The Importance of Being Earnest - Note Links

1. The text of the play from Project Gutenberg
2. Notes from Wiki
3. Notes from Sparknotes
4. Notes from Gradesaver
5. From Cliffnotes
6. From Bibliomania

A Room of One's own-points to learn from each chapter

Following are the points from the presentation made by Komal Sarvi of IFEP on A Room of One's Own. Hope they are useful!

…Points from each chapter to take note of:
Virginia woolf wrote this essay when she was asked to lecture in reputed college of women. The form of the novel uses the essay as well as the fiction form.

Chapter one:
The author explores the condition of the women in the earlier times. She says that if only our mothers and their mothers had left us some money, women wouldn’t have the need to be dependent and could use the freedom that money offers in other activities such as writing etc.

Chapter 2:

• In this chapter Virginia woolf decides do some research on the writings by women, but she is surprised to find that there so many books written on women by men but next to nothing books written by women
• She finds that in each and every book the male writer tries to tell that are women inferior to men. This according to wolf is in order to make themselves look superior. She says that women have served as looking glasses for centuries now!
• She also notices that the society has always been patriarchal in nature and hence is one of the reasons why women have been curbed.
• In fact women were always considered in the domestic scene and even there their contributions were barely considered of any importance at all.
• Another point that she mentions is that ‘women as the protected sex’. She says if only people stopped considering women as the protected sex, women would be freer to do things that they want to and the society would also be more open towards them.

Chapter 3:

• In this chapter wolf tries to look for the information on women’s life during the Elizabethian times. She finds absolutely no record of their lives. There were no literary works by women of those times.
• Wolf tries to see the influence of the society’s views about women on women. She imagines Judith, Shakespeare’s imaginary sister with the same genius as him. She would definitely not be allowed to write and would either have to surrender to the society’s norms or else suffer an unpleasant ending.
• The attitude of the society towards women writing was not indifference but scorn, which was much more difficult to handle than indifference (which many male writers had to face such as Keats.)
• There were absolutely no contributions by women in other art forms also, such as music, painting etc.

Chapter 4:

• · Woolf says that women had to face so much opposition from the society that they themselves began to think that they couldn’t write.
• · In the 18th century however women began to earn (they could inherit property of their own, which wasn’t the case earlier). Middle class began to write.
• · Women mainly wrote novels because of the fooling reasons:
• 1) It was the only form which was new and had no steadfast rules set by the earlier writers.
• 2) Women could not afford the amount of concentration required to write poetry
• 3) The kind of environment that they were surrounded in provided them with themes suitable for writing novels
• 4) The most important things that Virginia wolf here talks about is the significance of having a room of their own ( which stood for privacy) and 2000 pounds a year ( which would provide women with the leisure and peace of mind to write more)

Chapter 5:

• In this chapter wolf looks at the writings by women in the present times. She picks up a book by Mary Charmichael called ‘The life’s adventure’.
• She notices that Miss Charmichael had tread on an unexplored concept, women in relationship with women. For so long women were seen only with respect to men and for the first time women were seen with respect to women i.e. what sort of relationships did women share with each other without the interference of men?

Chapter 6:
Virginia woolf concludes that:

• · A writer is good only if can write without being influenced by his own personal thoughts. To do this a person must be androgynous in the mind. That is, either they should be woman-manly or man-womanly.
• · Finally she urges the women present to write more as this would serve as the foundation for the other women writers to write more.

The main concept to concentrate on is obviously feminism and how this book is viewed as the first in the movement of feminism.
Good luck!

A Room of One's Own - Notes Links

1. A Room of One's Own - Wiki
2. Notes from Sparknotes
3. Notes from Gradesaver
4. Outline of the text
5. Questions on the text
6. A Research Journal named after the book
7. Free text of the book from Project Gutenberg
8. From Literary Encyclopaedia
9. Questions and essays
10. A lecture by Joel Rich with chapter summaries
11. A write up in THE - Times Higher Education

British Literature: Late Victorian to Present - Question paper pattern

Section A
Answer any 5 of the following: (5x5=25)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Section B
Answer any 3 of the following in 250-300 words. (3x10=30)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Section C
Answer any 3 of the following in 350-400 words (3x15=45)
1.
2.
3.
4.

Wold Literatures Model Questions

Section A POETRY

Explain how ‘A Prison Evening’ is a beautiful blend of political struggle and lyricism?

Who is the artist The Joy of Writing describes? Why does the poet describe writing as the revenge of the mortal hand?

Section B NOVEL (Night / Elie Wiesel)

In his ‘Preface’ to Night, what does Wiesel say about the purpose of writing?

Night is more of a social document than a work of art. Discuss.

Section C Essays

Compare Camus’ and Solzhenitsyn’s views on the Truth and Art.

According to Camus, how is the responsibility of his generation of writers different from those of the previous?

Section D Drama

Is the development of Nora’s character consistent? Justify.

What is patriarchy? How does patriarchy get represented in A Doll’s House?

Note: For the model of question paper, please click here.

Click here for a answer pattern link by Adarsh. For Adarsh's comments on the link please refer to the comment section below.

Good News: Adarsh is joining as a contributor!

Night by Elie Wiesel - notes

Here is the link to the notes on Night by Elie Wiesel, sent by Nilisha of III Yr PSEng.

Wiesel, Elie. Night. Notes

Facilitator Certification in HRD

Facilitator Certification in HRD
13 through 22 May 2009
Mangalore

(cost Rs 12,000. But worth it)

Click here for the details

British Literature : Late Victorian to the Present - Consolidated Notes

Please inform your other classmates, and PSEng students, so that they can also benefit from this post.

Poetry
1. Ulysses
2. My Last Duchess
3. Dover Beach
4. Second Coming
5. A Prayer for My Daughter
6. God's Grandeur
7. Thought Fox
8. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock 1, The Love Song .... 2, The Love .... 3

Plays
1. Look Back in Anger
2. Arms and the Man
3. The Importance of Being Earnest

Novels
1. Hard Times1 , Hard Times 2
2. Animal Farm 0.1, Animal Farm 1, Animal Farm 2, Animal Farm 3

Essay - A long one
2. A Room of One's Own

Some Questions...
Click here for the post on question and terms that might of use...

Other
1. Tips to score better in the exam

BA, MA , MPhil, Certificate - Literature, Communication, Research Syllabus

Following are the links to various courses I have developed for Christ University, Bangalore and other institutions where I have been a guest teacher,  for the undergraduate literature, undergraduate communication and masters literature, masters communication and Master of Philosophy programmes. I make them available here for the use of teachers who might wish to refer to them or wish to incorporate them in their respective institutions. If you are incorporating these syllabi in your institution do let me know. I will be happy.

Bachelor of Arts - English Studies (English Literature)
British Literature: Anglo-Saxon to Early Victorian
British Literature: Late Victorian to the Present
Introduction to Literary Theory (2009)
Cultural Studies

Bachelor of Arts - Communication and Media Studies
Media and Society (2009)
Phonetics and Communication

Master of Arts in English with Communication Studies
Linguistics
Translation Studies
Writing and Research Heuristics (2009)
Culture and the Disciplines
Paper Publication and Presentation (2010)
Dissertation (2009)
Creative Writing (2011)
Translation Studies (2011)

Master of Science (MS) in Communication
Communication and Media Theories
New Media Communication

Master of Communication and Media Studies
Creative Communication
Creative Communication (2010)

Master of Philosophy (M.Phil) in English Studies
Critical Theory and Critical Approaches in English Studies
Postcolonial Studies
Research Methods and Writing
Translation Studies
Gender Studies
Academic Writing

Certificate Programme
Phonetics
Public Speaking
Understanding Visual Culture
Translation Studies
Cultural Studies

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Modernity, World Literatures Paper

• What is a nation? It is an imaginary idea which rests in time but not in space, which consists of a specific geographical location. Therefore, while the State has a specific geographical locality, which is material and tangible, a nation is only an imaginary entity.

• The idea of a state is a product of modernity, which has given birth to nation-states. The idea of a nation state stands counter to that of the nation-state. While the universal is a consistent identity that stands for the interests of everyone, and is supposedly common to everyone, a nation has a specific identity and subjectivity of its' own. Hence, the World Literatures paper seeks to consilidate specific identities of specific nations. This is a result of the colonial and postcolonial legacies.
  

• There is only an imagination that we are moving away from the nation-state identity issue when we speak of a "world literatures". It only transcends in the imagination only, and not in the practicality of the issue. We are still, for all the technically important reasons, under the nation.
  

• Then, what is modernity?
  

Features of modernity:

1. Rise of Capitalism
2. Make use of surplus labour to increase capital.
3. Marked by industrialization
4. Increased interest of the state in the individual.
   
5. Democracy
6. New technologies for the self
7. The idea that the world can be transformed through inventions.
   
8. Rise of political institutions
9. All modern societies live in the future.
   
10. Sacrificing the present to make the future secure (Rama Sena draws upon the past to change the future and sacrifices the present in order to secure the feature; and in this sense there is nothing old or ancient about what the Rama Sena was trying to do; it was a very modernist stand/act.
11. Obsessed with validity, visuality, visibility and evidence.
    
12. Seeing becomes believing instead of hearing as believing. However, 78% of grapevine is always true. This example comes to prove seeing need not be believing and that the fact that seeing has to be believing is not a fact but a construct.
    

Literature is a product of modernity.Therefore, World Literatures is a political act that need not necessarily revolve around bringing about changes in understanding what literature is or to bring about harmony in the world through literature, but as a response and reaction to postcololiality and coloniality only.

Therefore, questions like "role of an artist in literature" or "how does a community represent itself through an artist" are not as important as questions regarding how many communities are represented and how the entire act of a world literatures is actually a political act with certain meanings attached to the way in which it represents the communities it represents and which communities it represents.

Experiments with Learning and Technology

Ever since I first started a dept website for the English Dept in my previous college (St Aloysius College, Mangalore) way back in 2004 with the help of Abhaya Simha, I have come a long way. My entry into Christ took me to numerous possibilities with technology, largely thanks to the vibrant and receptive students community here. I should sometime soon make a list of the experiments!

I have been thinking of taking these initiatives further by moving to podcasting my classroom lectures. Mohan Pillai has been helping and encouraging me a lot. I did plan to do that about a year and a half ago. But the digital voice recorder which bought for the purpose got lost in the main auditorium (It cost this poor man Rs 6000!) I am now planning to by a Philips 2 GB/20 hrs recorder so that from the next academic year I can start podcasting. The continuation of that experiment will depend on the reception for that in the cyberspace by my students and thousands others who keep visiting this blog.

Planning to buy a digital camera too, to see how i can integrate photographs into my classroom lectures and online teaching.

I want to revisit the two-time experiment which I first did in 2006 and repeated in 2009 - of teaching novels and other texts online. I taught a few MPhil classes online recently. It was quite a success. I may use it more this year.

I am also planning to create a website to integrate teaching -learning into it.

If you have any further suggestions, you are welcome.

Arms and the Man Chat Transcription and Links

Following is the link to the online text chat I had with a few FEP students and one JPEng student on 15 March evening.

Arms and Man chat script

A link on the same play
Marden, Marti. 'Arms and the Man Study Guide.'
From Wiki

Letter to my former Christ students

Two years ago I began writing a letter to all my former students at Christ, soon after the even semester. I have kept that going and so far have written three. The idea was to keep myself connected to them and them to their precious memories. Following is the recent email I wrote on 14 March to all those former students whose email ids I had.

--------------------

Hi All
I guess this is my third mail to you all updating about the developments at Christ. Today was the last day of the even semester. Hence, thought of writing to you all.

As I had mentioned (or so I think) Christ became a university as per ministry of HRD letter dated 22 July 2008.There are already significant changes. But my own hunch is that the universitiness might take another four-five years to become very clear. Following are some of the developments I have seen.

* Christ has opened another campus on Kengeri road in Bangalore. The campus will house Engineering and Management programmes. The inauguration is on 19 March 2009.
* I have heard that two other campuses are coming up in Pune and Delhi. (not too sure of the second one) There were also rumours of two more in Dubai and Singapore. Not sure what has happened to it after the recession.
* There is a ladies' hostel that has come up on campus. (if i have missed it in my previous mail.)
* In the old car park a twelve storied building is coming up. Already the basement, I and II floor are up. the basement will be used for car park. The entire building might get ready in the next one and a half year. Although I am told it might take two-three years.
* Mr Kennedy has been promoted as the associate dean. Abhaya has taken over as the overall dept coordinator. Shaila is coordinating Communicative English programme, Abhaya- Optional English, Shobhana- MA English, Naresh- Journalism, Suparna (Naresh's wife)- MS Communication. I am co-ordinating the MPhil and PhD programmes in Media Studies and English.
* Christ is starting MPhil and PhD programme in about a dozen disciplines. (website has details)
* Some of the programmes are chaging their names. Communicative English - Communication and Media Studies, Optional English - English Studies, General English - English.
* We are 20 in the dept now. Next year the number might rise to 25-26!
* From this year we are starting honours in Media and English Studies. There will be three major systems for the first two years of studies. In the final year students can specialise in one subject. However, the three major will continue in final year for those who do not prefer honours.
* One Mr Subramanian is the University Registrar.
* With the University status, the institution comes under the complete control of the central government and the state government loses all control.
* (I am told Jain College and Dayanad Sagar are also becoming universities)

On the personal front
* In the last four years that I have been here, I had organised nine certificate courses mostly with experts from outside: Cyberculture, Philosophy (twice), Indian Philosophy, Semiotics, German, Visual Culture, Existentialism, Film Analysis. Apart from this assisted in co-orinating the course in Cultural Studies (three times), Gender and Culture, Rethinking media laws (twice) and Psychology after Lacan. I guess I am puttting a full stop to them this year due to increased workload and my own desire to train me more in reasearch + complete my PhD. A big thank you to all of you who took these courses and kept me going.
* This year I completed my MPhil and a UGC project. Both on Konkani literature. Presented two research papers and published one.
* The experiments with blog which began in 2005 thanks to the then FEP-JPEng final year batches (with the active help from Ashwin, Vicky, Ajay Ram and their friends) has gone far. I have lost count of the number of newer and unique experiments that have happened.
* Do have a look at http://anilpinto.blogspot.com/ and http://lacanians.blogspot.com/ The blog has an average of 85 visitors per day which swings between 80 and 150 per day from over 40 countries.
* And, yes, I am still happy (read un*******)

By the way, a lot of mail that i send to you - i had made a group of the email ids I had of you way back- bounce back. Could one of you volunteer to collect the new and frequently used email ids of all your classmates and email me, so that I can update my lists? Also, please see that this mail reaches to all your classmates and juniors who studies here between June 2005 and June 2008.

CIDASIA INTERN & RESEARCH ASSISTANT POSITIONS

ANNOUNCING CIDASIA INTERN & RESEARCH ASSISTANT POSITIONS

The Culture: Industries and Diversity in Asia (CIDASIA) Programme, Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS), Bangalore announces posts for interns and research assistants for Masters degree holders and students of humanities, social sciences and new media technologies.

CSCS is an institution for higher education in the humanities and social sciences, engaged in developing innovative and inter-disciplinary approaches to researching culture in Asia. The CIDASIA Programme at CSCS is involved in the study of the restaging of Culture as linked to Rights, the Economy and Governance, and its consequences for the present. The programme collaborates with the industry and donors to extend the relevance of cultural theory into the working of both business and philanthropy.

Some of the research initiatives at CIDASIA include: Culture Industries, Cultural Diversity and Cultural Policy in the Time of Globalisation; The Cultural Last Mile and Cultural Production and Livelihoods in the age of the Entertainment & Media Industry. For more information about CIDASIA visit the link at the CSCS website: www.cscsarchive.org

For the Internship graduate and post graduate candidates who are interested in the programme and want to work with any of the initiatives can apply. Interns are expected to work for a minimum of six weeks and a maximum of eight weeks. All interns are eligible for a stipend which will vary in accordance with the work undertaken during the period. Suitable interns can be absorbed into the programme after the course of internship.

For the post of Research Assistant post graduate students/degree holders preferably but not necessarily from the Communications department and who want to work on the Cultural Last Mile: Internet & Mobile Phones in Undergraduate Spaces project can apply. The project will research and devise an implementation strategy for the use of internet and mobile phones for educational purposes. All research assistantships are for a minimum period of six months that can be extended further. A salary of Rs.12,000-Rs.15,000, depending on the candidates eligibility will be offered.

Interested candidates are requested to write in to svsrinivas99@gmail.com or radhika@cscs.res.in with ‘Application for Intern/Research Assistant Post’ in subject line. Please send in your curriculum vitae with a short note (less than a page) on your interest in the initiative.