Paper for Issue

Editorial

Abstract

Editorial

Contents

Abstract

Contents of the Journal, Vol 1, Issue 1

Narrative Universals and Cultural Context

Abstract

Narrative Universals and Cultural Context

Subversion of Ethical Values In Kurt Vonnegut’s A Man Without a Country [2005]

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A Man Without a Country (2005) is Kurt Vonnegut's swan-song, as after the publication of this work in the year (2005), it was in December 2010 that Vonnegut slipped while descending the stairs in his house, the resultant fall give him a head injury which eventually caused his death.

Folk Deities as the Alternative Myths in India

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In this paper, my objective is to interpret and make a critical inquiry of folklore and social epistemology, with special reference to certain folk deities and practices, who I term as ‘alternative myths’-- and I dare do that with a persistent resolve.

The Scopic Drive and Scopophilia in John Updike’s Roger’s Version

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Abstract: John Updike’s Roger’s Version(1986) explores the scopic drive and dwells on the scopophilic instincts of its protagonist and narrator Roger Lambert, a doctor of divinity and a devotee of Karl Barth. When the young computer whiz Dale Kohler approaches Roger for a grant for a project intended to objectify God on the computer through his vast knowledge of Computer Science, the latter, though skeptical of the efficacy of the project, keeps his hopes on tenterhooks because he is cocksure of the failure of the venture of Dale whom he takes to be a sort of contestant. Roger resorts to a series of wild phantasizings in which he imagines a possible liaison between Dale and his wife Esther, and offers us photographic snaps of the putative erotic encounters between them. The novel also involves Roger’s visits to his nubile niece Verna with whom he gets entangled in an incestuous liaison, and the sight of whom stimulates and precipitates his scopophilia. With his training as a painter and a cartoonist, Updike in this novel makes pervasive use of the scopic. Exploring the theoretical notions of scopophilia, this paper attempts to explore the operation of the scopic drive in Roger’s Version and its concomitant scopophilia engendered by it in its protagonist Roger. Keywords: Updike, scopic, scopophilia, gaze, Roger, Dale, Esther, Verna.

Environmental Imagination: A Question of Repression

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Abstract: To explore the discourse of repression in our coconsciousness, I have chosen two culturally different texts that are A River Sutra (1993) by Gita Mehta and A Life on the Mississippi (1883) by Mark Twain. The chosen works do belonging two different genres have many things in common as both of them bring out important of rivers in dealing with individual being. The exploited river has a tendency to strike back in the form of drought, famine etc. and the exploited human beings too steadily gather strength to hit back at the oppressor. The aim of this paper is to analyse the interconnectedness of nature and culture as represented in literature. The paper also engages with critical readings of the text examining the development and the transformations of the characters. It tries to interrogate the way dualism has been constituted that justifies the exploitation of nature. Keywords: Nature, Repression, Culture, Exploitation, Dualism

Kavita – A Short Story

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A Creative piece

Contributors Bio-note

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Bio-Note of Contributors