There is no doubt in the dictum what French critic Buffon asserted long ago ‘l style est l home meme’ (‘style is the man himself ’). Though the dictum became a cliche in the arena of twenty-first century English studies, yet the dictum has its resonance in Upmanyu Chatterjee. Generally the students of literature begin their respective English studies at the graduate and post-graduate levels with Francis Bacon who happens to be the most economical writer till now (in respect of word-placement and syntactical pattern) in English literature.
Keywords: Protagonist, waffle, lower middle class families
The following passage emphatically shows the climactic ending of the novel:–
“Jamun is aware that Shyamanand’s letter doesn’t afford a complete picture of life at home. If he telephones Burfi in his office, for instance, he’s likely to be fusilladed with just how fiendishly difficult their father has been. Jamun is unhappy that Shyamanand is unhappy, but he’s also vexed by his own guilt, and by the selfish, emotional demands that his family members make on one another even in absence. He is sad, too, at the swiftness with which his mother’s augury–about Shyamanand’s misery after her passing–is being vindicated; at moments, he detests both his parents, one dead, one dying, for continually coercing him to choose between them; always, in their weaning of their sons away from each other, Shyamanand (as in the letter to Jamun) and Urmila have both, mindfully or semiconsciously, fibbed to them, or at least hidden from them bits of the truth.”14
Rightly asserted by Firdaus Kanga in ‘The Tribune’ that “Chatterjee is a mercilessly gifted observer. Basically the novel is about the family disturbance and insane modalities of a family. Though s...
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...ar, Boria, ‘The Hindustan Times,’ 24th Jan. 2001, P.–06.
18. Chatterjee, Upmanyu, ‘The Mammaries of the Welfare State,’ Penguin Books, London, 2000, P.–05.
19. Ibid. P.–14.
20. Ibid. P.–26.
21. Ibid. P.–305.
22. Ibid. P.–323.
23. Iyer, Sharda ‘Colonial Consciousness and Racial Conflicts in Upmanyu Chatterjee’s Novels’, Swaroop and Sons, New Delhi, 2005, P.–61.
24. Chatterjee, Upmanyu, ‘The Mammaries of the Welfare State,’ Peguin Books, London, 2000, P.–324-325.
25. Ibid. P.–345.
26. Ibid. P.–437.
27. Chatterjee, Upmanyu, ‘Weight Loss’, Penguin India, 2006, P.–04-05.
28. Ibid. P. –19-20.
29. Ibid. P.–27.
30. Naik, M.K. ‘Quest for Identity in Upmanyu Chatterjee’s Weight Loss’, Indian Writing in English: Past and Present, (ed.) Amar Nath Prasad, Swaroop and Sons, New Delhi, 2004, P. –56.
31. Chatterjee, Upmanyu, ‘Weight Loss’, Penguin India, 2006, P.–416.
After that, they have been told by the milkman about their neighbor’s daughter’s wedding. The narrator’s family evaluated their neighbor’s daughter weeding as an ordinary festival celebration because they didn’t realize any kind of wedding traditions like fanfare or uproar or feasting (138). The narrator’s family watched the bride wearing a Sari and carrying a coconut. The girl didn’t show any sort of empresses Even though her mother kissed her warmly and her father patted her head (139). In addition, the girl couldn’t release any tears. The narrator’s mother surprised for the girl’s failure to cry and she said “the girl had become hardened by her education and had no real love or attachment for her mother and father” (139). Also, the narrator’s father has wondered and said “The old days are passing and men’s heart have become machines” (139). All members of the narrator’s family have been shocked because they couldn’t realize any felling from the parents to their daughter’s absence
...ly plays out the dilemma of the postcolonial writer that Anantha Murthy had discussed. Her writings and concerns are clearly subversive of the traditional bastions of power and keep out of the trappings of regressive social forces. On the other hand through her creative use of language, Roy engages in a dialogue with the West, challenging dominant narratives of India’s history. She does not confine herself to redressing the ‘insults’ of a colonial past, but is also keenly aware of the shadow of an older pre-colonial history. In her narrative of Transgressions, Roy offers a view of a Nation caught in transition and proves herself to be a product of its postcolonial culture. She makes no clear choices between tradition and modernity in any exclusive way, instead striving to arrive at a heterodox reality that does not belie the complexities of the Indian Consciousness.
Malkani, Gautam. Londonstani. Rotten English: a literary anthology. By Dohra Ahmad New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2007.
This autobiographical narrative is a collection Bharati Mukherjee’s experience returning to India with her Canadian husband who is also the co-author. They both separately wrote about their experiences in the country and the daily life for it’s people. The book focuses on these two contrasting points of view and cultural backgrounds ("Days and Nights in Calcutta , Bharati Mukherjee”). It is rated four stars out of five on Amazon.com.
Updike, John. "A&P." Thinking and Writing About Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001. 981-86. Print.
Nicholas B. Dirks. (2011). Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India. Princeton University Press
What do you think the author is trying to perceive when she writes “[the] meeting with [Amrith’s] uncle had been difficult, but it seemed to have brought her some reconciliation with the past” (Selvadurai 137)? Why is Aunty Bundle laughing after meeting Asha’s brother, a man she truly hates? I feel like this was a confusing, yet
According to the Handbook of Literary Terms, "Style combines two elements: the idea to be expressed and the individuality of the author" (Harmon). In The Sun Also Rises, Hemingw...
... Pakistan to surrender during the Indo-Pakistani War helped the Bengalis establish a sovereign state for themselves. The distribution of the racist pamphlets against the minorities showed Shiv Sena's chauvinistic and fascist regime. Indira Gandhi's corrupt government, socialist regime and her controversial scandals such as giving her son's company government money and the 1971 Nagarwala scandal were also revealed. All of these political events influenced the background of the novel and the characters’ everyday lives. .
Grebanier, Bernard D. N. The Essentials of English Literature. Volume Two. New York: Barron?s Educational Series, Incorporated, 1948.
...nts. Amitav Ghosh wrote this story in a realistic manner that teaches readers lessons needed to make it through life. This would not be a book I would normally read but it turned out to be a good book with a lot of hidden messages which the author did not put into plain view. I felt this book tried to show that everyone is different and everyone has their own perspective on life based on the relationships between characters. Also, I felt this book tried to express the importance of history and how history impacts the future. The narrator showed that even if you go through rough times there is still hope for a happy ending. The title of the book sums up the entire book into one phrase which emphasizes the separation in residents which divide individuals. I feel the author choose this title to show the separation to meeting of the English and Bengali families.
Booker, M. Keith. Colonial Power, Colonial Texts: India in the Modern British Novel. Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1997.
As in representations of the other British colonies, India was used by colonial novelists as a tool of displacement of the individual and re-affirmation of the metropolitan whole. There are three methods by which this effect is achieved. The first method displays an unqualified reliance on a culture too remote to be approached except physically: a hero or protagonist in a pre-mutiny novel is at liberty to escape to India at a moment of crisis, rearrange his life to his advantage and return to a happy ending and the establishment of a newly defined metropolitan life. Dobbin of Thackeray's Vanity Fair (1848) and Peter Jenkins of Gaskell's Cranford (1853) exemplify this well. Even the child Bitherstone of Dickens' Dombey and Son (1848) regards India as his salvation.
There are people bustling, merchants selling, Anglo-Indians watching, and birds flying overhead. How many perspectives are there in this one snippet of life? They are uncountable, and that is the reality. Modernist writers strive to emulate this type of reality into their own work as well. In such novels, there is a tendency to lack a chronological or even logical narrative and there are also frequent breaks in narratives where the perspectives jump from one to another without warning. Because there are many points of view and not all of them are explained, therefore, modernist novels often tend to have narrative perspectives that suddenly shift or cause confusion. This is because modernism has always been an experimental form of literature that lacks a traditional narrative or a set, rigid structure. Therefore, E. M. Forster, author of A Passage to India, uses such techniques to portray the true nature of reality. The conflict between Adela, a young British girl, and Aziz, an Indian doctor, at the Marabar Caves is one that implements multiple modernist ideals and is placed in British-India. In this novel, Forster shows the relations and tension between the British and the Indians through a series of events that were all caused by the confusing effects of modernism. E.M. Forster implements such literary techniques to express the importance or insignificance of a situation and to emphasize an impression of realism and enigma in Chandrapore, India, in which Forster’s novel, A Passage to India, takes place.
Sanjay was overwhelmed, as he sat gazing out the window, by what he knew and what no one else had any idea of. He was beyond disgusted with his brother, but yet it didn’t make sense how Sanjee...