Dr.M.Mazumdar

History and Genesis of Indian Aesthetics or Indian Classical Literature. The ancient literature of India reflects the cultural, social, religious, philosophical, and political development. There have been classical languages like Pali, Sanskrit, Prakrit, Tamil and many others. These worked upon the Indian literary traditions but affected global thought and culture. Indian classical literature is said to begin with the Vedas which is considered as the oldest and sacred text and composed around 1500-500/300 BC. Its Rig Veda is a collection of poems or hymns that formed the core of Indian spirituality. These texts were orally transmitted which continued for centuries. This vedic period continued in epic literature. These epic literature of manifested in Mahabharata and Ramayana. They were huge repositories of mythology, philosophy, society, culture, morality, and written in Sanskrit. Mahabharata written by Ved Vyas is the longer epic and contains around one lakh poems, covering stories of...

"Abhigyan Shakuntalam" has been considered the best known play in India and is also popular all over the world. It has been written by Kalidas who possibly belonged to the times of Chandragupta II or 3rd century AD. But for Kalidas, centuries doesn't matter. His this particular ancient play has transcended times. The word, Abhigyan means knowledge or recognition. And Shakuntalam means the narrative of Shakuntala. Ancient storytelling is, picking up a tale which was already available. And people would pick up episodes most of the time from the two great ancient epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata. So is Shakuntala's narrative picked up from Mahabharata by Kalidas. He has gone into the details of the epic Mahabharata and visualised it with Shakuntala and Dushyant. However, kalidas has inserted a few changes in the story. It is estimated that he came after 400-500 years later than the writings of Mahabharata and there would be singers who would move from village to village s...

"Everyday Use" is a short story written by Alice Walker, an Afro-American writer. She was born in 1944 in Georgia in the US. She was hugely influenced by Martin Luther King Jr and became an activist in the civil rights movement under his influence. "Once" was her first collection of poetry. "Her famous novel "The Colour Purple" was made into a movie by Steven Spielberg. The story "Everyday Use" took place in the mid to late 1960s when Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech occurred in 1963. Setting: This era features the explosion of the civil rights movement when Malcolm X encourages African Americans to shake off the limitations of racism by any means necessary. He also helps establish the Nation of Islam while celebrating Black Nationalism. Analysis: The story "Everyday Use" has the themes of family, home, self-reflection, and tradition. The relationship between siblings and parents is dealt in this story....

Island was Edenic. Slowly metamorphoses into a sinister place. Microcosm of the outside world. Lord of the Flies represents the serpent. Biblical dimension. We are genetically divine but we become beastly if, moral policing, laws, beliefs in heaven and hell, education, etc is needed. Otherwise, we can become very dangerous people. Otherwise, fear of the mythical future will break. Fear of the mythical beast grows. Civilisation of the boys break. Ralph's group shrinks. Evil takes over. Jack's camp grows. His boys colour the faces and chant. Ralph symbolises order and harmony. Jack is for megalomaniacal power. He represents the destructive principle. Simon is the saviour figure. Christ figure. Only boy in the novel who emphasises truth and encounters the beast. Piggy is the intellectual. Piggy represents rational thinking. Roger embodies malevolent aspects of human nature. Sam and Eric represent crowd mentality. Signal fire goes out. Conch shatters. Civility dies. Inherent evil c...

The Purloined Letter Edgar Alan Poe was born in 1809 and died in 1849. He has been known for macabre and innovative stories of gothic horror. He was also a literary critic. His short stories can be read in one sitting and every word used serves a purpose. He called this the Unity of Effect and explored the paradoxes and mysteries of life in a unique, curious way. This short story was first published in 1844 and republished in 1845. The story plays an important role in establishing the genre of detective story in American literature. Poe is often considered the first to start writing detective stories.  The word 'Purloined' means stolen. So the title means the stolen letter where the police and detective play the role to solve.  In the story, a young lady who is a royalist possessed a secret letter that could harm the image of a man. The name of the man has not been disclosed in the story. But it was a scandalous letter and could ruin the image of the man. As she was reading t...

The Harlem Renaissance. Harlem Renaissance: Harlem in New York city in the North of America brought thousands of blacks from the South because of New York's economic prosperity. They brought their art, music and literature here and Harlem became the cultural capital of the world.  1910-30s saw the African American artists, writers, visual artists, and intellectuals break all barriers and soar to new heights. Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston & others demanded equality through their writings and black culture which impacted the blacks. Jazz legends like Duke Wellington and Louis Armstrong, Aron Douglas an artist, all together filled the air with the same vibes. They were victims of black sufferings and they also wanted to share their music and art with the world. Blues and Jazz got best space here and spread to the whole world. It was also a political movement. Du Bois was a political writer. Together they reshaped American literature amidst racial segregation and riots. ing Q...