Contemporary Literary Review India

Traumatized Mind: Inspecting Abandonment Trauma in David Diop’s At Night All Blood is Black

Arsha Junaid — 2023-11-20

There are many war narratives in literature especially after the terrifying Second World War. Along with discussing the horrors of war, writers popularized the concept of ‘trauma’ which is an after effect of all the brutalities the soldiers and the citizens witnessed as part of the war. Concepts like PTSD began to be discussed and there came several different types of trauma narratives. ‘Abandonment trauma’ is one such where we discuss the psychological after effects of abandonment on an individual. Abandonment can be from different sources. But a child who is neglected of parental care and love in their childhood is likely to exhibit certain severe psychological impacts even after he grows into an adult.

This academic paper discusses a novel written by the Senegalese writer David Diop At Night All Blood is Black which is primarily a war narrative discussing the story of a soldier Alfa Ndiaye, who is continuously exposed to the brutalities of the war and his transformation from an innocent soldier to a monstrous one seeking revenge by the ritualistic enemy killings. Alfa was like all the rest of the soldiers who obeyed his captain without any second thought, until he witnessed the death of his friend Mademba Diop in the war field. After that night he started transforming into a blood thirsty human monster who starts to kill his blue- eyed German enemy soldiers each a day and returned to his trench with the severed hand of the dead. He does this each single day until he is sent to the military asylum after the eighth enemy hand. This violence in Alfa has something to do with his childhood. The paper delves deeper into his childhood and the parental abandonment which he experienced at the early age of 9 and how it has affected his actions in the adulthood. It thus makes use of abandonment trauma theory and its psychological implications upon an individual.

Reading Simin Daneshvar's Savushun as a Feminist Novel

Bilquees Dar — 2023-11-20

Savushun first modern Iranian novel written by a female Iranian feminist writer novelist Simin Daneshvar is a special literary work that goes beyond the limits of the period it was written and aptly captures the milieu making it permanently useful. The novel considered the first novel in the Iranian literary canon is partly political and partly a clarion call of an emergent feminist movement. Savashun revolves around women trying to gain voice in a male-dominated society and concentrates on an emancipated woman’s experience. Daneshvar thus through this work makes the Iranian women to have a voice to kick to. The technique is ' documentary imaginative’ (Daneshvar, p.425) and similar to that of the American novelist E. L. Doktorow, specifically in how he treated the contemporary history in his most famous novel Ragtime (1975, Golsiri, p. 181; Esḥaqian, p. 157). Savashun usually uses narrative forms and has a linear plot (Davaran, 159)and is dedicated to Daneshvar's husband Jalal Al Ahmad, a famous fiction writer, whose vigorous fight against the evil impact of western culture on Iran showed, with the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Iran a few years later, to have been prophetic.

The Economy of Subjection: Reading Arun Kolatkar’s Jejuri as a Journey Poem

Bishnupada Ray — 2023-11-20

Arun Kolatkar’s Jejuri is a key text in Indian English Poetry and it has been subjected to various readings. One reading that is still possible is its politics of representation, that beneath its seemingly innocent surface of a journey poem involving a city-bred modern-day tourist visiting the temple town of Jejuri near Pune in Maharastra, it takes up the serious issue of the dynamics of cultural misrepresentation in the way of marginalization and displacement. The poem can be read as one classic example of how the centre perceives the margin and at what cost. And in the process it reveals its economy of subjection. By ‘economy of subjection’ one can mean, in Saidian sense, the Orientalist process of subjecting the Other or the Oriental, the member of a subject race, into subjection; because one can find here the same process of othering by using the patterns of a travel narrative. However, a sense of alienation from one’s own culture on the part of the observer-recorder also comes to the fore, rendering the master-slave narrative problematic. Other manifestation of the Orientalist representation is a sort of internalisation of the Western way of looking at the Oriental irrationality and chaos and viewing it from the perspective of rationality and imposition of a rational form over the irrational chaos. One thematic aspect of Indianness in the poem is the internal colonialism and the resistance of it, rather than the external one; the cultural markers of which are always found in the form of our attitude towards the womankind and the subaltern, and in the pervasive sense of hopelessness and guilt, as manifested in our overriding religious feelings.

Literary Evolution of Naatch Girl

Chitrani Pandey — 2023-11-20

Nautch girl was an umbrella which came into existence post colonisation. Dancers who performed naach in the courts of Kings were referred to as nautch girl by the britishers. These performers were treated with uttermost respect and had establishments such as palaces, land, jewellery etc. to their name. These dancers belonged to different tribes and performed different dances as well. These included- devadasis, Randis, kunbis tec. The purpose and intent to perform these dances vastly differed as well. However, after British Invasion, all these dancers were grouped under the common umbrella term of Nautch girl. The meaning of Nautch changed too. After colonisation, the dancers were seen as sexual entities whose intent was to entice their audience. While sensuality was an important part of dances, arising, it was not the primary intent of the dance. This changed meaning led to stereotyping of an entire literary culture and led to its drastic decline. However, in today’s era, we do see the presence of these dancers in Bollywood works. The relevance of naachaniya in the present day is still prevalent. We can identify these dancers in Bollywood movies. Items songs are practically a modern day version of a naachaniya. The research aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the term ‘nautch girl’ and draws the evolutionary meaning of the same.

Theorizing the Quasi-Private

Dr. Minu Susan Koshy — 2023-11-20

The family has, for centuries, engaged the Latin American imagination, as a quasi-private sphere where the subject negotiates with the inner/private and outer/public realms of existence, in compliance with, and at times in discordance with the state. The rapidly changing contours of the Latin American socio-political scenario have made its presence felt in the depiction of the family in literature. The paper attempts to explore the family as a kinship unit as depicted in the works of Mario Vargas Llosa, with special reference to Conversation in the Cathedral (1969) and The Discreet Hero (2013). Llosa’s works are unique in their depiction of the family in that the rupture of the established unit marks the movement of the narrative in conspicuous ways. The family serves as an interface between the public and the private and serves as the link connecting the characters to the outside world-i.e., the politico-jural domain” (Goody 93). The paper would explore the family as depicted in Llosa’s works as a quasi-private site of rupture existing in a complementary relationship with the state.

Minority as a Victim of Dissent

Neeru Jaiswal — 2024-01-27

In this paper, the Sri Lankan context of Sinhalese - Tamil conflict has been used as a foreground to comment upon the idea of dissent, nature of dissent and its repercussions and collateral damage on any existent minority. Discrimination and the creation of differentiation on the basis of that has been explored in this paper. Formation of identity and its crisis would also be analyzed. Migration and exile are other themes have also been investigated.

Toni Morrison on Unconventional Motherhood, Maternal Abandonment and Redefined Love

Rishav Devrani — 2023-11-20

Motherhood is a prominent theme in Toni Morrison's works that she has emphasized in her novels as well as her essays. Through the thematic exploration of her stories, Morrison philosophizes the power and the sacrifices that flow from motherhood and attempts to dismantle the patriarchal poster image of a mother and the experience of motherhood. Building upon the same, she beautifully sews together her political stance on black womanhood, her ideas on slavery, its aftermath in the United States vis-à-vis the infinite struggles of maternal identity.

In the essay, the authors have tried to analyze and anatomize the paradigm of stereotypical notions associated with motherhood. By deconstructing Toni Morrison's 'Sula,' 'A Mercy,' and 'Beloved,' the authors have attempted to explain how Morrison rebukes the status quo and run-of-the-mill motherly standards and writes fearlessly on concepts that have been seldom evaded and diverted by her contemporaries. By making a comparative analysis of her works, the authors have illustrated how Morrison tackles different themes of black womanhood; developing them from day-to-day experiences to an evolution of a new resistance. She enables, through her characters, African American women to come forward, counter, and challenge the discourse on black womanhood.

Different eras beget different expectations where women are romanticized, and their traditional roles are reaffirmed. It, therefore, becomes pivotal for voices like Morrison's to encourage women all around through her innocent portrayal of the complexities of societal affirmation. For example, she disregards the conventional understanding that biological mothers are the sole domain holder of motherhood.

The authors have discussed Morrison’s background to understand why she writes the way she does. Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993 and was one of the flagbearers of Black Feminist literature; due to her flair for dismantling complex and controversial subjects without stripping them off of reality. And as she always said, the power of changing the world for the better lies not in the great people we mourn, but with ourselves, the essay is an attempt to honor her unmatched legacy.

“Dalit Children are Children Too”: Reframing the World of Dalit Children through Some Dalit Narratives

Samarjit Dutta — 2023-11-20

The paper aims to focus on how children are being represented in Dalit Literature. The paper will further answer the question of whether there can be any Dalit Children's Literature. To answer the question of how children are being represented in Dalit Literature, my paper will include Surviving in My World: Growing Up Dalit in Bengal, Poisoned Bread and Interrogating my Chandal Life: An Autobiography of a Dalit. Dalit children are mostly portrayed as a labourer and the hardships of their lives are depicted vividly throughout. They are often tortured immensely for even a drop of water. It can be perceived that there prevail innumerable deaths of Dalit children which are often reported in newspapers oftentimes. My paper thereby will formulate the portrayal of Dalit children and will answer my research question as well.

Wuthering Heights

Suryendu Chanda Chaudhury — 2024-01-27

“Wuthering Heights” has intrigued the critics since its inception, even in the third decade of the 21^st Century the novel still holds importance. Apart from its socio economic and psychological aspects, which have mostly been discussed upon, the novel is relevant in the context of life itself as can be perceived in the present situation. Although the plot seems to dwell on the personal problems involving two families and a stranger (Heathcliff), its reflective of the less spoken matters of life and society as well. The cruelty is indeed symbolic; the characters though bearing symbolic and allusive significance appear to be flesh and blood at least in the present context of time.

The Baby Bump

Fatema Mustafa Chhatriwala — 2023-11-20

The Baby Bump is a story by Fatema Mustafa Chhatriwala.

The Edge of Violence

Ranjan Sen — 2024-01-27

The Edge of Violence is a story by Ranjan Sen.

Blood Debt

Sarthak Sharma — 2023-11-20

Blood Debt is a story Sarthak Sharma.

The Mural

Sudanthan Sudesamithiran — 2023-11-20

The Mural is a short story by Sudanthan Sudesamithiran.

The Curse of Silence

Bhavya Prabhakar — 2023-11-20

The Curse of Silence is a poem by Bhavya Prabhakar.

My old ink pen

Biswanath Dash — 2024-01-27

My old ink pen is a poem by Biswanath Dash.

The Lake of Tears

Dibya Ranjan Giri — 2023-11-20

Lake of Tears is a poem by Dibya Ranjan Giri.

Dabbler, Blind to Emergencies, Cure Needed

Gary Beck — 2023-11-20

Dabbler, Blind to Emergencies, and Cure Needed are the poems by Gary Beck.

The Wall

Mainak Samanta — 2023-11-20

The Wall is a poem by Mainak Samanta.

An Unlikely Company During The Long Weekend

Raunak Kumar — 2023-11-20

An Unlikely Company During The Long Weekend is a poem written by Raunak Kumar.

Oh, Rohingyas, A Mother’s Lament, Emerson: The Noble Sage

Dr. Ronny Noor — 2023-11-20

Oh, Rohingyas, A Mother’s Lament, and Emerson: The Noble Sage are the poems by Dr. Ronny Noor.

Dream

Sai Srinidhi Karanam — 2023-11-20

Dream is a poem by Sai Srinidhi Karanam.

Obsession with Books

Dian Parker — 2023-11-20

Obsession with Books is an essay by Dian Parker.

Sylvia Plath and the Fetishization of Suicide

Sarthak Sharma — 2023-11-20

For generations of readers and critics Sylvia Plath’s suicide has been a symbolic event resulting from the same sadness that her art embodies, but isn’t that obvious? Don’t artists always live symbolic lives? Sylvia’s suicide very obviously affects our interpretation of her work, but the cult that surrounds Sylvia, her sadness, and her suicide reveal something about our society as a whole. It’s a truth we often shy away from, and that truth is that the artist is better dead than alive for a society that revels intensely in masochistic sadism.

The article draws in on that with the aid of Guru Dutt's classic Pyaasa.

Book Review of Sumita Bose’s Growing up Gracefully by Dr. Anmol

Dr. Anmol — 2023-11-20

Book Review of Sumita Bose’s Growing up Gracefully by Dr. Anmol.

Book Review of Vandana Kumar’s ‘Mannequin of Our Times’ by Prof Dr. Shiv Sethi

Prof Dr. Shiv Sethi — 2023-11-20

Book Review of Vandana Kumar’s ‘Mannequin of Our Times’ by Prof Dr. Shiv Sethi