each other” (Shree, 2022,p.248). The sounds of peace and the quiet chirping of birds prevail. Ma sips her morning tea ‘as though drinking in a bird’s song’ (Shree, 2022,p.267). Ma and Beti enjoy each other’s company and bond well. Rosie Bua, the transgender, brings in a ‘fresh gust of wind’, (Shree, 2022,p.310) with her regular visits. As the section concludes,  Ma takes the strong decision to travel to Pakistan.

Section three titled ‘Back to the front’, commences with Ma and Beti reaching the Wagah border. The various partition narratives mentioned in this section, take the readers through the trauma of partition and Ma’s past is slowly unveiled. Ma relives her childhood and the sorrow of separation from loved ones. She rediscovers herself as Ali Anwar’s Chanda. The story concludes with Beti ‘leaping out of the window, filled with longing’ (Shree, 2022,p.732).

Tomb of Sand easily falls into the genre of partition literature and revolves around the life of Ma, who suddenly becomes conscious of her needs and desires and decides to live on her own terms. The novel begins by talking about borders… “ this particular tale has a border and women who come and go as they please” (Shree, 2022, p.11). The first section of the book is replete with strong metaphors like walls, doors and windows, clearly indicating the borders between men and women.  Ma, Bahu and Beti – the characters in the novel could be the mother, daughter-in-law and daughter of any Indian household, leading a mundane existence, confined within the walls and doors of a house, ‘invisible even in moments of stillness’ (Shree, 2022, p.37).

The novel traces the transformation of Ma, who was just a tomb of sand, toiling for the family till eighty, deciding to fly away like the wishing tree, ‘gliding into her own arteries and aerosols’ (Shree, 2022,p.56). In fact, travelling with Ma to Pakistan, seeing her zeal, Beti wonders, “When did I become me, and am I me, or have I become Ma?” (Shree, 2022,p.465). Beti is in awe when she gets to see a Ma, who is totally different from the person that she used to be at home, where “everyone’s breath flowed through her” (Shree, 2022,p.19). The journey to Pakistan is also a time for introspection for Beti when she actually gets to know Ma and the realization dawns on her as to how progressive her mother is.

Ma’s bonding with the transgender Rosie, is viewed suspiciously by her own ‘progressive’ children, revealing middle-class hypocrisies.  As the narration meanders through the traumatic events of partition to the present, the author also sarcastically touches upon all major socio-political issues in India, till date –  religious intolerance, communal riots, episodes of lynching by the cow vigilantes, Buddhism, political manipulations, problems of minorities and strong engagement with environmental issues, arising out of massive urbanisation.

Shree has crafted a story richly woven with images, symbols and metaphors that speak volumes, unspoken. The form and structure of the novel are quite different. The story is narrated from multiple perspectives, with strokes of magical realism splashed here and there.  Some chapters are just a few sentences, while two pages of another chapter are just one sentence. The casual way of narration makes the story highly relatable to Indian readers. The story does not progress in a linear manner and is a beautiful compilation of scattered thoughts and some loud thinking. The chapters are strewn with images from nature – earth,  birds, flowers and animals- that at times the reader just feels the sheer magic of poetry. The powerful animal imagery reminds one of Ted Hughes’ poems. Through subtle sarcasm, Shree depicts the intensity of discrimination practised in Ma’s house, as in “shouting is a tradition, an ancient Indian custom upheld by eldest sons” (Shree, 2022,p.45).

Ma’s name is only revealed towards the end of the novel, when she reclaims her identity, as Anwar Ali’s Chanda. Characters are described in detail so that one can almost feel their presence around. The youngest son’s inability to laugh and the way Shree engages in this description indicates how strict adherence to customs and traditions could impact men too. In another chapter, she says, “the state of families is rather like that of the city of Delhi” (Shree, 2022,p.187) and goes into a detailed comparison of the two. The style of narration lures the readers to stay hooked to the book, unravelling the twists and turns, as the journey to Pakistan progresses.

Daisy Rockwell’s translation needs special mention in this context. She has successfully captured the ethos of Ma’s home, without compromising on its flavour. Be it the broken sentences frequently used, or the unstructured flow of words, Rockwell has captured the music and poetry of Shree’s language. For a book that abounds with images and metaphors, layered with subtle sarcasm, the translation would have been a daunting task. However, Rockwell has aesthetically managed the recreation of the ‘English dhwani’ (Translator’s note, 2022,p.735) of the original Hindi version.

Tomb of Sand is not a tragic story about partition, rather, it is an unforgettable tale of the triumph of humanity, inclusivity and plurality. This is what makes it different from other partition pieces of literature of our time. The novel, through the strong character of Ma demonstrates “anything worth doing transcends borders” (Shree, 2022,p.12).

Inundating Cultural Diversity: A Critical Study of Oral Narratives of Kurichyas and Guarani in the Structuralist Perspective

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Haseena Naji

Research Scholar, Department of English Studies, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu, India. Email: haseenanaji@gmail.com

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 3, September-October 2022, Pages 1–21. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n3.13

First published: October 8, 2022 | Area: Latin America | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under the themed issue “Across Cultures: Ibero-America and India”)
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Inundating Cultural Diversity: A Critical Study of Oral Narratives of Kurichyas and Guarani in the Structuralist Perspective

Abstract

The paper seeks to explore the practicability of using Vladimir Propp’s framework to study the oral narratives of the Kurichyan tribe of Wayanad, Kerala, India and of the Guarani tribe of Paraguay, South America. For this purpose, Narippaattu (Wolf Song) of Kurichyar and The Beginning Life of the Hummingbird of Guarani are chosen. Out of the 27 functional events identified in the former, six of them do not fit into the Proppian framework and of the 13 identified in the latter, three of them do not conform to the Proppian structure. The events which are matched with Proppian events are tediously paralleled and do not correspond to each other entirely in the Proppian sense. None of the events identified in both tales show any linear or causal progression. Through this, I argue that an attempt to study narratives that originate from communities with multiple subtle diversities in terms of a universal structure will be problematic and mostly futile. We will lose the culturally distinct, subtle manifestations in the narratives in the endeavour to make them fit into any universal framework.

Keywords: structural analysis, Kurichya, Guarani, Propp, narrative analysis, poststructuralism

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Subverting Narratives of Nationalism: A Cross-National Study of Borges and Muktibodh

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Akansha Singh

Assistant Professor, NALSAR University of Law. Email: akansha.s@outlook.com

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 3, September-October 2022, Pages 1–15. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n3.11

First published: October 8, 2022 | Area: Latin America | License: CC BY-NC 4.0

(This article is published under the themed issue “Across Cultures: Ibero-America and India”)
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Subverting Narratives of Nationalism: A Cross-National Study of Borges and Muktibodh

Abstract

The mid-twentieth century Argentina and India witnessed a discursive construction and circulation of national identity closely entwined with literary production. This caused a surge in nationalistic sentiments, often culminating in socially discriminatory consequences. This paper shall analyse the role Jorge Luis Borges and Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh played in subverting nationalism, as members on the ideological margins of their respective countries. The study involves two interconnected inquiries in the authors’ works. First, a study of reasons behind their rejection of nationalistic writing— their personal lives as affected by it, their discontent with literary movements they were part of, literary censorships, and loss of jobs on account of their ideological differences. Second, a study of the alternatives the two writers offered against nationalism— literary forms, styles, and techniques. Placing the two inquiries together, the paper will study their works as writings of resistance that surface through a fusion of political opinion and social critique. It will further argue how resistance through writing conditions guides their existence.

Keywords: Nationalism, Borges, Muktibodh, Modernism, Post- Colonial

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