Value Judgement of Literatures under Questions

Literary studies in almost all parts of the world involve a system of valuation of literary texts and authors. Consequently, some texts and authors are canonised and established as "standards" in every literature on suppression of rest of "non-standard" texts.  Traditionally, some qualities like test of time, aesthetic standard and representation of real life are regarded as benchmarks of value judgement of literary texts and authors. Nevertheless, such systems of judgements are most of the times suspected to be false as they apparently exclude many of texts with different qualities and they base the judgements upon few select critics. Due to exclusion of many texts and authors as decided by few critics, value judgements in literature are under the questions of accuracy and credibility.

The Erasers: A Narrative Rewriting of Oedipus Rex

          

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  The Erasers is a detective novel by Alain Robbe-Grillet, originally published in French as Les Gommes in 1953. The novel deals with attempts to find the assassin of a professor named Daniel Dupont who was supposed to be killed in the night before the novel's setting. The novel is set in an unnamed city, covers a full day that a government's special agent spends to find out the murderer. The novel concludes much like the world famous classical Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex by Sophocles revealing to the readers that the one searching the murderer himself turns to be the murderer. Due to its similar plot structure with dramatic irony and other similar elements, The Erasers can be taken as a rewriting and/or rereading of the classical mythical tragedy of Oedipus.

English Medium Education: An Individual and National Need

From www.ekantipur.com

On a day in my twelfth grade, my English teacher was marking my test papers in front of me. Suddenly he asked me if I came from a government school. I said, "Yes, I am from Nepali medium." Then he commented, "If your parents had enrolled you in an English medium school…" He didn't complete the sentence, but looked at my face directly and seriously. My face turned very serious and quite shy. This comment had such an impression on me that I am still thinking what if my parents had enrolled me in an English medium school.

Metaphors in "To a Skylark"

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"To a Skylark" is a lyrical poem written by one of the best known Romantic poets Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822).  In this poem, the poet has elevated beauty and sweetness of a skylark and the song it sings. To describe its virtues, the skylark is compared with various beautiful things of the world. Metaphoric language has been used in the poem as a means of such comparisons. The poem thus is filled with metaphors to describe beauty of the skylark and sweetness of its songs and such metaphors have made the bird and the song something more than what they really are.

Quest for 'the First Principle': From Thales to Aristotle

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It has been long that the western philosophy has begun searching "the first principle" – the fundamental element or principle that caused all the diverse things in the world. Though many things have been lost by now, traces of philosophical attempts to define the first principle can be found back from the seventh century BC. By the time of Aristotle in the fourth century BC, in Greece itself, there had been many attempts to know the first principle. In fact, the first principle was the most important aspect of pursuit of knowledge in the ancient Greece which every other aspect of knowledge revolved around.  The developments of the western mind in Greece from Thales up to Aristotle can be summed up as quests for the first principle.

Mero Sansar: The Sansar for Millions

I don't remember when I visited Mero Sansar  for the first time. But what I remember is after that day, I have been visiting the blog site everyday whenever I have an access to the Internet. Mero Sansar (to translate literally, "My World") has been the third site that I visit most nowadays (the first two being my Facebook and Gmail accounts).  Mero Sansar presents interesting information in an entertaining way; that is what has made the site one of the popular Nepali webs to be visited by thousands of people every day.  

Author's Presence in a Text

           Though Roland Barthes has already declared that the author is "dead" in a text, there are many theories that believe authorship cannot be separated from any writing. Despite many theoretical attacks on presence of the author in a literary creation in the modern era, many other theories believe that author cannot help representing him/herself in his/her writing; thus any writing is expression of its author and his/her feelings, emotions, thoughts and ideas. These theories can be collectively called "the theory of expressivity". Since these theories originate and develop most in Romantic writings, they can also be called "the Romantic theory of authorship" or "the Romantic-expressive theory".

No Respect for Native Rules

"To write every word in correct rhaswas and dirghas, I'm not a Nepali professor after all", many youths and adults tell this sentence when someone tries to correct some spellings in their Nepali writings. So – does one need to be a Nepali professor to write Nepali correctly? If yes, given that most of us try to make our English spellings as correct as possible, why have not we been English professors yet?

 http://202.166.193.40/kantipur/news/news-detail.php?news_id=269940

Author and journalist Sharat Chandra Wastiwrites, "The national language should have become stronger day by day, but this is not the case due to extreme ignorance and an impulse toward fashion. On the one hand are those risen to senior positions and highly educated who feel proud, not shy, to say "I don't know Nepali much". On the other hand are those involved in language-related professions who take linguistic incompetence for their pride by saying "Do I need to learn Nepali? Whatever I write is Nepali." The general user lies confused between these two poles" (IX). It shows that Nepali population has been too much ignorant about correct use of own language. And, this can be best seen in spellings of Nepali words in Nepali (Devnagari) script they write.

Parody: This is Just to Say

Our poetry teacher Prakash Subedi says one of the best ways to appreciate a good poem is to compose parodies of them. So, he had assigned us to write parodies of the well-known poem 'This Is Just To Say' by William Carlos Williams. Thus, here are a couple of parodies written by me:

Rigidity in Old Age: Natural and Human

            We demand to our parents that we need internet access and laptop at our home. "Why?" they ask. We say we need to research online for our study and assignments. They answer, "We too studied and were abided with assigned projects in our times. We completed our bachelors and masters under dim lights of a tuki, when there was no electricity. But we never thought of laptops or the Internet. So, you can study and do assignments without them if you really wish them. You complain means you don't want to do them!"

Nora's Final Meeting with Torvald: The Doll's Defiance

Nora Helmer, wife of Torvald Helmer is the protagonist of the celebrated realistic play 'A Doll House' (1879) by Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906). The change in her personality from a submissive wife to an assertive woman is taken as the most important move of the plot in this play. In this development, Nora's final meeting with her husband Helmer (whom she is going to leave) is the climax. Understanding this very episode provides the audience with the central controversy associated with Nora's role: is she right in leaving home. In deed, the scene of her meeting with Helmer is essentially crux of the play as it includes the landmark move in the plot, that is Nora's daring defiance against her doll position.

Role of Family in Personality: A Psychoanalytic Reading of 'I Stand Here Ironing'

'I Stand Here Ironing' is a short story by American writer Tillie Olsen. The story is about struggle of a mother – who is also narrator of the story – to bring up and console her psychologically problematic child, Emily. Emily is projected as one with various psychological core issues; namely low self esteem, fear of intimacy, and sibling rivalry. As the story progresses, she is gradually healed. In this process of problematisation and healing, the mother is seen always with her. Besides, the unnamed mother too shares those core issues. In fact, it is the mother (and indirectly the father) who incorporated the psychological problems into the daughter. Thus, the story shows that parents' treatment to children during childhood in the family directly influences their personality formation.

The Battle Royal: A Story of Realisation of Individual Limitations

While reading 'The Battle Royal' by Ralph Ellison, I find the event in which the narrator is called to redeliver his speech most disturbing. The event that he is called by some people to deliver his graduation speech again at a gathering reminds me of an experience that I myself passed through more than a decade ago. Since that experience was not so good for me, I find this call in the story equally disturbing and I can predict the problems that the narrator will face later. Further, that event makes me highlight innocence of the narrator to prove that the story is depiction of an individual's limitations. Then, for me, the story is an expression of individual weaknesses and their realisation, more than the voice for racial equality. 

English Affixation

1.      Affixation

Affixes are the bound morphemes which are added to base forms of words.  Yule, 2010 defines affixes as "a large number of small “bits” of the English language which are not usually given separate listings in dictionaries" (58). For example, "re-", "dis-", "-s", "-ed" are some common affixes in English language.

Phonetic Description of Nepali Consonants

1.      Consonants

Consonants are one of the major two subdivisions of phonemes of any language. It is distinguished from the other major subdivision 'Vowels'. Unlike vowels, consonant sounds cannot be pronounced without obstruction in airflow. In other words, "consonants are produced by temporarily obstructing or restricting the airstream as it passes through the mouth" (Lyons 75).     

Review of ‘The Journey’

'The Journey' is a short story by Catherine Lim. The story revolves around movement (not only physical one!) of the character named Richard and his family. It presents a conflict between traditional life style in rural Singapore and the modern life in urban cities of the nation that Richard and his wife Mabel represent respectfully. In addition, there also lies a conflict between older traditionalist generation and newer modernist generation. All the elements of the stories – including structure, characters, actions and language – contribute to the exposition of the same geographical and generational conflicts.

Nature and Time in the Given Poems of Coleridge, Keats and Wordsworth

The three poems - 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' (Coleridge), 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' (Keats) and 'Daffodils' (Wordsworth) belong to the same historical and literary period (of Romantic poetry). Thus they have similar visions toward nature and time that they pay high respect to nature and believe that past has a lasting effect on present and future.

            Explanation of beauty of nature is perhaps the most significant characteristic of literature of their time. Along with appreciation of its beauty, these three poems perceive nature as something great, God-like, thus it deserves high value and respects from human beings. The same beliefs are reflected in the three poems under question.

Difficulties as Inspirations for Improvement

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Despite the fact that I used to score the highest in my class, I was weak in English among my mates up to class 8. In class 9, I realised that I need to work hard on this subject for better SLC result. I worked hard and improved satisfactorily, which ultimately gave me a score of 82 in English in SLC exam. This mark convinced me that I am not weaker than other English school students in this subject. But I was proved wrong when I stepped into my +2 classroom.

End of Internal Exams: Not Reasonable for Real Students

Almost all +2 and bachelor level colleges in Kathmandu Valley schedule internal examinations for its students; but surprisingly very few students attend them. The students are neither forced to attempt them if the exams do not contribute to their final evaluation/score. Nevertheless, many colleges have never thought of any alternatives which would be more favourable to their students. Disparity between attitude of students toward such exams and the colleges' continuation of them can be taken as an evidence of the fact that we have many problems in education system. Yet, internal exams are beneficial too, thus can not be removed altogether from the system.

Mirror or Hammer? : Different Positions of Stories in Social Change

Introduction

            "Art is not a mirror to hold up to society, but a hammer with which to shape it", says Marxist thinker and dramatist Bertold Brecht (1898-1956). His idea is that art does not passively reflect whatever happens in society, but it actively influences and guides it. Art has a role to play, a function to inspire change in human society. It is in apparent opposition to traditional view toward art and literature that they "reflect" society as mirrors. In a way, both views seem correct. Some literatures simply reflect society, whereas some dare to shape it anew. The stories in this course too are divided over it. From the basis of two stories to be interpreted here, we can claim that art doesn't only mirror society every time, but sometime it hammers existing socio-cultural norms and values.

Dr Leinsdorf: Representative of 'White-Chauvinism'

'Town and Country Lovers' by Nadine Gordimer basically deals with racial differences and its impacts in human relationships in then South African settings. It includes two independent but similar stories set in town and country of South Africa. In the first story of town, Dr Franz-Josef von Leinsdorf (white man) is the major character who has relationships with an unnamed black girl. As the title suggests, they love each other. But their love is not so simple like 'pure love', but is complicated that also presents White view toward Black women in particular and whole Black life in general. Dr Leinsdorf's views can be representatives for white's views toward lives of blacks.

Sense of Class in 'The Garden Party'

'The Garden Party' by Katherine Mansfield suggests opinions on class differences in a society as one of its many themes. Its major character Laura belongs to the upper class. However in her neighbourhood, there live many lower (working) class poor families. Laura's and her family's view on life of lower class people has a significance in understanding of the story. Thus, although ambivalent, the story presents upper class's perspective toward life of lower class nearby them.

Delphin Slade in 'Roman Fever': An Unseen yet Important Character

Though only two characters – Alida Slade and Grace Ansley – are seen in 'Roman Fever' by Edith Wharton, there are numerous characters behind the scene. Among them, Delphin Slade is the most important one, whose strong influence can be seen contributing to what appears in the story. At the end of the story, most of the readers are forced to think about his role more importantly than Alida or Grace.

Satire in Gogol's 'The Overcoat'

Nikolai Gogol's 'The Overcoat' has predominantly satirist tone.  Written by a well-known Russian satirist, the story moves around the character of Akaky Akakievich (Bashmachkin); and the writer tries to attack then Russian bureaucracy in particular, and bureaucratic weaknesses of any place of any time in general through the incidents happened in life of its character. In surface view, the story seems to be mere portrayal of hardships and pains Akaky faces; or the story's central light is on Akaky's character, than on bureaucratic misbehaviours. However, if we read it more closely, it appears to be a strong satire against faults of administrative systems and its staff in then Russia.

Introduction to Major Feminists: from Woolf to Cixous

Background

            Feminism is an academic and political movement that attempts to establish women as equal to men in the world. Though mainstream political and literary history of feminism began in the nineteenth and twentieth century; struggles against patriarchy in literature can be seen earlier too. Mary Wollstonecraft's resistance against patriarchal ideology in 1792 with her 'A Vindication of the Rights of Woman' is an example (Tyson 93).

            Feminism's history is generally divided into three phases – as the first, second and third waves. Each of the waves involves some academic pioneers whose ideas led other activists. Below are introductions to few of those theorists who led development of the first and second wave feminisms.   

Development and Assumptions of New Critical Thought

New Criticism began in mid twentieth century. However, it is influenced by some nineteenth century thinkers, especially by Matthew Arnold, the British poet and literary and cultural critic. Arnold's central idea that New Criticism brought was "philosophy and religion would be replaced by poetry in modern society" (qtd. in Selden et al 25), where the existence of god is already questioned. He believed that literature is in deed culture, because for him, culture represents the best that has been known and thought in the world, and it can be a humanistic defense against destructive anarchy of the modern world.

Syllable Structures in Nepali Language

1.       Introduction to Syllables

A syllable is generally a speech sound of a particular language which can be pronounced with a single puff of breathes.  It is an essential element for a morpheme, i.e.: no morpheme can be formed without a syllable.  Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia states "Syllables are often considered the phonological 'building blocks' of words." For example, in the word 'Book' [bʊk], there is only one syllable, whereas the word 'Copy' [kopi:] is made up of two syllables. We need to break air to pronounce this word between 'co', and 'py'.

Then I Realised What It Means to Be a Vegetarian

Photo by Rubina Shreshth

I had spent a week with very difficult yet exciting and interesting experiences in Kolki, a rural village of Lamjung district last year. I was there to facilitate five-day training on life skills to members of local child clubs on invitation by a local NGO. Interestingly the trip became so memorable because of cross-cultural experiences I went through, rather than what I did there as a part of my formal purpose. It also made me learn some important life skills practically, which I was supposed to teach there.

Poetry in 'Fences': Metaphors, Music and More

'Fences' (1987) is a play by August Wilson, who is well known for the plays that use best of poetry and music. Like in many of his plays, poetry and music are very significantly present in language of characters of this play 'Fences'; and they have made this play playful and amusing. In addition, the play involves many interesting metaphors, contributing to enrichment of meaning of the dialogues. Thus, it is language of poetry that has made 'Fences' richer for both understanding and pleasure. 

Mother – Son Relations in 'The Glass Menagerie' and the 'Death of a Salesman'

'The Glass Menagerie' (1944) by Tennessee Williams and the 'Death of a Salesman' (1949) by Arthur Miller are considered to be two of most important plays of twentieth century American theatre. Written in the same decade, both of the plays delve into two different families and relationship between its members. The mother-son relationship in these two families is interesting to study, because it shares many similarities and differences. Though there are many gaps, both of the plays involve similar role of mothers toward sons of similar nature.