G.D. Barche. Interpreting Literature: A Myth and a Reality.
(Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 2008).
Pages 197, Price Rs. 175/-.
ISBN 978-81-7977-269-0
Interpreting a text is a knotty affair, from impressionistic, didactic, moralistic, humanistic or spiritualistic to mythic, modernist, structuralist, postmodernist, diasporic, pragmatic, etc. G.D. Barche is aware of the pitfalls of various critical approaches and theories, as he tries to locate the meaning of various literary texts. He recognizes the significance of the writer's language in context.
Stylistics, with its armoury of analytical weapons, gives importance to form and exposes how something is expressed. One cannot do a stylistic analysis of a poem or fiction without some basic knowledge of linguistics, structuralism and poststructuralism; grammatical categories such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs etc, and noun phrases, verb phrases, clauses, collocations etc; syntax, diction, and vocabulary; metaphor, sound and prosody features etc (in poetry); and point-of-view and speech and thought presentation, understanding of the function of speech and dialogue (in fictional narratives); textual and rhetorical aspects - formal description, meditative reflection and metonymic dimension of style.
While the text's intrinsic linguistic meaning or formal properties are basic to Barche's understanding, he applies certain extrinsic contextual factors that are taken to affect the meaning of language in discourse. He effectively demonstrates how pragmatic meaning, for example, can complement semantic meaning, as he draws on ideas and experiences outside the text to formulate his interpretation. The process of his interpretation rests on cues in the text which have a different significance, or are significant to a different extent.
Barche's book does not deal with stylistics as a discipline, rather it provides stylistic analyses of about 35 poems, 20 novels, and two plays. The focus of his analysis is not so much on analysis of the text itself but on analysis of the factors determining the meaning of a text in its social and spiritual context. His discourse-analytical approach to style in literary works is positioned against Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, the Upanishads, the Bhagwad Gita, concepts such as klesa and citta-vrittis; layers of consciousness and ideals of detachment, freedom, love and self; myths of sin, fall, and suffering; symbols of Shikhandi, Sisyphus, Phoenix and Icarus, Adam and Eve, Purnima and Amavasya etc; and ironies, ambiguities and existential dilemmas that control the text or relate it to different contexts.
Throughout the 26 essays, composed to demonstrate how the written words relate to what is really meant, there is an intuitive presence of Patanjali's citta-vrittis and the various Upanishads that are the contexts of Barche's interpretations. He also regards the reader's autonomy vis-à-vis the text, and begins with an example of the reading and interpretation of Arun Kolatkar's 'Makarand', drawing our attention to what is known as the 'schema' theory. However, he quotes H.G. Widdowson to caution that given the unspecific and ambiguous poetic meanings, "there is no such thing as a definitive interpretation."
In his detailed analysis of a couple of poems by Kamala Das, Barche notes that the poet effectively gives vent to her "implicit or explicit anger" caused by klesas and nourished by viparyaya vritti. He also compares some of her poems with those of Sylvia Plath, who is equally experientially deep and psychologically complex but a victim of the viparyaya vritti which accounts for her deep-seated anger, pain and sufferings.
In another essay, Barche examines the 'Sun motif' in about twenty post-independent poets who show a secular rather than religious interest in the Sun. He also deals with Sunita Jain's poetry to reflect on the 'coupling' complex, i.e. convergence of physical, mental, emotional, and positional elements in man-woman relationship. In yet another essay he demonstrates the rejuvenating ('Phoenix') aspects as against the depleting ('Icarus') aspects of sex a la the Chandogya Upanisad's 'Vamdevya Chant' (Udgitha-Pratihara-Nidhana) in R.K.Singh's erotic poetry.
Among the words of fiction, Barche explores the built-in Nature-Culture forces in the protagonists of Arun Joshi's The Strange Case of Billy Biswas and Nguigi Wa Thiongo's The River Between. He creates the stylistic context for acquiring the tyaga vritti for 'nitya' (as against 'anitya') for everlasting blissful state.
His study of Anita Deasi's Bye Bye Black Bird and Arun Joshi's The Strange Case of Billy Biswas shows the process of alienation and rehabilitation via a 3-tier operation, viz. construction, deconstruction and reconstruction. If the characters in the two novels fail to experience rest and joy, it is because do not accept the Upanishadic truth that a man's destiny is to keep journeying non-stop.
Barche's approach enables him to deconstruct the deconstruction in Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things to help grasp the 'why and how' of things that happen in "ever puzzling and peculiar ways in this world." He also examines facets of feminism in Indian English fiction, concentrating on Shashi Deshpande's Roots and Shadows, Anita Desai's Cry, the Peacock, and Jai Nimbkar's Temporary Answers and highlights the paradoxical position of Indian women.
He studies Manohar Malgonkar's The Men Who Killed Gandhi to reflect on existential ironies; Bapsi Sidhwa's An American Brat and Ruth Praver Jhabwala's Heat and Dust to highlight the psychological processes and underlying causes that bring about transformation in one's life; Shobha De's Second Thoughts to understand the feeings of emptiness of a woman amidst plenty, recreating the myth of Fall; R.K. Narayan's The Guide to follow the moral import of the character of Marco as woven in the themes and caught in the tragic human situations without excluding ironies, ambiguities and moral dilemmas of the freedom to choose; and Graham Greene's A Burnt-out Case to map the character of Querry in terms of our layers of consciousness, viz. kali, dvapar, treita and krutam. He also looks at the suggestive and symbolic instances in The God of Small Things ; the Shikhandi symbol as reworked in Shashi Tharoor's Riot, and the expression of Patanjali's avidya in Taslima Nasrin's Lajja/Shame.
The last two essays of the book concern the study of Shakespeare's Othello with a vritti approach and the study of Girish Karnad's Tughlaq with an abhinivesa approach. The former explores the cause of Othello's fall and suffering in terms of Patanjali's five citta vrittis, viz. Pramana (right knowledge), Viparyaya (false knowledge), vikalpa (imagination), nidra (sleep) and smruti (memory), and the associated painful (klista) as well as painless (aklista) vrittis. He views Othello's citta (consciousness) invariably occupied in varying degrees by one vritti or the other but chiefly by pramana vritti, which results in desolation and death.
The latter essay applies Patanjali's psychology to explore the failure and consequent sorrow of Tughlaq, a historical character as conceived by Karnad. Barche, instead of blaming Tughlaq for his impatience, impulsiveness, lunacy, or overconfidence, locates a very different factor-abhinivesa-a klesa, a deep-seated passion, which makes the Sultan act in one direction and is instrumental for dragging him down from an efflorescent state to a miserable one in life.
Barche's Interpreting Literature: A Myth and a Reality, nicely printed and attractively gotup, with its enlightening articles on contemporary poetry (09), fiction (15) and drama (02), all stylistically linked to Patanjali's psychology for various interpretations, is a major contribution to Indian English Literary criticism. He is original in the sense he adds God-dimension to the triad of writer, reader and text and is keen-sighted. His interpretations may not be the same as the original authors' or other readers' but he is convincing.
Barche's qualitative and emotive approach should help enhance our thinking and feeling about the language and form of the texts he discusses just as his critique should help us appreciate "the man who suffers and the mind which creates" on a broader basis. Serious researchers, college and university teachers and postgraduate students should find the book motivating and useful in their literary and stylistic understanding.
Dr.R.K. Singh, Professor & Head, Dept of Humanities & Social Sciences, Indian School of Mines University, Dhanbad 826004, India
Ram Krishna Singh
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reviews. Show all posts
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
What If Your Dreams Came True?
I recently read a very interesting book called Courageous Dreaming by psychologist and shaman Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D. Courageous dreaming is "choosing to create a new and better reality right now instead of waiting for your life to get better."
Villoldo posits that you need to get really clear about what your inner reality is, because if you aren't consciously creating your own reality (courageous dreaming, then you'll get caught in someone else's nightmare.)
The principles in Courageous Dreaming reminded me of one of my favorite books of all time, Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon. One of the most significant themes of Bradley's re-imagining of Camelot is that what people believe to be real becomes real. In other words, the strongest belief wins.
In Lynn McTaggert's new book The Intention Experiment, she catalogues many studies demonstrating the phenomenon of non-locality or "quantum entanglement." From the sub-molecular level to the ability of human beings to influence cells, plants, animals and each other, scientists are now able to measure how living beings affect other living beings via energy.
One of the studies discussed in McTaggert's book showed that when a person designated as a "sender" of energy witnessed flashes of light, the brain waves in a designated "receiver" would mirror the brain waves of the person actually witnessing the light stimuli, even though the receiver was locked in a separate room. What was perhaps more astonishing about this sort of brain synchrony, however, was the finding that when a designated "receiver" had a more cohesive brain wave pattern than the "sender," the brain waves of the more ordered brain would sometimes take over.
These are challenging ideas, if you take them far enough. They imply that, if our species is still struggling with war, poverty, racism and religious intolerance, it's because so many of us have become trapped in a strong collective belief that "this is the way things are." On the other hand, if we want to live in a world that celebrates differences, where each person has the freedom to express his or her unique gifts, where there is plenty for all, then all we need do is believe strongly enough that it is possible.
Perhaps that thought seems ridiculous to you. And as long as it does, you will be trapped in the world you can believe in.
Christ said in his day that "the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." If he was correct, then why hasn't it happened in 2,000 years? Perhaps because we misunderstood. We thought he was talking about a "someday" heaven when he really meant that we were dreaming our reality into being, moment to moment. "Heaven," whatever that means to you, is always at hand, if only you have the imagination to see it right in front of you, and the courage to step right into it.
You have the power to break out of the cultural trance by joyously and intentionally writing your own story. You can create the life you desire in a wondrous world. Your dreams are coming true, right now.
So what are you dreaming?
Kimberly Schneider, M.Ed., J.D., LPC is an Abundance and Manifestation Coach who facilitates Mastermind programs and Transformational Live Events for conscious entrepreneurs and other out-of-the-box individuals. Kimberly is a lawyer, counselor, poet, writer and entrepreneur, spiritual adventurer, world traveler, alchemist, wife and mother to 2 extraordinary children one of whom has special needs. She draws upon her experience in business and life to awaken people to the wonder of existence and the joy of expressing the Authentic Self through meaningful work. Go to http://www.themanifestationmaven.com to request her free Conscious Life Creation e-course and find out Why The Secret Isn't Working for You and What You Can Do About It.
Villoldo posits that you need to get really clear about what your inner reality is, because if you aren't consciously creating your own reality (courageous dreaming, then you'll get caught in someone else's nightmare.)
The principles in Courageous Dreaming reminded me of one of my favorite books of all time, Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon. One of the most significant themes of Bradley's re-imagining of Camelot is that what people believe to be real becomes real. In other words, the strongest belief wins.
In Lynn McTaggert's new book The Intention Experiment, she catalogues many studies demonstrating the phenomenon of non-locality or "quantum entanglement." From the sub-molecular level to the ability of human beings to influence cells, plants, animals and each other, scientists are now able to measure how living beings affect other living beings via energy.
One of the studies discussed in McTaggert's book showed that when a person designated as a "sender" of energy witnessed flashes of light, the brain waves in a designated "receiver" would mirror the brain waves of the person actually witnessing the light stimuli, even though the receiver was locked in a separate room. What was perhaps more astonishing about this sort of brain synchrony, however, was the finding that when a designated "receiver" had a more cohesive brain wave pattern than the "sender," the brain waves of the more ordered brain would sometimes take over.
These are challenging ideas, if you take them far enough. They imply that, if our species is still struggling with war, poverty, racism and religious intolerance, it's because so many of us have become trapped in a strong collective belief that "this is the way things are." On the other hand, if we want to live in a world that celebrates differences, where each person has the freedom to express his or her unique gifts, where there is plenty for all, then all we need do is believe strongly enough that it is possible.
Perhaps that thought seems ridiculous to you. And as long as it does, you will be trapped in the world you can believe in.
Christ said in his day that "the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." If he was correct, then why hasn't it happened in 2,000 years? Perhaps because we misunderstood. We thought he was talking about a "someday" heaven when he really meant that we were dreaming our reality into being, moment to moment. "Heaven," whatever that means to you, is always at hand, if only you have the imagination to see it right in front of you, and the courage to step right into it.
You have the power to break out of the cultural trance by joyously and intentionally writing your own story. You can create the life you desire in a wondrous world. Your dreams are coming true, right now.
So what are you dreaming?
Kimberly Schneider, M.Ed., J.D., LPC is an Abundance and Manifestation Coach who facilitates Mastermind programs and Transformational Live Events for conscious entrepreneurs and other out-of-the-box individuals. Kimberly is a lawyer, counselor, poet, writer and entrepreneur, spiritual adventurer, world traveler, alchemist, wife and mother to 2 extraordinary children one of whom has special needs. She draws upon her experience in business and life to awaken people to the wonder of existence and the joy of expressing the Authentic Self through meaningful work. Go to http://www.themanifestationmaven.com to request her free Conscious Life Creation e-course and find out Why The Secret Isn't Working for You and What You Can Do About It.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
"Winter Blossoms" by Mamata Misra
"Winter Blossoms" is a collection of poems depicting the inequity faced by women who are caught in a cross-cultural journey. These women are destined by society to experience the complexities of indignity, hostility, and domination. Mamata Misra has captured a yearning for change, and a call for understanding. In a courageous bold voice she uses her poetry to speak loudly with a message of hope to these courageous women.
The illustrations by Indira Chakravorty vividly reinforce the message of the poetry. These poignant words and pictures tell the story of the restlessness of communal violence, offer a prayer for peace, describe the loving presence of a mother, and relate the bravery of Seetha walking into fire to prove her chastity to prove her worthiness to be queen.
The book is arranged in a topical format. Pen and ink drawings coinciding with the words of the poem impact and enhance the message conveyed through the written word.
The topics include "Mother and Child," "War and Peace," "Questions and Answers," "Hope and Despair," and "Sound and Silence." The final chapter entitled "Poems and People," includes a brief background on each of the poems, the time and circumstances of its origin, and a brief comment or two regarding the message being conveyed. A biographical sketch of the author and the illustrator are also included.
The poems in "Winter Blossoms" reveal the amazing insight, of the author, into the nature of the struggles faced by South Asian women. Mamata Misra brings to the forefront the need to speak out against the reality of family violence, and abuse. She faces squarely the incongruity of the power struggle of war in the guise of establishing peace. I was deeply moved by the poem, "Despair."
http://www.readerviews.com/
The illustrations by Indira Chakravorty vividly reinforce the message of the poetry. These poignant words and pictures tell the story of the restlessness of communal violence, offer a prayer for peace, describe the loving presence of a mother, and relate the bravery of Seetha walking into fire to prove her chastity to prove her worthiness to be queen.
The book is arranged in a topical format. Pen and ink drawings coinciding with the words of the poem impact and enhance the message conveyed through the written word.
The topics include "Mother and Child," "War and Peace," "Questions and Answers," "Hope and Despair," and "Sound and Silence." The final chapter entitled "Poems and People," includes a brief background on each of the poems, the time and circumstances of its origin, and a brief comment or two regarding the message being conveyed. A biographical sketch of the author and the illustrator are also included.
The poems in "Winter Blossoms" reveal the amazing insight, of the author, into the nature of the struggles faced by South Asian women. Mamata Misra brings to the forefront the need to speak out against the reality of family violence, and abuse. She faces squarely the incongruity of the power struggle of war in the guise of establishing peace. I was deeply moved by the poem, "Despair."
http://www.readerviews.com/
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