REVISED SYLLABUS FOR MA PART I IN ENGLISH

From June 2008 onwards

Part I

1. Indian Literature in English (1820s onwards)2. Linguistic and Stylistic Analysis of Texts3. Literature from the English Renaissance to the Augustan Age4. (a) Language Learning and teaching

(b) Nineteen and Twentieth Century American Literature

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PAPER I: INDIAN LITERATURE IN ENGLISH (1820S ONWARDS)

1. Background Themes and Issues

(a) The Beginnings and Nationalism: Beginning of English Studies in India; Macaulay’s Minutes; Anglicist-Orientalist Debate; Impact on Early Poetry and the Novel from Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Toru Dutt, Derozio to Aurobindo and Sarojini Naidu; Early Indian Drama in English; Early Literary Criticism; Tagore’s Essays on Aesthetics and Literary Criticism

(b) The Rise of Nationalism and Partitioning of India: Gandhi and Nehru’s vision of India; Critique of Gandhi and Other Indian Nationalist thinkers (Nirad C Chaudhari, M. N Roy, V. D. Savarkar & Dr B R Ambedkar); Impact of Western Ideologies on India; Two-Nation Theory and Partition of India; Impact of Political and Intellectual movements on Indian writing in English

(c)Post-Independence India: Impact of Language policies on Literature; The Role of English; Nehruvian Idealism and Loss of Nehruvian Dream; Power Politics; Emergency Period; Rise of Fundamentalisms; Criminalization of politics and Societies; Rise of Dalit Power; Gender Reforms; Globalization and Liberalization of the Indian Economy and Society; Neo Colonialism

(d) Contemporary Literary Scenario: Debates on concepts of ‘Indianness’—Prescriptive, Descriptive; Nativism versus Cosmopolitanism; Multiculturalism in Diasporic Indian English Writing; Gender Issues and Their Impact on Indian Literature in English; Attempts to Modify and Indianise Standard British English; Use of History, Myths, Magic Realism, Epic, Minimalism, Folk, Scherezadic Traditions & Their Impact on Novel, Poetry and Indian Drama in English

2. Prescribed Texts

(a) Pre-Independence:Novels and Poetry

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee: Rajmohan’s Wife

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Colonial Poetry: Poems from Early Indian Poetry in English: an Anthology 1829-1947. Edited by Eunice De Souza. Oxford University Press. 2006

R. K. Narayan: Swami and Friends

(b) Post-Independence:

NovelsShashi Deshpande: A Matter of Time

Amitav Ghosh: The Calcutta Chromosome

Poetry

Selection of Poems written by Nissim Ezekiel, Dom Moraes, Keki Daruwala, A. K. Ramanujan, Vikram Seth, Kamala Das, Eunice De Souza, Imtiaz Dharkar, Dillip Chitre, Gieve Patel, Meena Alexander, Arun Kolatkar (4 to 5 poems of each of the prescribed poets)

Drama

Pratap Sharma: A Touch of Brightness

Mahesh Dattani: Dance Like a Man

3. Secondary Reading 3.1 Macaulay’s Minutes, 18353.2 Behram Malabari, Indian Eye on English Life, 18853.3 Comelia Sorabji, The Sun Babies, 19043.4 Bapsi Sdhwas, Ice Candy Man,1988

4. Recommended Reading

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5. Examination Pattern

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