Vol 1 No 2

Editorial (Vol 1, No 2)

//
97 views

The second issue of Rupkatha journal is ready for access. The gratitude due to contributors should be acknowledged not just as a matter of courtesy but because they have introduced interdisciplinary methods of study, making parts of this issue a good reflector of the transformation of disciplines. At least a couple of essays investigates the relationship between nature and the impulse of literature. The other essays raise issues of history and individualism in literature.

Indeed interdisciplinary studies is the need of the hour. The fundamental idea for interdisciplinarity derives from an evolutionary necessity; namely the need to confront and interpret complex systems. To put it simply this means that [a] the entities that we investigate within the environment of contemporary science are perceived to be more like organic or interrelated complexes. The entity that is studied [say like one from logistics, or psychiatry, or dietary cuisine, for examples] can no longer be analyzed in terms of an object of ‘biology’ or ‘chemistry’, but as a contending hierarchy of components which could be studied under the rubric of multiple or variable branches of knowledge. Thus for example a health insurance program involves a consideration of [economics] distribution of wealth, pharmacology, social behaviour, statistics, and probability. Any policy decision on implementation of a viable health care system will have to factor in knowledge from multiple disciplines. Human knowledge can no longer be classified in accordance with the academic compartmentalisations of even classical 19th century science.

Furthermore, processes of nature would have to be deciphered as a combinatorial operation of both scientific and emergent characteristic s. This is especially true of aesthetic reflexes which are a vital part of human behaviour. Singing, Darwin said, is an example of antiphonal harmony that originated in mating calls. A piece of communication—be it a dance performance or a visually textured painting—offers an entire range of acculturation.

Again the beauty of a piece –and frankly speaking – its complexity lies almost beyond the human capacity of reconstructive integration; any piece of art remains unique and unreduplicated in this sense.

The Humanities may be the only discipline outside the new ‘sciences’ that affords an opportunity for studying the most subtle or occluded forces that shape and retain stable forms of communal beliefs and rituals. The combined and orchestrated multi-functionalism of nature gives rise to such moments as those of memory, excitability, preference, suppression, and harmonization. The neuro- aesthetics of cultural expression are still unknown to us. First, there is hardly any consensus on the exact nature of human consciousness, let alone the entire range of deviant functions or multi-tasking that the brain is capable of. As far as aesthetics is concerned, we have to re-define the propensity for parallel perceptions, or what Aristotle unerringly called mimicry, which might help in explaining the capacity and /or competence in designing and short-routing experiences of ‘metaphor’ and allegorical images, or things like suggestivity and excitability [of emotions].

I am inclined to believe that the first steps in this direction could be taken through a fuller knowledge of pharmacological sciences and clinical anatomy, reflexology or discharge behaviour, learning, and sensitization through acts of communalisation.

Another interesting project that has to be undertaken is a study related to the conditions of experience we associate with such states as those of ‘god’ or ‘immortality’.

But there may be something irreducible in the components of experience, and therefore of knowledge itself which derives from the former. Either this, or the other position has to accepted. According to the anthropic principle there is no vantage point and that we are by nature not equipped to know, or gather total knowledge – however small or exclusive the domain may be. Perhaps the latter position is more modest and appropriate here. Unknowability is no safe haven—but a form of recognizing the complexity and paradigmatic failure of intuition.

Chief Editor

Tirtha Prasad Mukhopadhyay


Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, Volume I, Number 2, Autumn 2009, PDF URL of the editorial: www.rupkatha.com/0102editorial.pdf, © www.rupkatha.com

You might be interested in

The Poetics of John Ashbery

Gargi Bhattacharya, Rabindra Bharati University Download PDF Version Abstract John Ashbery (1927- ) takes the postmodernist polysemy of meaning in

“The Noble Savage and the Civilised Brute: Nature and the Subaltern Angst in Swarup Dutta’s Machh Master (The Expert Angler)

204 views

Sajalkumar Bhattacharya, Ramakrishna Mission Residential College, West Bengal, India

Abstract

Parallel reading of history from the subaltern point of view is not only possible, but it also often proves to be revealing. It often unearths a new discourse, which challenges the canonized history or even subverts it. This paper offers a reading of a recent Bhasa (Bangla) novel Machh Master (The Expert Angler) where the Naxalite Movement that rocked Bengal in the sixties, has been narrated and analysed from the viewpoint of one dalit subaltern. The novel attempts to create a binary between this ‘uncorrupted’ world/mode of existence and the civilized, sophisticated, intellectual, but essentially ‘corrupted’ urban world. In this natural savage world and its eco-system, the urban, elitist Naxalite movement turns out to be nothing but an imposition and an intrusion. At the end, disillusioned Neul detaches himself from this movement, goes back to, and embraces Nature in a desperate bid to get back his pre-lapserian mode of existence. Neel, chief agent of the Naxalite movement, too is influenced by these children of Mother Nature, and undergoes a transformation. This paper explores this interesting role of Nature in this new reading of the history of mankind. Keep Reading

You might be interested in

What is Performance Studies?

Richard Schechner Tisch School of the Arts, New York University  Download PDF Version Because performance studies is so broad-ranging and

Finding the voice of the Peasant: Agriculture, Neocolonialism and Mulk Raj Anand’s Punjab trilogy

138 views

Jonathan Highfield, Rhode Island School of Design, Rhode Island, USA

 Abstract

Mulk Raj Anand’s Punjab trilogy–The Village (1939), Across the Black Waters (1940), and The Sword and the Sickle (1942)–speaks directly to the destruction of traditional agricultural systems under colonial rule and the absorption of the agricultural goods and human labor of India into a global economic system. The Punjab trilogy traces the life of a character searching for another India, an India free of oppression, misery, and classism. Lalu Singh looks at the situation in the Punjab from an ever-widening orbit, only to recognize that global movements devalue the very people they purport to help. In the end he rejects theory for action, returning to the peasant society he fled as a youth. His decision has resonance in the twenty-first century as formerly colonized regions face the neocolonial onslaught of biopiracy and genetic trait control technologies. Keep Reading

You might be interested in

What is Performance Studies?

Richard Schechner Tisch School of the Arts, New York University  Download PDF Version Because performance studies is so broad-ranging and

Rabindranath Tagore’s English Prose: “Some Qualities of Permanence”

416 views

Fakrul Alam, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh

Abstract

This paper explores the enduring qualities of Rabindranath Tagore’s English prose and puts forward the thesis that not only the Gitanjali poems but also many other of his English writings attained “some qualities of permanence” almost wholly because of his artistic skills. In addition to the strength of his ideas and the intensity of his feelings, the main reason why his prose works found an appreciative audience for a long time in the west can often be attributed to his adroit use of the English language in his letters, lectures, essays and speeches and his ability to adjust his style in accordance with the occasion, the audience, the genre and the subject matter. Without the impact the English prose writings have had, Tagore’s international reputation would not have survived thus far. Indeed, the enduring popularity of a work such as Nationalism tells us quite clearly that while as far as his argument is concerned there is a lot that is still relevant for the world in Tagore’s English writings, they should still appeal to us also because of his eloquence and writing skills. Keep Reading

You might be interested in

Representation of Indigenous Women in Contemporary Aboriginal Short Stories of Australia and India: A Study in Convergences and Divergences

120 views

Indranil Acharya, Vidyasagar University, West Bengal, India

Abstract

This paper tries to review and reassess the tribal situation with special reference to the tribal women in India and Australia. It is an attempt to locate the ‘Aboriginal woman’ question in the context of women’s movement in both countries. In Australia the women’s movement, on the whole, has not been successful in incorporating Aboriginal women into its concerns and activities. Relations with Aboriginal women have constituted a problem with the women’s movement. Despite many differences in socio-cultural set up the stories of Anil Gharai and those of Australian Aboriginal writers share many common traits and cut across cultural differences. It establishes the theory of pan-aboriginality that exists in countries that possess a sizeable population of indigenous people. Keep Reading

You might be interested in

Perspective: Exile Literature and the Diasporic Indian Writer

1.3K views

Amit Shankar Saha, Calcutta University, West Bengal, India

Abstract
The essay takes a holistic view of the word “exile” to encompass a range of displaced existence. It illustrates through John Simpson’s The Oxford Book of Exile the various forms of exiles. The essay then goes on to show that diasporic Indian writing is in some sense also a part of exile literature. By exemplifying writers both from the old Indian diaspora of indentured labourers and the modern Indian diaspora of IT technocrats, it shows that despite peculiarities there is an inherent exilic state in all dislocated lives whether it be voluntary or involuntary migration. More importantly, a broad survey of the contributions of the second generation of the modern Indian diaspora in the field of Indian writing in English depict certain shift in concerns in comparison to the previous generation and thereby it widens the field of exile literature. Keep Reading

You might be interested in

What is Performance Studies?

Richard Schechner Tisch School of the Arts, New York University  Download PDF Version Because performance studies is so broad-ranging and

About the Contributors (Vol 1, No 2)

85 views

Amit Shankar Saha is a PhD researcher in English Literature at Calcutta University. He has previously published at Muse India, Humanicus, Cerebration, Families and various other journals.
E-mail: saha.amitshankar@gmail.com

 Anita Singh is Professor, Department of English, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India. She received her doctorate in English on the doomed heroes in Arthur Miller’s plays from Banaras Hindu University in 1988. Vastly experienced as a teacher with 23 years of experience her areas of interests are American drama, Indian English fiction, Indian feminist theatre and feminist theories. She is widely published both as a critical and creative writer with a number of articles, translations, book reviews, and short stories in various journals, anthologies, and magazines. Her published works include: Arthur Miller: A Study of the Doomed Heroes in his Plays (1993), Indian English Novel in the Nineties and After: A Study of the Text and its Context (2004), And the Story Begins: My Ten Short Stories, (2007). She has actively participated and presented papers in many national and international seminar and conferences. Prof. Singh’s short story ‘The Wait’ won the ‘Special Commendation Award’ in ‘Muse India Fiction Contest’ for the year 2008.
Email: anita_bhu@ymail.com, anitasinghh@gmail.com.

 Fakrul Alam is Professor of English at the University of Dhaka and also Honorary Adviser, Department of English, East West University. He did PhD on “Daniel Defoe and Colonial Propaganda”, University of British Columbia, Canada, in 1984, and M.A in English from Simon Fraser University, Canada, 1980 and M.A in English from  the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1975.  His current research and teaching interests include Tagore in Translation, South Asian Writing in English, English Writing on India, Melville and the American Literary Renaissance, American Literary History, Colonialism/Postcolonialism. He was a Fulbright Scholar and a Visiting Associate Professor at Clemson University, USA, and Visiting Professor at Jadavpur University, India. Prof. Alam was Director of the Advanced Studies in Humanities of the University and Adviser, Dhaka University Central Library. He is currently a member of the Education Policy Implementation Committee constituted recently by the Government of Bangladesh to formulate a new education policy for the country. He is the author of the books: Imperial Entanglements and Literature in English, South Asian Writers in English, Jibananda Das: Selected Poems, Bharati Mukherjee, and Daniel Defoe: Colonial Propagandist. He has been editor of Dhaka University Studies and the Asiatic Society Journal. He was in the jury of the Eurasia region of the Commonwealth Writers Prize for 2003.  He is currently co-editing The New Tagore Reader (with Radha Chakravarty) for Visva-Bharati and working on his translations of Tagore’s verse.
E-mail:  falam123@bangla.net, falam1951@yahoo.com

 Indranil Acharya is Senior Lecturer in the Department of English, Vidyasagar University. He obtained his Ph.D. on the poetry of W.B. Yeats and T.S. Eliot in 2004. He completed one UGC Research Project on Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Fiction in 2008. Prof. Acharya is at present the Deputy Coordinator of DRS-SAP project in the Department of English on the recuperation, documentation and translation of Oral and Folk literary materials of the South Bengal districts. He has widely published in diverse areas like Modern British Poetry, Translation Studies, Indian English Literature and Subaltern Literature. He is currently on the editorial board of the Journal of the department of English, Vidyasagar University.
E-mail: Indra_acharya33@yahoo.co.in

 Jaydeep Rishi is presently Assistant Professor in the Department of English, at Sarojini Naidu College for Women, Kolkata, affiliated to West Bengal State University. Formerly, he served as the Head of the department of English at Sudhiranjan Lahiri Mahavidyalaya, affiliated to University of Kalyani. He completed his MA from University of Burdwan in 1997. He was awarded PhD in English Literature from the same university in 2006. He is a recipient of University Gold Medal, Sadananda Chakraborty Gold Medal and Junior Research Fellowship. His area of interest is Indian English Literature. He has published quite a few papers in reputed journals and has presented several papers in national and international conferences. He is also an amateur wild life photographer.
E-mail: drjrishi@gmail.com.

 Jonathan Highfield is Professor and Head of the Department of English at Rhode Island School of Design, USA. He did PhD on “Imagined Topographies of Liberation.” with a focus in 20th century multi-ethnic literatures, postcolonial literatures and the narratives of topography from the University of Iowa in 1995. He teaches a variety of courses on literature and culture in formerly colonized regions. He received Fulbright Award in 2001-2002 for his research on the effects of ecotourism on village economies in Ghana, where he taught at the University of Cape Coast. In 2009, he travelled to India to teach a short course titled “Narrative Flows: Waters of Faith, Identity, and Sustenance in Bengal”. He has been widely published in journals like The Jonestown Report, Kunapipi, The International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability, and Antipodes. He co-edited with Kwadwo Opoku-Agyemang and Dora Edu Buandoh The State of the Art(s): African Studies and American Studies in Comparative Perspective.
E-mail jhighfie@risd.edu.

 Sajalkumar Bhattacharya is Selection Grade Lecturer in Ramakrishna Mission Residential College, Narendrapur (an autonomous college with a Postgraduate Department in English), Kolkata, West Bengal, India.  As a guest faculty, he teaches the Postgraduate students in MUC Women’s College (University of Burdwan), Bardhaman, West Bengal. His areas of interest include 19th century British Fiction, Post-Independence Indian Fiction in English and Bhasa Literature. He did his M.Phil on Thomas Hardy’s Fiction. He is pursuing PhD in the University of Burdwan, and he has been awarded a fellowship by the UGC for the research. He has published quite a few articles in reputed journals. In April 2004, he presented a paper ‘The Inspired Guru, the Mesmerised Leader and the Problems in Perception on Teaching Literature in Indian Classrooms’ in the 19th Oxford Conference on the Teaching of Literature, at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, UK.
E-mail: sajalbh@gmail.com

 Somdev Banik is Assistant Professor in English in Govt. Degree College, Kamalpur, Tripura. His field of specialisation is Postcolonial Literature. He did PhD from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India. He has published some papers and interviewed authors like Amitav Ghosh and participated in a few national and international seminars and conferences.
E-mail: somdevbanik12@yahoo.co.in

Soumitra Mandal is a young artist who loves  painting landscapes and drawing illustrations. He is studying English literature in the Vidyasagar University.  He has participated and won prizes in many cultural competitions.

Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, Volume I, Number 2, Autumn 2009

Giving the Lie: Ingenuity in Subaltern Resistance in Premchand’s short story ‘The Shroud’

2.7K views

Somdev Banik, Government Degree College, Tripura, India

Abstract

It is not always that the subaltern cannot speak, though their authentic representation is often more pronounced in the regional literatures, rather than in Indian Writings in English. The subaltern in Premchand’s story ‘The Shroud’ not only resists the forces of exploitation, but subverts dominant social mores and traditions to gain an advantage over the master class, forcing them to shell out money which they wouldn’t have otherwise in ordinary circumstances. This glory of victory is attenuated by the realization that the subaltern in turn is also an exploiter of the woman in the family, who in life and death is used for sustaining self-interests of the males of the family.  Keep Reading

You might be interested in

Book Review: Ruth Vanita and Saleem Kidwai edited Same-Sex Love in India: A Literary History

4.3K views

New Delhi, Penguin Books India, 2008. ISBN 9780143102069. xxxvi + 479 pp.

samesexjpg

Review by Jaydeep Rishi, Sarojini Naidu College for Women, West Bengal, India Keep Reading

You might be interested in