RE-MARKINGS March 2025 - 51st Edition
EDITORIAL
The county of Kent in England, from where
Christopher Marlowe proclaimed to the mediaeval world "was this the face
that launched a thousand ships,/ And burnt the topless towers of Ilium" (Doctor
Faustus) and Çhaucer penned his immortal classic Canterbury Tales,
is back in the news for reasons very different. The recent announcement
that Canterbury Christ Church University in Kent has decided to stop
offering English Literature courses has literally offended the sensibility
of those who are votaries of literature and humani-ties. The university's
decision is based on the assumption that hardly anyone wanted to study English Literature
at degree level any more and the course was therefore no longer feasible. A
report in The Guardian states: "We should be concerned about the
closure of the English Literature course at Canterbury. This is more than
an institutional failure. It signals a cultural shift that risks leaving future
generations without the critical, empathetic and intellectual tools provided by
literature."
In an age where cyberspace
has literally shrunk the world in terms of both space and time and wherein we
are subjected to the tsunami of 24X7 dissemination of information, it may
appear significant to be concerned about not being able to study English
Literature under the hallowed aura of Marlowe or Chaucer. But to assume that
literature is under threat of extinction is an exercise in futility. In the
passage of human civilization it has been proved time and again that no matter
what the odds, the value of literature in enriching human life and experience
has often remained undiminished.
On May 29, 1453, the Fall
of Constantinople, orchestrated by the Turkish conqueror Sultan
Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire, brought to the fore scenes of desecration of
innumerable libraries containing invaluable books and manuscripts belonging to
the classical age. However, it is no less
significant that the exodus of Greeks to Italy, as a result of this event,
marked a turning point in the history of human civilization. During the said
exodus what is noteworthy is that the survivors who succeeded in escaping the
brutality of the Turkish invasion carried with them whatever they could salvage
from the libraries to keep alive the tradition of ancient learning.
Such
individual as well as collective acts of valour culminated in the end of
the Middle Ages and
the beginning of the Renaissance that
changed the world forever. The plays of Sophocles, Aeschylus,
Euripides, Aristophanes and others brought to the fore how human concern and
strong individualism lay at the centre of creative explorations. Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex shows
the accounta-bility of the ruler to his subjects. When Oedipus realizes his
guilt, he does not indulge in abuse of his power as King to refute the charges.
He blinds himself and walks out of his kingdom to save his people from the
wrath of Gods that had come to them in the garb of the plague. Likewise, the
resolute ideas and actions of Antigone in the play Antigone by Sophocles
may be taken to be the precursor of the 20th century feminist
movement.
The Greeks held in high esteem the
heroism of Prometheus who stole fire from the gods in
order to preserve mankind, unperturbed by the punishment inflicted upon him by
the Gods for his rebellion. The impact of this story is distinctly visible not
only in Shelley’s valorizing the act of Prometheus in the romantic age but in
the recent Netflix film Oppenheimer, based on Kai Bird and Martin J.
Sherwin’s 2006 book titled American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of
J. Robert Oppenheimer.
In the domain of the individual too the story
of Frederick Douglass, the black American slave who rose to become one of
America’s greatest Abolitionists, gives us an idea of the extraordinary
inspirational power of literature. Realizing at the tender age of eight years
that education was the doorway to his escape and freedom, Douglass sets out in
deep earnest to achieve his goal. He records in his autobiographical Narrative:
“My copy-book was the board
fence, brick wall, and pavement; my pen and ink was a lump of chalk.” What
brought about a decisive change in his approach and outlook were the speeches
in The Columbian
Orator that he had heard
of from the white boys in the neighbour-hood. The speeches and dialogues in the
book worked their magic in expanding his vision and ultimately led him to his
freedom.
The story of Nani Palkhivala, who was
designated as ‘God’s
gift to India’ by C. Rajagopalachari, is no less inspirational.
In one of his
statements Palkhivala records: “It was in those years as a student of English
Literature that I read the lines of Wordsworth which have always been etched in
my memory: ‘that best portion
of a good man's life,/ His little, nameless, unremembered, acts/ Of kindness
and of love.’ (Tintern Abbey) If mere three lines from a poem can instil in an
individual the irresistible urge for “kindness and love,” the importance of
literature need not be overemphasized.
Against the above backdrop, I deem it a privilege
and pleasure to greet our worthy readers, contributors and admirers with this
51st edition of Re-Markings that brings into limelight how the
insights offered by literature from all around the globe can contribute
substantially to enriching our sensibilities, sharpening our sensitivity to the
agony and ecstasy of human predicament, speaking truth to power, and making us
better human beings in terms of our concern for what transpires in a world of
acute contradictions and dichotomies involving nations and cultures across
millenniums. The kaleidoscopic range and variety of essays, articles and
creative excursions reveal our continuous commitment and endeavour to bring
into bold relief not only the need to understand that “an unexamined life is
not worth living.” (Socrates) but also to facilitate our resolve to create
“healing fountains” in “the deserts of the heart.” (W.H. Auden)
CONTENTS
Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain @100 / 7,
Tommy Orange’s Fictional “Indians” / 12
Miho Kinnas / 17
Janet Badjan-Young’s The Hand of Fate
Sylvie Coly / 26
Mohammad Asim Siddiqui / 44
Director’s Statement
Kishore Srinivasa Raju / 54
Omkar Sane / 58
Not the Singer, but the Song: An interpretation of
Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale”
Shernavaz Buhariwala / 66
Raphael Confiant and the West Indian
Obscure Part of Indian Legacy
Dipa Chakrabarti & Nilanjan Chakrabarti / 70
Cultural Communication of Swami Vivekananda at the
Parliament of Religions in Chicago
Abnish Singh Chauhan / 78
Questions of Nationalism and Freedom in
Sanjay Kumar Misra / 92
Martin Crimp’s Attempts on Her Life
A Psychoanalytic Study of Manju Kapur’s A Married Woman
Mohd Faiez / 109
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Pallavi Sharma Goyal / 116
Kunzang Choden's The Circle of Karma
Poetry
Saint Lucian artist - John Robert Lee / 135
Four Poems - Manas Bakshi
Prickly Enough / 143
Review Essay
Love, Lockdown
and Poetry: Virginia Archer,
A
Caribbean Voice - George Goddard / 149
Memories of Relationships: Keki N. Daruwalla’s Riding the Himalayas as a Travelogue - Jaydeep Sarangi / 154
Comments
I am pleased to inform you that I have received my copy of Re-Markings. The cover design is especially striking this time, with its beautiful combination of sky blue and light green. I look forward to reading the articles and will reach out again with my thoughts. This journal is always a pleasure to read. - Anchal Meena, IIT, Roorkee
The March 2025 issue of Re-Markings – A Biannual
Refereed International Journal of English Letters offers a compelling and
diverse array of scholarly and creative works that engage with themes of
identity, displacement, nationalism, and literary interpretation. The issue
deals with an insightful exploration of Gulzar as a short story writer,
examining his lyrical yet profound storytelling craft. A reflective piece on
Urdu’s quest for cultural belonging in a post-partition world is an amazing
read. A fresh interpretation of Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale” brings renewed
attention to Romantic anxieties and aesthetic transcendence, while an analysis
of Swami Vivekananda’s cultural communication underscores his role in
articulating Indian spiritual identity to a global audience. The discussion of
nationalism and freedom in Amitav Ghosh’s The Shadow Lines interrogates the
constructedness of borders and histories, whereas the essay on Maya Angelou’s I
Know Why the Caged Bird Sings explores the lived realities of racial trauma and
resistance through autobiographical voice. Complemented by a thoughtfully
curated poetry section and a critical review essay, the issue affirms
Re-markings’ status as a vibrant platform for interdisciplinary literary
inquiry that bridges tradition and contemporary relevance across literature and
cultural spheres. Overall, this issue is a scholarly piece.
- Dr. Purnima Bali, Head of the Chitrakoot School of
Liberal Arts, Shoolini University, Solan (Himachal Pradesh).
I am pleased to inform you that I have received my copy of Re-Markings. The cover design is especially striking this time, with its beautiful combination of sky blue and light green. I look forward to reading the articles and will reach out again with my thoughts. This journal is always a pleasure to read.
ReplyDeleteAnchal Meena, IIT, Roorkee
The March 2025 issue of Re-Markings – A Biannual Refereed International Journal of English Letters offers a compelling and diverse array of scholarly and creative works that engage with themes of identity, displacement, nationalism, and literary interpretation. The issue deals with an insightful exploration of Gulzar as a short story writer, examining his lyrical yet profound storytelling craft. A reflective piece on Urdu’s quest for cultural belonging in a post-partition world is an amazing read. A fresh interpretation of Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale” brings renewed attention to Romantic anxieties and aesthetic transcendence, while an analysis of Swami Vivekananda’s cultural communication underscores his role in articulating Indian spiritual identity to a global audience. The discussion of nationalism and freedom in Amitav Ghosh’s The Shadow Lines interrogates the constructedness of borders and histories, whereas the essay on Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings explores the lived realities of racial trauma and resistance through autobiographical voice. Complemented by a thoughtfully curated poetry section and a critical review essay, the issue affirms Re-markings’ status as a vibrant platform for interdisciplinary literary inquiry that bridges tradition and contemporary relevance across literature and cultural spheres. Overall, this issue is a scholarly piece.
Dr. Purnima Bali, Head of the Chitrakoot School of Liberal Arts, Shoolini University, Solan (Himachal Pradesh).