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EDITORIAL

The county of Kent in England, from where Christopher Marlowe proclaimed to the mediaeval world "was this the face that launched a thousand ships,/ And burnt the topless towers of Ilium" (Doctor Faustus) and Çhaucer penned his immortal classic Canterbury Tales, is back in the news for reasons very different. The recent announcement that Canterbury Christ Church University in Kent has decided to stop offering English Literature courses has literally offended the sensibility of those who are votaries of literature and humani-ties. The university's decision is based on the assumption that hardly anyone wanted to study English Literature at degree level any more and the course was therefore no longer feasible. A report in The Guardian states: "We should be concerned about the closure of the English Literature course at Canterbury. This is more than an institutional failure. It signals a cultural shift that risks leaving future generations without the critical, empathetic and intellectual tools provided by literature."

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In an age where cyberspace has literally shrunk the world in terms of both space and time and wherein we are subjected to the tsunami of 24X7 dissemination of information, it may appear significant to be concerned about not being able to study English Literature under the hallowed aura of Marlowe or Chaucer. But to assume that literature is under threat of extinction is an exercise in futility. In the passage of human civilization it has been proved time and again that no matter what the odds, the value of literature in enriching human life and experience has often remained undiminished.

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On May 29, 1453, the Fall of Constantinople, orchestrated by the Turkish conqueror Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire, brought to the fore scenes of desecration of innumerable libraries containing invaluable books and manuscripts belonging to the classical age. However, it is no less significant that the exodus of Greeks to Italy, as a result of this event, marked a turning point in the history of human civilization. During the said exodus what is noteworthy is that the survivors who succeeded in escaping the brutality of the Turkish invasion carried with them whatever they could salvage from the libraries to keep alive the tradition of ancient learning.

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Such individual as well as collective acts of valour culminated in the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance that changed the world forever. The plays of Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides, Aristophanes and others brought to the fore how human concern and strong individualism lay at the centre of creative explorations. Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex shows the accounta-bility of the ruler to his subjects. When Oedipus realizes his guilt, he does not indulge in abuse of his power as King to refute the charges. He blinds himself and walks out of his kingdom to save his people from the wrath of Gods that had come to them in the garb of the plague. Likewise, the resolute ideas and actions of Antigone in the play Antigone by Sophocles may be taken to be the precursor of the 20th century feminist movement.

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The Greeks held in high esteem the heroism of Prometheus who stole fire from the gods in order to preserve mankind, unperturbed by the punishment inflicted upon him by the Gods for his rebellion. The impact of this story is distinctly visible not only in Shelley’s valorizing the act of Prometheus in the romantic age but in the recent Netflix film Oppenheimer, based on Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s 2006 book titled American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer.

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In the domain of the individual too the story of Frederick Douglass, the black American slave who rose to become one of America’s greatest Abolitionists, gives us an idea of the extraordinary inspirational power of literature. Realizing at the tender age of eight years that education was the doorway to his escape and freedom, Douglass sets out in deep earnest to achieve his goal. He records in his autobiographical Narrative: “My copy-book was the board fence, brick wall, and pavement; my pen and ink was a lump of chalk.” What brought about a decisive change in his approach and outlook were the speeches in The Columbian Orator that he had heard of from the white boys in the neighbour-hood. The speeches and dialogues in the book worked their magic in expanding his vision and ultimately led him to his freedom.

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The story of Nani Palkhivala, who was designated as ‘God’s gift to India’ by C. Rajagopalachari, is no less inspirational. In one of his statements Palkhivala records: “It was in those years as a student of English Literature that I read the lines of Wordsworth which have always been etched in my memory: ‘that best portion of a good man's life,/ His little, nameless, unremembered, acts/ Of kindness and of love.’ (Tintern Abbey) If mere three lines from a poem can instil in an individual the irresistible urge for “kindness and love,” the importance of literature need not be overemphasized. 

Against the above backdrop, I deem it a privilege and pleasure to greet our worthy readers, contributors and admirers with this 51st edition of Re-Markings that brings into limelight how the insights offered by literature from all around the globe can contribute substantially to enriching our sensibilities, sharpening our sensitivity to the agony and ecstasy of human predicament, speaking truth to power, and making us better human beings in terms of our concern for what transpires in a world of acute contradictions and dichotomies involving nations and cultures across millenniums. The kaleidoscopic range and variety of essays, articles and creative excursions reveal our continuous commitment and endeavour to bring into bold relief not only the need to understand that “an unexamined life is not worth living.” (Socrates) but also to facilitate our resolve to create “healing fountains” in “the deserts of the heart.” (W.H. Auden)

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Nibir K. Ghosh

Chief Editor

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CONTENTS

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Viewpoints from California - Jonah Raskin Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain @100 / 7, Tommy Orange’s Fictional “Indians” / 12

 

Blossomise: A zuisou

Miho Kinnas / 17

 

Analysing Women’s Condition and the Power of Education in Ramatoulie Kinteh’s Rebellion and Janet Badjan-Young’s The Hand of Fate

Sylvie Coly / 26

 

Gulzar as a Short Story Writer

Mohammad Asim Siddiqui / 44

 

Urdu in Search of a Home: Film Zabaan and the Director’s Statement

Kishore Srinivasa Raju / 54

 

The Long & Winding Road Ahead 

Omkar Sane / 58

 

Not the Singer, but the Song: An interpretation of Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale”

Shernavaz Buhariwala / 66

 

Raphael Confiant and the West Indian Obscure Part of Indian Legacy

Dipa Chakrabarti & Nilanjan Chakrabarti / 70

 

Cultural Communication of Swami Vivekananda at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago

Abnish Singh Chauhan / 78

 

Questions of Nationalism and Freedom in Amitav Ghosh’s The Shadow Lines

Sanjay Kumar Misra / 92

 

Post-Dramatic Theatre and the New Political: Martin Crimp’s Attempts on Her Life

Tanya Mander / 100

 

Homosexuality, Repression and Repercussion: A Psychoanalytic Study of Manju Kapur’s A Married Woman

Mohd Faiez / 109

 

From Creator to Caretaker: Ethical Perspectives in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Pallavi Sharma Goyal / 116

 

Discrimination, Trauma and Resilience in Maya Angelou’s

I Know Why the Caged Birds Sings

Vikram Singh & Reshma Devi / 122

 

Terra-Equity and Ecological Awakening in Bhutanese Himalaya:

Kunzang Choden's The Circle of Karma

Ruchi Pandey / 127

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Poetry
 

Sacraments of Faith: Poems for Llewellyn Xavier,

Saint Lucian artist - John Robert Lee / 135

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Four Poems - Susheel Kumar Sharma

Learning the Ropes / 137, Liberation / 138, Double Vision / 139, Distortion / 140
 

Four Poems - Manas Bakshi

What’s Destined / 141, En route / 142, Syncopation / 142,

Prickly Enough / 143

 

Five Poems - Tamali Neogi

Dignity / 144, It’s You / 144, Lady of the Mountain Villa / 145,

Her First Priority / 146, Call of Twenty First / 147
 

Review Essay
 

Love, Lockdown and Poetry: Virginia Archer,

A Caribbean Voice - George Goddard / 149

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Memories of Relationships: Keki N. Daruwalla’s Riding the Himalayas as a Travelogue - Jaydeep Sarangi / 154