Through a textual analysis of two of renowned author Amitav Ghosh’s most famous texts: The Nutmeg... more Through a textual analysis of two of renowned author Amitav Ghosh’s most famous texts: The Nutmeg’s Curse and The Hungry Tide, this dissertation has attempted to delineate the reality of how modernity has been crafted over a rotten plank scaffolded by colonialism, genocide and other structures of organized violence. Through a revisionist ontology of the racial supremacy that has served to enable and flourish a hierarchical social order, this dissertation has illustrated the human species’ carefully hidden penchant for destruction, and how this has played a significant role in the fact that the planet is currently hurtling towards self-destruction in break-neck speed. It posits the lion’s share of the blame on a wider colonial mindset, one that exists only to justify the exploitation of human life and the natural environment, and how this continues to dominate contemporary geopolitics to date. Another factor, responsible for the rapid degradation of the planet, as this paper situates- was the chauvinistic attitude that allows Nature, and through her, the Planet to be perceived as a ‘feminine domain of disorder’ that had to be conquered, subjugated, and at times tortured, in order to extract her secrets.
Dystopian fiction has been a relatively new genre in the canon of Indian English writings. It cau... more Dystopian fiction has been a relatively new genre in the canon of Indian English writings. It caught on in the Indian market around the late 1980s with the arrival of Penguin and the other five giants of the publishing world. "The post-1980s Indian novel's own investment in the hold of the (colonial, national) past on India's present has affected our readings of the entire genre to such a degree that the field of Indian novel studies is almost entirely dependent on a critique of historicity"(Anjaria, p2). So while literature in regional languages still flourish, a vast majority of the educated Indian audience opt to read in English. The post-millennial Indian English writers have made a concentrated effort to break away from this trend by bringing out our very own indigenous versions of the Western works that enjoy huge popularity and massive readership. Which in turn raises a critical question, are the post-millennial works of Indian fiction really 'Indian' in its essence? This paper attempts to answer this very question by drawing comparisons between Prayaag Akbar's Leila , and Margaret Atwood's award-winning work The Handmaid's Tale. In exploring the psyche of the two protagonists, Shalini and Offred; as well as their respective dystopian societies, one can clearly see what exactly makes Leila uniquely 'Indian'.
Dystopian fiction has been a relatively new genre in the canon of Indian English writings. It cau... more Dystopian fiction has been a relatively new genre in the canon of Indian English writings. It caught on in the Indian market around the late 1980s with the arrival of Penguin and the other five giants of the publishing world. "The post-1980s Indian novel's own investment in the hold of the (colonial, national) past on India's present has affected our readings of the entire genre to such a degree that the field of Indian novel studies is almost entirely dependent on a critique of historicity"(Anjaria, p2). So while literature in regional languages still flourish, a vast majority of the educated Indian audience opt to read in English. The post-millennial Indian English writers have made a concentrated effort to break away from this trend by bringing out our very own indigenous versions of the Western works that enjoy huge popularity and massive readership. Which in turn raises a critical question, are the post-millennial works of Indian fiction really 'Indian' in its essence? This paper attempts to answer this very question by drawing comparisons between Prayaag Akbar's Leila , and Margaret Atwood's award-winning work The Handmaid's Tale. In exploring the psyche of the two protagonists, Shalini and Offred; as well as their respective dystopian societies, one can clearly see what exactly makes Leila uniquely 'Indian'. *** "Dystopia is usually understood to be 'utopia's twentieth-century doppelganger,' one best exemplified by science and political fiction"(Gordin, Tilley, and Prakash I). Woven as they are with strong references to the real world, dystopian fictions function as powerful post-memory devices, simultaneously involved with both the past and the present, whose main developments are explored and amplified. Some of the most popular dystopian works of all time such as Aldous Huxley's Brave New World , George Orwell's 1984 , and the more recent ones like Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go , and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, all attempt to portray such a horrifying reality that awaits the future generations. Prayag Akbar's Leila is a uniquely Indian take on this concept of dystopia. But what immediately strikes you upon first reading it, are the many similarities it holds to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. Both have female protagonists in their early 30s and 40s who struggle to hold on to the remnants of their sanity after their lives get utterly torn apart by the
This is to certify that this project titled Delineating the Vagaries in Post-Truth World: In the ... more This is to certify that this project titled Delineating the Vagaries in Post-Truth World: In the Context of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is a bonafide work carried out by Sanjana R Das in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of degree of Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature during the academic year 2019-2020 under my guidance and supervision.
Set in the 1930s and inspired by a real-life experiment, the story begins as our narrator Rosemar... more Set in the 1930s and inspired by a real-life experiment, the story begins as our narrator Rosemarie Cooke puts it...at the middle. We have our protagonist going through her college years, friendless and alone, indifferent to her surroundings. She mentions how it's been seventeen years since her sister first disappeared, and ten since her brother did, and about how nobody in the family ever again mentions them. Being already aware that the book is an
Through a textual analysis of two of renowned author Amitav Ghosh’s most famous texts: The Nutmeg... more Through a textual analysis of two of renowned author Amitav Ghosh’s most famous texts: The Nutmeg’s Curse and The Hungry Tide, this dissertation has attempted to delineate the reality of how modernity has been crafted over a rotten plank scaffolded by colonialism, genocide and other structures of organized violence. Through a revisionist ontology of the racial supremacy that has served to enable and flourish a hierarchical social order, this dissertation has illustrated the human species’ carefully hidden penchant for destruction, and how this has played a significant role in the fact that the planet is currently hurtling towards self-destruction in break-neck speed. It posits the lion’s share of the blame on a wider colonial mindset, one that exists only to justify the exploitation of human life and the natural environment, and how this continues to dominate contemporary geopolitics to date. Another factor, responsible for the rapid degradation of the planet, as this paper situates- was the chauvinistic attitude that allows Nature, and through her, the Planet to be perceived as a ‘feminine domain of disorder’ that had to be conquered, subjugated, and at times tortured, in order to extract her secrets.
Dystopian fiction has been a relatively new genre in the canon of Indian English writings. It cau... more Dystopian fiction has been a relatively new genre in the canon of Indian English writings. It caught on in the Indian market around the late 1980s with the arrival of Penguin and the other five giants of the publishing world. "The post-1980s Indian novel's own investment in the hold of the (colonial, national) past on India's present has affected our readings of the entire genre to such a degree that the field of Indian novel studies is almost entirely dependent on a critique of historicity"(Anjaria, p2). So while literature in regional languages still flourish, a vast majority of the educated Indian audience opt to read in English. The post-millennial Indian English writers have made a concentrated effort to break away from this trend by bringing out our very own indigenous versions of the Western works that enjoy huge popularity and massive readership. Which in turn raises a critical question, are the post-millennial works of Indian fiction really 'Indian' in its essence? This paper attempts to answer this very question by drawing comparisons between Prayaag Akbar's Leila , and Margaret Atwood's award-winning work The Handmaid's Tale. In exploring the psyche of the two protagonists, Shalini and Offred; as well as their respective dystopian societies, one can clearly see what exactly makes Leila uniquely 'Indian'.
Dystopian fiction has been a relatively new genre in the canon of Indian English writings. It cau... more Dystopian fiction has been a relatively new genre in the canon of Indian English writings. It caught on in the Indian market around the late 1980s with the arrival of Penguin and the other five giants of the publishing world. "The post-1980s Indian novel's own investment in the hold of the (colonial, national) past on India's present has affected our readings of the entire genre to such a degree that the field of Indian novel studies is almost entirely dependent on a critique of historicity"(Anjaria, p2). So while literature in regional languages still flourish, a vast majority of the educated Indian audience opt to read in English. The post-millennial Indian English writers have made a concentrated effort to break away from this trend by bringing out our very own indigenous versions of the Western works that enjoy huge popularity and massive readership. Which in turn raises a critical question, are the post-millennial works of Indian fiction really 'Indian' in its essence? This paper attempts to answer this very question by drawing comparisons between Prayaag Akbar's Leila , and Margaret Atwood's award-winning work The Handmaid's Tale. In exploring the psyche of the two protagonists, Shalini and Offred; as well as their respective dystopian societies, one can clearly see what exactly makes Leila uniquely 'Indian'. *** "Dystopia is usually understood to be 'utopia's twentieth-century doppelganger,' one best exemplified by science and political fiction"(Gordin, Tilley, and Prakash I). Woven as they are with strong references to the real world, dystopian fictions function as powerful post-memory devices, simultaneously involved with both the past and the present, whose main developments are explored and amplified. Some of the most popular dystopian works of all time such as Aldous Huxley's Brave New World , George Orwell's 1984 , and the more recent ones like Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go , and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, all attempt to portray such a horrifying reality that awaits the future generations. Prayag Akbar's Leila is a uniquely Indian take on this concept of dystopia. But what immediately strikes you upon first reading it, are the many similarities it holds to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. Both have female protagonists in their early 30s and 40s who struggle to hold on to the remnants of their sanity after their lives get utterly torn apart by the
This is to certify that this project titled Delineating the Vagaries in Post-Truth World: In the ... more This is to certify that this project titled Delineating the Vagaries in Post-Truth World: In the Context of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is a bonafide work carried out by Sanjana R Das in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of degree of Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature during the academic year 2019-2020 under my guidance and supervision.
Set in the 1930s and inspired by a real-life experiment, the story begins as our narrator Rosemar... more Set in the 1930s and inspired by a real-life experiment, the story begins as our narrator Rosemarie Cooke puts it...at the middle. We have our protagonist going through her college years, friendless and alone, indifferent to her surroundings. She mentions how it's been seventeen years since her sister first disappeared, and ten since her brother did, and about how nobody in the family ever again mentions them. Being already aware that the book is an
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genocide and other structures of organized violence. Through a revisionist ontology of the racial supremacy that has served to enable and flourish a hierarchical social order, this dissertation has illustrated the human species’ carefully hidden penchant for destruction, and
how this has played a significant role in the fact that the planet is currently hurtling towards self-destruction in break-neck speed. It posits the lion’s share of the blame on a wider colonial mindset, one that exists only to justify the exploitation of human life and the natural
environment, and how this continues to dominate contemporary geopolitics to date. Another factor, responsible for the rapid degradation of the planet, as this paper situates- was the
chauvinistic attitude that allows Nature, and through her, the Planet to be perceived as a ‘feminine domain of disorder’ that had to be conquered, subjugated, and at times tortured, in order to extract her secrets.
genocide and other structures of organized violence. Through a revisionist ontology of the racial supremacy that has served to enable and flourish a hierarchical social order, this dissertation has illustrated the human species’ carefully hidden penchant for destruction, and
how this has played a significant role in the fact that the planet is currently hurtling towards self-destruction in break-neck speed. It posits the lion’s share of the blame on a wider colonial mindset, one that exists only to justify the exploitation of human life and the natural
environment, and how this continues to dominate contemporary geopolitics to date. Another factor, responsible for the rapid degradation of the planet, as this paper situates- was the
chauvinistic attitude that allows Nature, and through her, the Planet to be perceived as a ‘feminine domain of disorder’ that had to be conquered, subjugated, and at times tortured, in order to extract her secrets.