The present paper deals with Margaret Atwood's celebrated novel The Blind Assassin and reads ... more The present paper deals with Margaret Atwood's celebrated novel The Blind Assassin and reads the novel using the idea of resistance. It presents a reading of the novel as a site of resistance with the help of the various forms of writing present in the text, mostly Iris' memoir and Laura's (and Iris') novel within the novel. The paper makes use of Foucault's idea of resistance along with the concept of "everyday resistance", history, memory and Lyotard's idea of writing as resistance to reveal the various ways in which the novel becomes a site of Iris' resistance against forces much more powerful than her. The present paper attempts to analyse her famous novel The Blind Assassin as a site and strategy of resistance, where Iris' story serves a dual purpose: that of resisting the official narratives and at the same time that of narrating her resistance.
Doris Lessing's novels are often a tale of the protagonists who are dissatisfied with their p... more Doris Lessing's novels are often a tale of the protagonists who are dissatisfied with their present situation and, willingly or unwillingly, set along the road to discovery of their identity. Martha Quest and The Summer Before the Dark present before their readers two similar tales where Martha and Kate, one a young girl and the other a mother and wife of long years set out on their paths to discover who they are.
This paper proposes to re-read Doris Lessing's 1999 novel Mara and Dann: An Adventure from as a s... more This paper proposes to re-read Doris Lessing's 1999 novel Mara and Dann: An Adventure from as a successful quest narrative that involves a heroine's journey. It makes use of Auden's famous essay "The Quest Hero" written on Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings to discuss how the novel successfully fits the genre of the Quest narrative and that the faults in the novel pointed out by critics are due to the limitations of the genre itself. It uses the model of a heroine's quest as discussed by Maureen Murdock in her book The Heroine's Journey: Women's Quest for Wholeness and shows how the novel follows the pattern of the journey described by Murdock closely and how it is similar and, at the same time, different from the traditional quest narrative of a hero.
This paper proposes to re-read Doris Lessing’s 1999 novel Mara and Dann: An Adventure from as a s... more This paper proposes to re-read Doris Lessing’s 1999 novel Mara and Dann: An Adventure from as a successful quest narrative that involves a heroine’s journey. It makes use of Auden’s famous essay “The Quest Hero” written on Tolkien’s fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings to discuss how the novel successfully fits the genre of the Quest narrative and that the faults in the novel pointed out by critics are due to the limitations of the genre itself. It uses the model of a heroine’s quest as discussed by Maureen Murdock in her book The Heroine’s Journey: Women’s Quest for Wholeness and shows how the novel follows the pattern of the journey described by Murdock closely and how it is similar and, at the same time, different from the traditional quest narrative of a hero.
As a post-modern novelist, Doris Lessing has made use of many techniques associated with the post... more As a post-modern novelist, Doris Lessing has made use of many techniques associated with the postmodernist style of writing in her various works. The Memoirs of a Survivor is one such work which has been read as being rich in myths, Jungian archetypes and elements of magic realism. The present paper attempts to add another dimension to this text, that of a fairytale narrative. The paper makes use of Kevin Paul Smith's ideas on the postmodern fairytale intertexts present in various works of postmodern fiction for a structural analysis of the text and shows that how the presence of the storyteller figure, the autobiographical nature of the said text and the homodiegetic nature of the novel make it fit the structure of a fairytale narrative.
A MODERN CRITICISM ON LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, 2017
This paper seeks to study the relationship between the mother-daughter in two of her earliest nov... more This paper seeks to study the relationship between the mother-daughter in two of her earliest novels; The Grass is Singing and Martha Quest, employing the ideas regarding this relationship discussed by Nancy Chodorow in her book The Reproduction of Mothering and argues that the protagonists of these two early novels by Lessing are essentially " matrophobic ". Their matrophobia, however, does not prevent them from being victims of the same fate as their mothers before them, particularly in the kind of lives they choose to lead and the marriages which trap the protagonists of both the novels.
Marianne Hirsch's gave the concept of Postmemory keeping in mind the survivors/next generation of... more Marianne Hirsch's gave the concept of Postmemory keeping in mind the survivors/next generation of the holocaust victims who find themselves burdened by the memory of the trauma which they did not suffer, but which was transferred to them by the stories/experiences of their close family members. Books and photographs often become the sites of postmemory, through which they try to get over the sufferings/trauma which they did not actually suffer. The present paper attempts to analyze Doris Lessing's two novels, her second novel and other her last, to see how Lessing's novels also become constant sites of postmemory and trauma that she inherited from her father who was a victim of the First World War.
The present paper deals with Margaret Atwood's celebrated novel The Blind Assassin and reads the ... more The present paper deals with Margaret Atwood's celebrated novel The Blind Assassin and reads the novel using the idea of resistance. It presents a reading of the novel as a site of resistance with the help of the various forms of writing present in the text, mostly Iris' memoir and Laura's (and Iris') novel within the novel. The paper makes use of Foucault's idea of resistance along with the concept of " everyday resistance " , history, memory and Lyotard's idea of writing as resistance to reveal the various ways in which the novel becomes a site of Iris' resistance against forces much more powerful than her. The present paper attempts to analyse her famous novel The Blind Assassin as a site and strategy of resistance, where Iris' story serves a dual purpose: that of resisting the official narratives and at the same time that of narrating her resistance.
The entity of food and the act of eating have always been central to life as well as literature. ... more The entity of food and the act of eating have always been central to life as well as literature. However, it is only recently that food studies has developed as a new area of study and the study of food and eating is gaining currency in the world of literature. Food and eating can be seen as floating signifiers, for they represent many ideas like memory, tradition, taboo, power, identity and purity in various texts. The present paper analyses two stories: " Mrs Sen's " by Lahiri and " The Remains of the Feast " by Hariharan to see how the acts of cooking and eating becomes signifiers of memory, identity and power in these two works. While in Lahiri's story finding and cooking fish becomes a central concern of the protagonist because it is her way of staying attached to her roots and thus preserving her identity in an alien land, in Hariharan's work eating tabooed food items becomes a signifier of finding her own identity for the great-grandmother Rukmini and her great-granddaughter Ratna. Lahiri Food and eating have always been two of the most primary concerns of human beings. Food and the acts/scenes of eating are present everywhere, including literature. It has, however, occupied a central stage as a multiple metaphor only in the recent years. Food studies within works of literature is a recent trend which has focused on these images of food and eating that are so often present in literature. The images and symbols
The epics of India are revered and referred not only in India but also world over for their philo... more The epics of India are revered and referred not only in India but also world over for their philosophy, message, insight into human life and solution to various problems. The Mahabharata is no less a point in this case, it has been explored for its vastness and magical reality from time to time. It covers almost all aspects of human life and reminds multifarious people of the discrepancies, disagreements and disputes which affect the social, economical and political fabric of that period. The present paper attempts to reveal the political trends of that period and its aftermath. It aims to present these ideas through the analysis of the situations, characters, and ideology prevalent during that period.
are two of the prominent diaspora women novelists who have carved a niche for themselves in the l... more are two of the prominent diaspora women novelists who have carved a niche for themselves in the literary world. While Divakaruni is a first generation migrant, who relocated from Kolkata to United States in 1976, Lahiri was born in London to parents who had emigrated from Calcutta and was raised in Rhodes Island. The works of both these writers, however, in their own different ways, portray the identity crisis and engage in conversation with the fluidity in identity that comes with the experience of migration or of being a member of the diaspora community. Both these writers have written novels and many short stories. The stories considered in this paper are taken from the first story collections of both the writers, Arranged Marriages (1995) in the case of Divakaruni, and The Interpreter of Maladies (1999) in the case of Lahiri.
The idea of racial prejudice and racial discrimination emerges as a recurring theme in the works ... more The idea of racial prejudice and racial discrimination emerges as a recurring theme in the works of Lessing. In her second novel Martha Quest, and in its successor A Proper Marriage, the idea of racial difference and exploitation runs as a parallel undercurrent to the story of development of Martha Quest. Throughout the novels, one can locate incidents of racial prejudice that form and greatly influence the character of Martha Quest. This paper examines these instances of racial prejudice portrayed by Lessing using the aid of Critical Race Theory.
Doris Lessing's novels are often a tale of the protagonists who are dissatisfied with their prese... more Doris Lessing's novels are often a tale of the protagonists who are dissatisfied with their present situation and, willingly or unwillingly, set along the road to discovery of their identity. Martha Quest and The Summer Before the Dark present before their readers two similar tales where Martha and Kate, one a young girl and the other a mother and wife of long years set out on their paths to discover who they are. A journey undertaken by the protagonist in search of her identity is a repeated motif in Lessing's canon. This journey, which can be physical, psychological and (at times) spiritual, opens up new vistas of life and provides an opportunity to her protagonists to learn more about themselves. This paper compares the journeys of two of Lessing's protagonists – Martha, the young teenage girl who leaves her home in the African farm to carve a new life for herself and Kate, a mother of four children who starts a new phase of her life when she sets on a journey that takes her to places across the world. Martha is the protagonist of an entire series of novels, The Children of Violence. The series which comprises of five novels, namely Martha Quest, A Proper Marriage, A Ripple from the Storm, Landlocked and The Four Gated City was written by Lessing in a time period spanning from 1952 to 1969. The series traces the social, spiritual and psychological growth of Martha from her early years in the colony till the time of her death. As such, the series can be read as a Bildungsroman. This genre includes the Entwiklungsroman or the novel of general growth, the Erziehungsroman or the novel of educational development and the Kuntelsrroman or the novel of artistic realisation (Brändström 4). The present paper deals with the first novel of the series Martha Quest and reads it as Martha's beginning of a long journey in the quest of her identity and as a bildungsroman, comparing it with The Summer Before the Dark (published in 1973) which follows the spiritual, psychological and physical wanderings of Kate Brown, who leaves her home somewhat grudgingly, only to realize as the novel progresses that this journey
The Grass is Singing is considered one of the best works of Doris Lessing, often being described ... more The Grass is Singing is considered one of the best works of Doris Lessing, often being described as one of the most powerful first novels ever written. The novel, which was published in 1950, continues to be a site of interest till date. The present paper examines the breakdown of its protagonist Mary Turner whose gradual demise into an abyss of madness becomes the pivotal point of the text. The paper argues using some of the ideas of Sigmund Freud that the major cause of Mary's downfall is her repressed sexuality and trauma that she suffered at a young age.
This paper proposes to re-read Doris Lessing's 1999 novel Mara and Dann: An Adventure from as a s... more This paper proposes to re-read Doris Lessing's 1999 novel Mara and Dann: An Adventure from as a successful quest narrative that involves a heroine's journey. It makes use of Auden's famous essay " The Quest Hero " written on Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings to discuss how the novel successfully fits the genre of the Quest narrative and that the faults in the novel pointed out by critics are due to the limitations of the genre itself. It uses the model of a heroine's quest as discussed by Maureen Murdock in her book The Heroine's Journey: Women's Quest for Wholeness and shows how the novel follows the pattern of the journey described by Murdock closely and how it is similar and, at the same time, different from the traditional quest narrative of a hero.
The present paper deals with Margaret Atwood's celebrated novel The Blind Assassin and reads ... more The present paper deals with Margaret Atwood's celebrated novel The Blind Assassin and reads the novel using the idea of resistance. It presents a reading of the novel as a site of resistance with the help of the various forms of writing present in the text, mostly Iris' memoir and Laura's (and Iris') novel within the novel. The paper makes use of Foucault's idea of resistance along with the concept of "everyday resistance", history, memory and Lyotard's idea of writing as resistance to reveal the various ways in which the novel becomes a site of Iris' resistance against forces much more powerful than her. The present paper attempts to analyse her famous novel The Blind Assassin as a site and strategy of resistance, where Iris' story serves a dual purpose: that of resisting the official narratives and at the same time that of narrating her resistance.
Doris Lessing's novels are often a tale of the protagonists who are dissatisfied with their p... more Doris Lessing's novels are often a tale of the protagonists who are dissatisfied with their present situation and, willingly or unwillingly, set along the road to discovery of their identity. Martha Quest and The Summer Before the Dark present before their readers two similar tales where Martha and Kate, one a young girl and the other a mother and wife of long years set out on their paths to discover who they are.
This paper proposes to re-read Doris Lessing's 1999 novel Mara and Dann: An Adventure from as a s... more This paper proposes to re-read Doris Lessing's 1999 novel Mara and Dann: An Adventure from as a successful quest narrative that involves a heroine's journey. It makes use of Auden's famous essay "The Quest Hero" written on Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings to discuss how the novel successfully fits the genre of the Quest narrative and that the faults in the novel pointed out by critics are due to the limitations of the genre itself. It uses the model of a heroine's quest as discussed by Maureen Murdock in her book The Heroine's Journey: Women's Quest for Wholeness and shows how the novel follows the pattern of the journey described by Murdock closely and how it is similar and, at the same time, different from the traditional quest narrative of a hero.
This paper proposes to re-read Doris Lessing’s 1999 novel Mara and Dann: An Adventure from as a s... more This paper proposes to re-read Doris Lessing’s 1999 novel Mara and Dann: An Adventure from as a successful quest narrative that involves a heroine’s journey. It makes use of Auden’s famous essay “The Quest Hero” written on Tolkien’s fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings to discuss how the novel successfully fits the genre of the Quest narrative and that the faults in the novel pointed out by critics are due to the limitations of the genre itself. It uses the model of a heroine’s quest as discussed by Maureen Murdock in her book The Heroine’s Journey: Women’s Quest for Wholeness and shows how the novel follows the pattern of the journey described by Murdock closely and how it is similar and, at the same time, different from the traditional quest narrative of a hero.
As a post-modern novelist, Doris Lessing has made use of many techniques associated with the post... more As a post-modern novelist, Doris Lessing has made use of many techniques associated with the postmodernist style of writing in her various works. The Memoirs of a Survivor is one such work which has been read as being rich in myths, Jungian archetypes and elements of magic realism. The present paper attempts to add another dimension to this text, that of a fairytale narrative. The paper makes use of Kevin Paul Smith's ideas on the postmodern fairytale intertexts present in various works of postmodern fiction for a structural analysis of the text and shows that how the presence of the storyteller figure, the autobiographical nature of the said text and the homodiegetic nature of the novel make it fit the structure of a fairytale narrative.
A MODERN CRITICISM ON LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, 2017
This paper seeks to study the relationship between the mother-daughter in two of her earliest nov... more This paper seeks to study the relationship between the mother-daughter in two of her earliest novels; The Grass is Singing and Martha Quest, employing the ideas regarding this relationship discussed by Nancy Chodorow in her book The Reproduction of Mothering and argues that the protagonists of these two early novels by Lessing are essentially " matrophobic ". Their matrophobia, however, does not prevent them from being victims of the same fate as their mothers before them, particularly in the kind of lives they choose to lead and the marriages which trap the protagonists of both the novels.
Marianne Hirsch's gave the concept of Postmemory keeping in mind the survivors/next generation of... more Marianne Hirsch's gave the concept of Postmemory keeping in mind the survivors/next generation of the holocaust victims who find themselves burdened by the memory of the trauma which they did not suffer, but which was transferred to them by the stories/experiences of their close family members. Books and photographs often become the sites of postmemory, through which they try to get over the sufferings/trauma which they did not actually suffer. The present paper attempts to analyze Doris Lessing's two novels, her second novel and other her last, to see how Lessing's novels also become constant sites of postmemory and trauma that she inherited from her father who was a victim of the First World War.
The present paper deals with Margaret Atwood's celebrated novel The Blind Assassin and reads the ... more The present paper deals with Margaret Atwood's celebrated novel The Blind Assassin and reads the novel using the idea of resistance. It presents a reading of the novel as a site of resistance with the help of the various forms of writing present in the text, mostly Iris' memoir and Laura's (and Iris') novel within the novel. The paper makes use of Foucault's idea of resistance along with the concept of " everyday resistance " , history, memory and Lyotard's idea of writing as resistance to reveal the various ways in which the novel becomes a site of Iris' resistance against forces much more powerful than her. The present paper attempts to analyse her famous novel The Blind Assassin as a site and strategy of resistance, where Iris' story serves a dual purpose: that of resisting the official narratives and at the same time that of narrating her resistance.
The entity of food and the act of eating have always been central to life as well as literature. ... more The entity of food and the act of eating have always been central to life as well as literature. However, it is only recently that food studies has developed as a new area of study and the study of food and eating is gaining currency in the world of literature. Food and eating can be seen as floating signifiers, for they represent many ideas like memory, tradition, taboo, power, identity and purity in various texts. The present paper analyses two stories: " Mrs Sen's " by Lahiri and " The Remains of the Feast " by Hariharan to see how the acts of cooking and eating becomes signifiers of memory, identity and power in these two works. While in Lahiri's story finding and cooking fish becomes a central concern of the protagonist because it is her way of staying attached to her roots and thus preserving her identity in an alien land, in Hariharan's work eating tabooed food items becomes a signifier of finding her own identity for the great-grandmother Rukmini and her great-granddaughter Ratna. Lahiri Food and eating have always been two of the most primary concerns of human beings. Food and the acts/scenes of eating are present everywhere, including literature. It has, however, occupied a central stage as a multiple metaphor only in the recent years. Food studies within works of literature is a recent trend which has focused on these images of food and eating that are so often present in literature. The images and symbols
The epics of India are revered and referred not only in India but also world over for their philo... more The epics of India are revered and referred not only in India but also world over for their philosophy, message, insight into human life and solution to various problems. The Mahabharata is no less a point in this case, it has been explored for its vastness and magical reality from time to time. It covers almost all aspects of human life and reminds multifarious people of the discrepancies, disagreements and disputes which affect the social, economical and political fabric of that period. The present paper attempts to reveal the political trends of that period and its aftermath. It aims to present these ideas through the analysis of the situations, characters, and ideology prevalent during that period.
are two of the prominent diaspora women novelists who have carved a niche for themselves in the l... more are two of the prominent diaspora women novelists who have carved a niche for themselves in the literary world. While Divakaruni is a first generation migrant, who relocated from Kolkata to United States in 1976, Lahiri was born in London to parents who had emigrated from Calcutta and was raised in Rhodes Island. The works of both these writers, however, in their own different ways, portray the identity crisis and engage in conversation with the fluidity in identity that comes with the experience of migration or of being a member of the diaspora community. Both these writers have written novels and many short stories. The stories considered in this paper are taken from the first story collections of both the writers, Arranged Marriages (1995) in the case of Divakaruni, and The Interpreter of Maladies (1999) in the case of Lahiri.
The idea of racial prejudice and racial discrimination emerges as a recurring theme in the works ... more The idea of racial prejudice and racial discrimination emerges as a recurring theme in the works of Lessing. In her second novel Martha Quest, and in its successor A Proper Marriage, the idea of racial difference and exploitation runs as a parallel undercurrent to the story of development of Martha Quest. Throughout the novels, one can locate incidents of racial prejudice that form and greatly influence the character of Martha Quest. This paper examines these instances of racial prejudice portrayed by Lessing using the aid of Critical Race Theory.
Doris Lessing's novels are often a tale of the protagonists who are dissatisfied with their prese... more Doris Lessing's novels are often a tale of the protagonists who are dissatisfied with their present situation and, willingly or unwillingly, set along the road to discovery of their identity. Martha Quest and The Summer Before the Dark present before their readers two similar tales where Martha and Kate, one a young girl and the other a mother and wife of long years set out on their paths to discover who they are. A journey undertaken by the protagonist in search of her identity is a repeated motif in Lessing's canon. This journey, which can be physical, psychological and (at times) spiritual, opens up new vistas of life and provides an opportunity to her protagonists to learn more about themselves. This paper compares the journeys of two of Lessing's protagonists – Martha, the young teenage girl who leaves her home in the African farm to carve a new life for herself and Kate, a mother of four children who starts a new phase of her life when she sets on a journey that takes her to places across the world. Martha is the protagonist of an entire series of novels, The Children of Violence. The series which comprises of five novels, namely Martha Quest, A Proper Marriage, A Ripple from the Storm, Landlocked and The Four Gated City was written by Lessing in a time period spanning from 1952 to 1969. The series traces the social, spiritual and psychological growth of Martha from her early years in the colony till the time of her death. As such, the series can be read as a Bildungsroman. This genre includes the Entwiklungsroman or the novel of general growth, the Erziehungsroman or the novel of educational development and the Kuntelsrroman or the novel of artistic realisation (Brändström 4). The present paper deals with the first novel of the series Martha Quest and reads it as Martha's beginning of a long journey in the quest of her identity and as a bildungsroman, comparing it with The Summer Before the Dark (published in 1973) which follows the spiritual, psychological and physical wanderings of Kate Brown, who leaves her home somewhat grudgingly, only to realize as the novel progresses that this journey
The Grass is Singing is considered one of the best works of Doris Lessing, often being described ... more The Grass is Singing is considered one of the best works of Doris Lessing, often being described as one of the most powerful first novels ever written. The novel, which was published in 1950, continues to be a site of interest till date. The present paper examines the breakdown of its protagonist Mary Turner whose gradual demise into an abyss of madness becomes the pivotal point of the text. The paper argues using some of the ideas of Sigmund Freud that the major cause of Mary's downfall is her repressed sexuality and trauma that she suffered at a young age.
This paper proposes to re-read Doris Lessing's 1999 novel Mara and Dann: An Adventure from as a s... more This paper proposes to re-read Doris Lessing's 1999 novel Mara and Dann: An Adventure from as a successful quest narrative that involves a heroine's journey. It makes use of Auden's famous essay " The Quest Hero " written on Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings to discuss how the novel successfully fits the genre of the Quest narrative and that the faults in the novel pointed out by critics are due to the limitations of the genre itself. It uses the model of a heroine's quest as discussed by Maureen Murdock in her book The Heroine's Journey: Women's Quest for Wholeness and shows how the novel follows the pattern of the journey described by Murdock closely and how it is similar and, at the same time, different from the traditional quest narrative of a hero.
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