This blog is an experiment in using blogs in higher education. Most of the experiments done here are the first of their kind at least in India. I wish this trend catches on.... The Blog is dedicated to Anup Dhar and Lawrence Liang whose work has influenced many like me . . . .
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Humanist theory and Platonic legacies in literature
HUMANIST THEORY
Humanism refers to the idea that we can understand or explain our world through rational enquiry. It rejects explanations based on the supernatural or divine forces. This idea became the basis for the development of science on the Western world.
Humanism inaugurates rational enquiry and rejects the supernatural or the realm of emotions. It was a response to the Dark Ages when people believed in religion unquestioningly. The hold of the Church was so strong that even the king had to bow down to its decisions. Gradually, people started questioning the teachings. Martin Luther King insisted on reading the Bible rather than following the interpretations of the priest. He argued that we must follow religion rationally. Many people started questioning the rigid ritualistic aspects of religion too. Even scientists like Galileo argue that one must read the book of nature.
Such ideas promote the growth of science and reinforce the belief in observation and rational analysis. It is in such a context that humanism emerges. With this, we also see a revival in the study of Classical Greek and Roman texts. We see the emergence of faith in human rather than divine.
Plato's ideas too, are rooted in the belief that reason or rational thought must be employed to make sense of the world. This assumption influences how he looks at art or representation (since the terms 'art' or 'literature' did not exist when Plato formulated his theories). Since, art or literature appeals to the audience's emotions rather than their reason, Plato considered it to be inferior method for understanding the 'truth'.
Nature / Physical World (copy)
Representation / Art (copy of the copy, so, twice removed from the original)
Plato further argues that art or the world of representation tries to copy 'nature' and therefore it is twice removed for the Ideal or reality. Art was therefore, a copy of the copy. Plato also argues that no artist has access to the ideal world. He explains this through his famous allegory of the cave.
ARISTOTLE'S RESPONSE
To understand Aristotle's views, we must begin by looking at how he looks at reality. Aristotle believes that reality resides in the changeable world of sense perceptions or, the physical, material world. He argues that the 'form' of Ideal can only exist in tangible examples of that form. So, it is only through individual examples of table, that we can understand the essence of a table, or 'table-ness'.
Thus, while Plato is concerned with content of representation, Aristotle is concerned with the form. Plato's approach lead to the development of moral criticism while Aristotle's approach lead to the birth of genre criticism.
Pinto, Anil. Class Lecture. Introduction to Literary Theory. Christ University. Bangalore, India. 11 June - 21 June 2010.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Those who want to organise lectures/guest talks/interactions...
In case anyone of you is interested in arranging guest lectures, talks, interactions on topics related to the courses being taught by me I would be happy to give space for it. The resource persons could either come physically, or come online from any part of the globe of any age group or qualification. The only criterion is they should be resourceful in the topic you have chosen.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Gazes in Literature
The aim of this session was to make aware the students of literature about the existence of 'gazes' within the realm of their studies.
A 'gaze' is different from a 'look', which is different from 'to see'. 'To see' would connote the physical sense or attribute of seeing; a 'look' would be to see with a particular purpose; a 'gaze' is a term with social connotations - it would be determined by prevalent social values. Simply put, it could mean similar to, but not completely the same as, 'in the perspective of'.
An example for a gaze would be the 'male gaze'. The 'male gaze' is when an individual (of any sex and gender) perceives the woman as a consumptive object.
Different academic disciplines have gazes. Mr Pinto argues with the case of the anthropological gaze. This gaze, which came along with its discipline in the colonial era, looks at communities with a coloniser-colonised binary perspective. He further argues that this becomes a common world view, with the coloniser and colonised being replaced by other power poles; for example, the city-village binary.
An understanding of this neccessitates revisiting the history of anthropology. Anthropology came along with colonisation, where the colonisers were curious to study the colonised. Interestingly, argues Mr Pinto, when one studies an other, the one is endowed with a position of higher power/knowledge. So when the colonisers studies the colonised, it was from their position of higher power that they went about it.
Anthropology has four branches:
- Archaeology
- Social anthropology
- Cultural anthropology
- Physical anthropology
The colonisers mainly dealt with physical anthropology where racial bodily differencs were studied, with the aim of perhaps discovering 'a perfect race'.
As mentioned earlier, a group of people studying an other is put in a position of higher power, thereby automatically producing a power structure with two players - the students, i.e. the colonisers, and the studied, the colonised.
The colonisers considered it their responsibility ('White man's burden' as Rudyard Kipling puts it) to impart their knowledge, technology, and thus modernity and development to the colonised lands. They were the bringers of the light. This is a gaze. The 'poor needs help from the rich'. And this binary gaze exists even today, in many different forms.
There are gazes in literature too. When we talk about feminist literature, or post-colonial literature, or Native-American literature, our gazes shift. Certain meanings, values and interpretations are associated with the work by virtue of our gaze.
The point of this argument is not that we do away with gazes. Rather, it is that we have to be aware of the presence of such gazes within the realm of literature, and be cautious of them. Perhaps even revisit these gazes, and question their form.
Coming back to the coloniser-colonised binary, it can be a problematic gaze. If we have an understanding of developed cityfolk trying to help undeveloped village communities, we have a vision which is slightly skewed in some place. But most of us are conditioned into this gaze through our many years in this world. A shifting of the binary does not help. An argument that since women have been exploited for centuries by men, a shifting of positions with women posited above men will solve the problem does not really hold ground. So what can be done? One solution, though not the best one, is to make the categories more inclusive and open. Another is to engage in love. But I lost track at this point, and further discussion is required to clarify certain points!
*
Pinto, Anil. "Gazes in literature". 19 June 2010. American Literature, 3rd semester BA CEP. Bangalore, India. Class Lecture.
(Notes by Mohan K. Pillai - post subject to author's bias and perspective)
Am. Lit- 2CEP- June 5th-7th
TRANSLATION
William Jones- translated Kalidasa to English
Lord Cornwallis- translated Manusmriti and Mahabharat to English
Goethe
Chaucer
Beowulf- translated from Italian to English
Novel came to English through Spanish translation
WHY STUDY AMERICAN LITERATURE?
1. Multi-cultural similarities between India and USA
2. History of translation
3. Super power status of USA
4. USA is a large English speaking nation, and as long as we study English Literature, we ought to study it from wherever it originates
5. Since English Literature travelled from UK to USA, studying American Literature provides a comprehensive and coherent study
6. Democratic spirit of USA
7. Post war Literature was predominantly American and very influential
8. Exploration and conquests
9. Globalisation and role of USA in world politics
10. Anything that is dominant must be engaged with
WHY SHOULD WE NOT STUDY AMERICAN LITERATURE?
1. English has been a tool of oppression- Lord Macaulay, Masks of Conquest
2. English Literature as a discipline was taught in India much before England.
Courses in India were started by those on fellowship from US.
Indian Literature as a discipline, taught in 1980’s, much after American Literature was introduced
3. FBI policy to set up scholarships and fellowships. US defence, government and education are closely connected- MIT was control room for WW2 and inventor of major defence ideas. US set up library in Hyderabad.
4. Rule by the oppressor cannot be gun-rule, must be ideological- Musharrif
5. Is the sheer magnitude a good enough reason to study it?
Urdu- highest number of primary schools in Karnataka
Should one not learn one’s own culture first?
6. Tokenism, Co-opting
7. We are influenced more by Japanese(Haiku), Latin America, UK, French and Russian literature, than American
8. American Literature is not as progressive as we think- It mainly studies white male writers.
Therefore, did we get sucked into West Anglo Saxon Protestant Politics of American Literature?- Most American Literature is from North American, not the Catholics from the South.
9. US’s primary export is culture
NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURE
· Obama didn’t mention the Red Indians in his first presidential address. But every hill in the US was named by the Indians. Present names of various places in US have aboriginal roots.
· Avatar- movie- talks about colonialistic personality of US
· Columbus- landed in 1492. Funded by Queen Isabella of Spain. (Now its race for moon. Explorer had to take notes and return and would not be credited until another person followed the same route and found the same place)
June 7, 2010
Psychologists-Indians
Freud
Bible
Buildings on graves
EUROPE- 14, 1, 16 Century AND THEIR JOURNEY TO AMERICA
· Eureopeans were looking for Promised Land. They considered travel to America their Exodus.
· All of Shakespeare’s tragedies were about collapse of monarchy, restoration and hope. People were neurotic with the fear of the collapse.
· When society changes, fundamentalism is first result- Northern Ireland, South USA, Pakistan, Afganistan, Gaza
· New money was coming to Europe.
This led to a changing of class and social structres.
These insecurities expressed through religion, that too an idea religion.
Ideal religion emphasizes on past, rejects the present, and is based on texts.
Rejection of past makes them take their arguments elsewhere, hence colonialism.
Thus, Europeans travelled to America.
· New World was made similar to old- New England
· They identified with Adam and Eve-
· Genesis command to ‘go and rule over the world’ was the excuse to colonise. Hebrew word for the same is ‘raada’ meaning, to take care of
· US has breached every treaty with the Red Indians
· 1776- Independent from England
· 1880- Civil war. North and South split
Monday, June 21, 2010
II SEM BA EST Literary Theory Course Plan 2010 Revised
JPEng:
Anil: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7,
Padmakumar: 3, 6, 8
PSEng
Renu: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7,
Anil: 3, 6, 8
FEP
Padmakumar: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7,
Renu: 3, 6, 8
National Seminar on The Linguistic and Literary Terrain of Translation
Sunday, June 20, 2010
V Semester Literary theory class notes 3
1. Historical- Biographical approach
2. Formalism
3. Textual analysis
4. Structuralism
5. Post structuralism
Feminism takes its methods, strategies from post structuralism.
Sentences
Paragraphs
Sounds
Signified
An Introduction to Western Aesthetics, MA Previous, 19th June, 2020, Saturday.
Notes by: Sneha Sharon Mammen
The conception of the term 'west' in itself would be quite interesting. A class of twenty interpret it variously. 'West' as in the direction, evaluating in comparison to the other three directions (the East, North and South) which in turn could be qualified as the result of so many adventurous expeditions by navigators and explorers or may be Europe-the western front that is the term in the sense of geography. From this realm we could take it entirely to another shift altogether - the cultural, in terms of the western outlook/worldview, their perspective, open mindedness. Not to forget either the analysis in terms of economic, materialist standards which then makes the 'west' necessarily the first world nation keeping in mind their pace of economic growth, resources and urbanization.
However, this sort of an analysis is just a product of various interpretations that man can think of. 'West' to a particular individual would not be 'west' for another. In the definitive mapping of the globe, there is no particular 'west' for say, an Alaska. Therefore, we could gather so much as that, words are not so innocent. They carry within themselves loaded interpretations. Also, once an individual frames a word, the discourse too gets framed much to an extent that we start evaluating concepts keeping in mind the various binaries.
Also, a particular use of concept narrows down our range of evaluation. For example, if one talks of India, his level of analysis can only be grouped in terms of nations on the whole. Similarly, talking of Aryans would mean talking with respect to races. As also, 'Latin-American' further narrows and limits the scope of comparisons.
Precisely one cannot use words like 'globe', a 'planet', the 'earth' if he chooses to believe the world is flat. 'World' becomes the only selective usage in this case. Can we at this level say that to 'understand' something, we do not necessarily have to 'know' the larger picture.
As aforementioned, its quite common to talk in terms of binaries. The East is east just because it is not west or the fact that the term 'teacher' qualifies only because the term 'student' affirms such qualification and justifies it. Similarly, homosexuality is talked of because there exists in the picture heterosexuality. Therefore the simultaneous birth of conceptions. Apart from such framing which will in turn quite obviously facilitate re-framing, cultural imaginations are something which make different discourses possible.
The term 'aesthetics' brings to mind notions of balance, beauty, harmony, appeal, sensitivity, creativity,perceptions, judgement or even understanding. However, debating upon the origins and understanding of the term 'aesthetic' in itself, few would believe that it is a definitely dated concept.
'Aesthetic' comes from the Greek word 'aisthetikos' which means sensitive. This Greek term has been traced to have its origin further back in time, history and language in an imaginary language called the Proto Indo-European language or the PIE where it is understood as 'aisthemisthos' meaning to perceive. ( The commonalities between Greek, Latin and Sanskrit is thought of as coming down to us from a common parent of these languages, which is referred to as PIE.)
Immanuel Kant, a lesser pronounced name but the pioneer of the coined term 'aesthetics'. Aesthetics, as mentioned earlier could have emerged and is characterized as follows. One, it could have been a historical necessity and two, it has a definite philosophic pre-history.
Pinto, Anil. Class Lecture, Introduction to Western Aesthetics, Christ University. Bangalore, India.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
I MA English Students expectations
(Notes by Vandana)