Chapter 15
INDIAN-ENGLISH LITERATURE
The Indian-English Literature begins with Raja Rammohan Roy. Ram
Mohan roy mastered the English language, and wrote and spoke forceful English
years before Macaulay wrote his Minute. There were only three writers at that
time Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (1809-1831), Kashiprasad Ghose (1809-
1873) and Michael Madhsudan Dutt (1827-1873).
(1) Poetry
(1) Henry Derozio (1809-1831)—The Fakir of Jungheera.
(2) Kashiprasad Ghose (1809-1873)—The Shair and other Poems (1830).
(3) Michael Madhusudan Dutt (1827-1873)—The Captive Ladie.
(4) Toru Dutt—A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields, Our Casuarina Tree,
Baugmaree.
(5) Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)—Gitanjali, The Crescent Moon,
The Gardener, Fruit Gathering, Lover’s Gift, Crossing, The Fugitive and other
Poems.
(6) Shree Aurobindo—Songs to Myrtilla, Urvashie, Love and Death,
Savitri, The Children of Wotan.
(7) Sarojini Naidu (1879)—The Golden Threshold, The Bird of Time,
The Broken Wing, The Feather of the Dawn.
(8) Harindranath Chattopadhyaya—The Feast of Youth, the Magic
Tree, Poems and Plays, Strange Journal, The Dark Well, Edgeways and Saint,
Spring in Winter, Masks and Farewells, Virgins and Vineyards.
(9) V.K. Gokak—The Song of Life (1947), In Life’s Temple (1965).
(10) Dom Moraes—A Beginning (1957), Poems (1960), John Nobody
(1965), The Brass Serpent and Poems.
(11) Nissim Ezekiel—A Time to Change (1951), Sixty Poems (1953),
The Third (1959), The Unifinished Man (1960), The Exact Name (1965).
(12) Deb Kumar Das—The Night Before us, Through a Glass Darkly.
(13) R. Parthasorathy—The First Step : Poems (1956-66).
(14) A.K. Ramanujam—The Striders (1966), Relations : Poems (1972).
(15) Kamla Das—Summer in Calcutta.
(2) Dramas
1. Pre-Independence
Perhaps the earliest Indo English play was written in 1831, when Krishna
Mohan Banerjee wrote the Persecuted or Dramatic Seenes illustrative of the
present state of Hindu society in Calcutta.
(1) Michael Madhusudan Dutt—Ratnavali (1858), Sermista (1859), Is
this Civilization (1871), Nation Builders (1922).
(2) Rabindranath Tagoreg—The Post Office, The King of the Dark
Chamber Red Oleanders, Mukta-Dhara, The King and Queen.
(3) Sir Aurobindo—Perseus the Deliverer, Vasavadutta, Rodogune, The
Viziers of Bassora, Eric the King of Norway.
(4) Abu Hassan—Pundalik, Saku Bai, Jayadeva, Chokha Mela, Ekanath,
Raidas, Tukarama.
(5) Harindranath Chattopadhyaya—The Window, the Parrot, The
Sentry’s Lantern, The Coffin, The Evening Lamp, The Saint : A Farce (1946),
Kannappan or the Hunter of Kalahasti, Siddhartha, Man of Peace.
(6) Bharati Sarabai—The Well of the People, Two Women.
(2) Post-Independence Indian-English Drama
(1) G.V. Desani—Hali (1950).
(2) Pratap Sharma—A Touch of Brightness (1968), The Professor Has
a Worry (1970).
(3) Asif Currimbhoy—The Doldrummers (1960), The Captives (1963),
Goa (1964), Monsoon (1965), An Experiment With Truth (1969), Inquilab
(1970), The Refugee (1971), Sonar Bangla (1972), Om Name Padme Hum
(1972), Angkor (1973), The Dissident M.L.A. (1974), The Miracle Seed (1973),
The Tourist Mecca (1959), The Hungry Ones (1965), Darjeeling Tea (1971),
The Clock (1959), The Dumb Dancer (1961).
(4) Nissim Ezekiel—Marriage Poem : A Tragi-Comedy, Nalimi : A
Comedy, The Sleepwalkers : An Indo-American Farce, Song of Deprivation
(1969), Don’t Call It Suicide (1994).
(5) Gurcharna Das—Larins Sahib (1971).
(6) Dina Mehta—The Myth Makers.
(7) Cyrus Mistrys—Doongaji House.
(8) T.P. Kailasam—The Burden, The Burden, Fulfilment, The Purpose,
Karna, The Braham’s Curse, Keechaka.
Then there appeared four great regional playwrights on the literary
fermament in India in Hindi, Girish Karnad in Kannada, Badal Sircar in Bengali
and Vijay Mohan Rakesh Tenduklar in Marathi.
Mohan Rekesh’s well known plays are Ashad Ka Ek Din (One day in
Asadha), Lehron Ke Rajhans (Great Swans of the Waves), Adhe Adhurey (Half
way House).
(10) Girish Karnad—Yayati, Tughlaq, Hayavadana, Naga Mandalam,
Fire and the Rain.
Indian-English Literature 109. 110. A HAND BOOK OF VIVA-VOCE
(11) Badal Sircar—Spartacus, Michil (Procession), Bhoma, Basi Khabar
(Stale News), Evam Indrajit.
(12) Vijay Tendulkar—Kamala, The Vultures, Ghashiram Kotwal, Silence
The Court is in Session, Sakharam Binder.
(13) Mahesh Dattani—Where There’s a Will, Dance Like a Man, Bravely
Fought the Queen, Final Solutions, Tara.
(3) Novels
First published effot in English was from Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s
Raj Mohan’s Wife (1864).
(1) R.N. Tagore—Choker Bali (1902) which is translated into English as
Binodini, The Home and the World, Four Chapters.
(2) Mulk Raj Anand (1905-2004)—Untouchable (1935), Coolie (1936),
Two Leaves and a Bud (1937), The Village (1939), Across the Black Waters
(1940).
His famous short stories are—The Sword and the Sickle, The Barber’s
Trade Union, The Big Heart, The Tractor and the Corn Goddess, Seven
Summers, Private Life of an Indian Prince.
(3) R.K. Narayan—Swami and Freinds (1935), Bachelor of Arts (1936),
The Dark Room (1938), The English Teacher (1945), Mr. Sampath (1949),
The Financial Expert (1952), Waiting for the Mahatma (1955), The Guide
(1958), My Dateless Diary (1960), The Man-Eater of Malgudi (1961), The
Sweet-Vendor (1967).
He has also collected two Volumes of his short stories (An Astrolger’s
Day and Lawley Road).
(4) Raja Rao—Kanthapura (1938), The Serpent and the Rope (1960),
The Cat and Shakespeare (1965), The Cow of Barricades (1947).
(5) Bhabani Bhattacharya—So many Hungers (1947), Music for Mohini
(1952), He Who Rides a Tiger (1954), A Golden Named Gold (1960), Shadow
From Ladakh (1966).
(6) Manohar Malgonkar—Distant Drum, A Bend in Ganges, The
Princess (1963), Spy in Amber.
(7) Kamla Markandaya—Nectar of Sieve (1954), Some Inner Fury
(1957), A Silence of Desire (1961), Possession (1963), A Handful of Rice
(1966), The Coffer Dams (1969).
(8) Mrs. Ruth Praveer Jhabvala—To whom She Will (1955), The Nature
of Passion (1956), Esmond in India (1958), The Householder (1960), Get
Ready for Battle (1962), A Blackward Place (1965).
His tow collections of short stories are Like Birds, Fishes (1963), A
Stronger Climate (1968).
(9) Anita Desai (1937)—Cry, the Peacock (1963), Voices in the City
(1965), Bye-Bye Blackbird (1971), Where Shall We Go This Summer, Fire on
Mountain, Clear Light of Day, In Custody, The village by sea, Baumgarthner’s
Bombays, Fasting, Feasting, Journey to Ithaca.
(10) Nayantara Sahagal—A Time to be Happy, This Time of Morning,
Storm in Chandigarh.
(11) G.V. Desani—All about H. Hatterr.
(12) Khuswant Singh—Train to Pakistan (1956), I shall not Hear the
Nightngale (1956), Company of Women Delhi etc.
Collection of Short Stories—The Mark of Vishnu (1950), A Bride.
(13) Arun Joshi (1939-1993)—The Foreigner (1968), The Strnage Case
of Billy Biswas (1971), The Survivor, The Last Labyrinth.
(14)Amitav Ghosh (1956)—The Circle of Reason, The Shadow Lines,
In An Antique Land, The Calcutta Chromosome, The Glass Palace, The Hungry
Tide.
(15) Vikram Seth (1952)—The Gold Gate, A Suitable Boy, An Equal
Music, Two Lives.
(16) Arundhati Roy (1960)—The God of small things.
(17) Shashi Deshpande—The Dark Hold No Terrors, If I Die Today,
Come up and Be Dead, Roots and Shadows, Moving On.
(18) Manju Kapur—A Married Woman, Difficult Daughters.
(19) Uma Vasudevan—Song of Anusuya, Shreya of Sonagarh.
(20) Shobha De—Starry Nights, Socilite Evenings.
(21) Nina Sibel—Yatra.
(22) Gita Metha—Raj, River Sutra.
(23) Gita Hariharan—The Thousand Faces of Night.
Diasporic Indian-English Writers
(1) Rohinton Mistry (1952)—A Fine Balance, Such a Long Journey.
(2) V.S. Naipaul—A House of Mr. Biswas, The Mimic Men, The Mystic
Masseur, An Area of Darkness.
(3) Bharati Mukherjee—Desirable Daughters, The Holder of the World,
Jasmine.
(4) Salman Rushdie—The Satanic Verses (1989), Midnight’s Childrens
Shame, The Moor’s Last Sigh, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Fury, Shalimar
: The Clown.
Collections of Short Stories—East, West, The Jaguar Smile : A
Nicaraguan Journey.
(5) Nirad C. Chaudhuri—The Antobiography of an Unknown Indian, A
Passage to England, To Live or Not to live.
Indian-English Literature 111. 112. A HAND BOOK OF VIVA-VOCE
QUESTIONS
Q. 1. Who has written the critical book ‘Indian Writing in English’?
Ans. Prof. K.R.S. Iyngar.
Q. 2. Who wrote the novel Gora?
Ans. R.N. Tagore wrote Gora in 1923.
Q. 3. What the theme of Mulk Raj Anand’s ‘Untouchable’?
Ans. This novel narrates a day in the life of Bakha, a sweeper, and son of
Lakha. He goes on to clean the three rows of public latrines situated in the
outcastes colony. Bakha goes to the city to clean the streets on behalf of his
father. There he touches an upper caste Hindu. Soon after this he came to
know that Pt. Kali Nath wanted to molest her sister Sohini. All this eurages
Bakha. The novel ends with three solution to the problems of untouchability—
Christ, Gandhi and the flush system.
Q. 4. Tell us the theme of Mulk Raj Anand’s ‘Coolie’?
Ans. This novel tells the sufferings of its hero Munoo who is an orphan
boy of fourteen years old. Munoo, a hill boy leaves one place to another to find
some happiness. He leaves Bilaspur to Shamnagar to Daultapur to Bombay. In
the end he meets premature death at Simla.
Q. 5. Name some minor Indian English novelists?
Ans. Chaman Nahal (Azadi), Alttia Hossain, Anand Lal, Krishna Nandan
etc.
Q. 6. Name some novels of Khwaja Ahmad Abbas?
Ans. Inquilab (1955), Blood and Stones, Boy Meets Girl, Distant Dream,
Bobby Deal.
Q. 7. Who wrote the book ‘Studies in Indian English Literature’?
Ans. M.K. Naik.
Q. 8. Who has written these novels—
(1) Talkative Man (1986),
(2) The World of Nagaraj (1990).
Ans. R.K. Narayan.
Q. 9. Who has written the critical book ‘Modern Indian Poetry in
English’?
Ans. P. Lal wrote this book in 1969.
Q. 10. Who has written the poem ‘The Looking Glass’?
Ans. Kamla Das.
Q. 11. Name some major writers of India who have written
autobiographies in English?
Ans. Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Nirad C. Chaudhuri.
!
Chapter 16
LITERARY FORMS
1. Poetry
1. Epic
An epic is a long narrative poem, recounting heroic actions usually of one
principal hero. According to John Dryden, “A Heroic Poem, truly such, is
undoubtedly the greatest work which the soul of man is capable to perform—
epitomizes the feelings of many ages other than his own, though it certainly
had special singnificance for his own day.”
Virgil’s Aenied, spenser’s Farie Queene and Milton’s Paradise Lost are
the most prominent examples of the epic art.
2. The Mock-Epic
The mock-epic is a minor form of the epic in which the machinery and
conventions of the regular epic are employed in connection with trivial themes,
and in this way it becomes a parody or burlesque of the epic. Alexander Pope’s
Dunciad, The Rape of the Lock and Swift’s Tale of a Tub and Battle of the
Books are the finest examples.
3. The Elegy
According to W.H. Hudson, “In Common use, it is often restricted to a
lament over the dead, but that is an improper narrowing of its meaning. There
are laments over places, over lost love, over the past which is never dead over
an individual’s misery or failure, there are laments over departed pet animals
and so forth.”
S.T. Coleridge defined an elegy as a “Form of poetry natural to the reflective
mind which may use any subje, so long as it is related to the poet himself.”
Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, Milton’s Lycidas, Shelley’s
Adonais, Arnold’s Rugby Chapel and Thyrsis, Tennyson’s In Memoriam are
some of well known elegies.
4. The Sonnet
The English Word sonnet is derived from the Italian word ‘Sonnetto’ which
means sound. The sonnet is of Italian origin. Petrarch is the first great Italian
soneteer. A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines. It is of two kinds—
(1) The Italian Sonnet or Petarchan Sonnet—In this form this poet has
been divided into two parts. First Group of eight lines are called octaue and
Indian-English Literature 113. 114. A HAND BOOK OF VIVA-VOCE
INDIAN-ENGLISH LITERATURE
The Indian-English Literature begins with Raja Rammohan Roy. Ram
Mohan roy mastered the English language, and wrote and spoke forceful English
years before Macaulay wrote his Minute. There were only three writers at that
time Henry Louis Vivian Derozio (1809-1831), Kashiprasad Ghose (1809-
1873) and Michael Madhsudan Dutt (1827-1873).
(1) Poetry
(1) Henry Derozio (1809-1831)—The Fakir of Jungheera.
(2) Kashiprasad Ghose (1809-1873)—The Shair and other Poems (1830).
(3) Michael Madhusudan Dutt (1827-1873)—The Captive Ladie.
(4) Toru Dutt—A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields, Our Casuarina Tree,
Baugmaree.
(5) Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)—Gitanjali, The Crescent Moon,
The Gardener, Fruit Gathering, Lover’s Gift, Crossing, The Fugitive and other
Poems.
(6) Shree Aurobindo—Songs to Myrtilla, Urvashie, Love and Death,
Savitri, The Children of Wotan.
(7) Sarojini Naidu (1879)—The Golden Threshold, The Bird of Time,
The Broken Wing, The Feather of the Dawn.
(8) Harindranath Chattopadhyaya—The Feast of Youth, the Magic
Tree, Poems and Plays, Strange Journal, The Dark Well, Edgeways and Saint,
Spring in Winter, Masks and Farewells, Virgins and Vineyards.
(9) V.K. Gokak—The Song of Life (1947), In Life’s Temple (1965).
(10) Dom Moraes—A Beginning (1957), Poems (1960), John Nobody
(1965), The Brass Serpent and Poems.
(11) Nissim Ezekiel—A Time to Change (1951), Sixty Poems (1953),
The Third (1959), The Unifinished Man (1960), The Exact Name (1965).
(12) Deb Kumar Das—The Night Before us, Through a Glass Darkly.
(13) R. Parthasorathy—The First Step : Poems (1956-66).
(14) A.K. Ramanujam—The Striders (1966), Relations : Poems (1972).
(15) Kamla Das—Summer in Calcutta.
(2) Dramas
1. Pre-Independence
Perhaps the earliest Indo English play was written in 1831, when Krishna
Mohan Banerjee wrote the Persecuted or Dramatic Seenes illustrative of the
present state of Hindu society in Calcutta.
(1) Michael Madhusudan Dutt—Ratnavali (1858), Sermista (1859), Is
this Civilization (1871), Nation Builders (1922).
(2) Rabindranath Tagoreg—The Post Office, The King of the Dark
Chamber Red Oleanders, Mukta-Dhara, The King and Queen.
(3) Sir Aurobindo—Perseus the Deliverer, Vasavadutta, Rodogune, The
Viziers of Bassora, Eric the King of Norway.
(4) Abu Hassan—Pundalik, Saku Bai, Jayadeva, Chokha Mela, Ekanath,
Raidas, Tukarama.
(5) Harindranath Chattopadhyaya—The Window, the Parrot, The
Sentry’s Lantern, The Coffin, The Evening Lamp, The Saint : A Farce (1946),
Kannappan or the Hunter of Kalahasti, Siddhartha, Man of Peace.
(6) Bharati Sarabai—The Well of the People, Two Women.
(2) Post-Independence Indian-English Drama
(1) G.V. Desani—Hali (1950).
(2) Pratap Sharma—A Touch of Brightness (1968), The Professor Has
a Worry (1970).
(3) Asif Currimbhoy—The Doldrummers (1960), The Captives (1963),
Goa (1964), Monsoon (1965), An Experiment With Truth (1969), Inquilab
(1970), The Refugee (1971), Sonar Bangla (1972), Om Name Padme Hum
(1972), Angkor (1973), The Dissident M.L.A. (1974), The Miracle Seed (1973),
The Tourist Mecca (1959), The Hungry Ones (1965), Darjeeling Tea (1971),
The Clock (1959), The Dumb Dancer (1961).
(4) Nissim Ezekiel—Marriage Poem : A Tragi-Comedy, Nalimi : A
Comedy, The Sleepwalkers : An Indo-American Farce, Song of Deprivation
(1969), Don’t Call It Suicide (1994).
(5) Gurcharna Das—Larins Sahib (1971).
(6) Dina Mehta—The Myth Makers.
(7) Cyrus Mistrys—Doongaji House.
(8) T.P. Kailasam—The Burden, The Burden, Fulfilment, The Purpose,
Karna, The Braham’s Curse, Keechaka.
Then there appeared four great regional playwrights on the literary
fermament in India in Hindi, Girish Karnad in Kannada, Badal Sircar in Bengali
and Vijay Mohan Rakesh Tenduklar in Marathi.
Mohan Rekesh’s well known plays are Ashad Ka Ek Din (One day in
Asadha), Lehron Ke Rajhans (Great Swans of the Waves), Adhe Adhurey (Half
way House).
(10) Girish Karnad—Yayati, Tughlaq, Hayavadana, Naga Mandalam,
Fire and the Rain.
Indian-English Literature 109. 110. A HAND BOOK OF VIVA-VOCE
(11) Badal Sircar—Spartacus, Michil (Procession), Bhoma, Basi Khabar
(Stale News), Evam Indrajit.
(12) Vijay Tendulkar—Kamala, The Vultures, Ghashiram Kotwal, Silence
The Court is in Session, Sakharam Binder.
(13) Mahesh Dattani—Where There’s a Will, Dance Like a Man, Bravely
Fought the Queen, Final Solutions, Tara.
(3) Novels
First published effot in English was from Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s
Raj Mohan’s Wife (1864).
(1) R.N. Tagore—Choker Bali (1902) which is translated into English as
Binodini, The Home and the World, Four Chapters.
(2) Mulk Raj Anand (1905-2004)—Untouchable (1935), Coolie (1936),
Two Leaves and a Bud (1937), The Village (1939), Across the Black Waters
(1940).
His famous short stories are—The Sword and the Sickle, The Barber’s
Trade Union, The Big Heart, The Tractor and the Corn Goddess, Seven
Summers, Private Life of an Indian Prince.
(3) R.K. Narayan—Swami and Freinds (1935), Bachelor of Arts (1936),
The Dark Room (1938), The English Teacher (1945), Mr. Sampath (1949),
The Financial Expert (1952), Waiting for the Mahatma (1955), The Guide
(1958), My Dateless Diary (1960), The Man-Eater of Malgudi (1961), The
Sweet-Vendor (1967).
He has also collected two Volumes of his short stories (An Astrolger’s
Day and Lawley Road).
(4) Raja Rao—Kanthapura (1938), The Serpent and the Rope (1960),
The Cat and Shakespeare (1965), The Cow of Barricades (1947).
(5) Bhabani Bhattacharya—So many Hungers (1947), Music for Mohini
(1952), He Who Rides a Tiger (1954), A Golden Named Gold (1960), Shadow
From Ladakh (1966).
(6) Manohar Malgonkar—Distant Drum, A Bend in Ganges, The
Princess (1963), Spy in Amber.
(7) Kamla Markandaya—Nectar of Sieve (1954), Some Inner Fury
(1957), A Silence of Desire (1961), Possession (1963), A Handful of Rice
(1966), The Coffer Dams (1969).
(8) Mrs. Ruth Praveer Jhabvala—To whom She Will (1955), The Nature
of Passion (1956), Esmond in India (1958), The Householder (1960), Get
Ready for Battle (1962), A Blackward Place (1965).
His tow collections of short stories are Like Birds, Fishes (1963), A
Stronger Climate (1968).
(9) Anita Desai (1937)—Cry, the Peacock (1963), Voices in the City
(1965), Bye-Bye Blackbird (1971), Where Shall We Go This Summer, Fire on
Mountain, Clear Light of Day, In Custody, The village by sea, Baumgarthner’s
Bombays, Fasting, Feasting, Journey to Ithaca.
(10) Nayantara Sahagal—A Time to be Happy, This Time of Morning,
Storm in Chandigarh.
(11) G.V. Desani—All about H. Hatterr.
(12) Khuswant Singh—Train to Pakistan (1956), I shall not Hear the
Nightngale (1956), Company of Women Delhi etc.
Collection of Short Stories—The Mark of Vishnu (1950), A Bride.
(13) Arun Joshi (1939-1993)—The Foreigner (1968), The Strnage Case
of Billy Biswas (1971), The Survivor, The Last Labyrinth.
(14)Amitav Ghosh (1956)—The Circle of Reason, The Shadow Lines,
In An Antique Land, The Calcutta Chromosome, The Glass Palace, The Hungry
Tide.
(15) Vikram Seth (1952)—The Gold Gate, A Suitable Boy, An Equal
Music, Two Lives.
(16) Arundhati Roy (1960)—The God of small things.
(17) Shashi Deshpande—The Dark Hold No Terrors, If I Die Today,
Come up and Be Dead, Roots and Shadows, Moving On.
(18) Manju Kapur—A Married Woman, Difficult Daughters.
(19) Uma Vasudevan—Song of Anusuya, Shreya of Sonagarh.
(20) Shobha De—Starry Nights, Socilite Evenings.
(21) Nina Sibel—Yatra.
(22) Gita Metha—Raj, River Sutra.
(23) Gita Hariharan—The Thousand Faces of Night.
Diasporic Indian-English Writers
(1) Rohinton Mistry (1952)—A Fine Balance, Such a Long Journey.
(2) V.S. Naipaul—A House of Mr. Biswas, The Mimic Men, The Mystic
Masseur, An Area of Darkness.
(3) Bharati Mukherjee—Desirable Daughters, The Holder of the World,
Jasmine.
(4) Salman Rushdie—The Satanic Verses (1989), Midnight’s Childrens
Shame, The Moor’s Last Sigh, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Fury, Shalimar
: The Clown.
Collections of Short Stories—East, West, The Jaguar Smile : A
Nicaraguan Journey.
(5) Nirad C. Chaudhuri—The Antobiography of an Unknown Indian, A
Passage to England, To Live or Not to live.
Indian-English Literature 111. 112. A HAND BOOK OF VIVA-VOCE
QUESTIONS
Q. 1. Who has written the critical book ‘Indian Writing in English’?
Ans. Prof. K.R.S. Iyngar.
Q. 2. Who wrote the novel Gora?
Ans. R.N. Tagore wrote Gora in 1923.
Q. 3. What the theme of Mulk Raj Anand’s ‘Untouchable’?
Ans. This novel narrates a day in the life of Bakha, a sweeper, and son of
Lakha. He goes on to clean the three rows of public latrines situated in the
outcastes colony. Bakha goes to the city to clean the streets on behalf of his
father. There he touches an upper caste Hindu. Soon after this he came to
know that Pt. Kali Nath wanted to molest her sister Sohini. All this eurages
Bakha. The novel ends with three solution to the problems of untouchability—
Christ, Gandhi and the flush system.
Q. 4. Tell us the theme of Mulk Raj Anand’s ‘Coolie’?
Ans. This novel tells the sufferings of its hero Munoo who is an orphan
boy of fourteen years old. Munoo, a hill boy leaves one place to another to find
some happiness. He leaves Bilaspur to Shamnagar to Daultapur to Bombay. In
the end he meets premature death at Simla.
Q. 5. Name some minor Indian English novelists?
Ans. Chaman Nahal (Azadi), Alttia Hossain, Anand Lal, Krishna Nandan
etc.
Q. 6. Name some novels of Khwaja Ahmad Abbas?
Ans. Inquilab (1955), Blood and Stones, Boy Meets Girl, Distant Dream,
Bobby Deal.
Q. 7. Who wrote the book ‘Studies in Indian English Literature’?
Ans. M.K. Naik.
Q. 8. Who has written these novels—
(1) Talkative Man (1986),
(2) The World of Nagaraj (1990).
Ans. R.K. Narayan.
Q. 9. Who has written the critical book ‘Modern Indian Poetry in
English’?
Ans. P. Lal wrote this book in 1969.
Q. 10. Who has written the poem ‘The Looking Glass’?
Ans. Kamla Das.
Q. 11. Name some major writers of India who have written
autobiographies in English?
Ans. Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Nirad C. Chaudhuri.
!
Chapter 16
LITERARY FORMS
1. Poetry
1. Epic
An epic is a long narrative poem, recounting heroic actions usually of one
principal hero. According to John Dryden, “A Heroic Poem, truly such, is
undoubtedly the greatest work which the soul of man is capable to perform—
epitomizes the feelings of many ages other than his own, though it certainly
had special singnificance for his own day.”
Virgil’s Aenied, spenser’s Farie Queene and Milton’s Paradise Lost are
the most prominent examples of the epic art.
2. The Mock-Epic
The mock-epic is a minor form of the epic in which the machinery and
conventions of the regular epic are employed in connection with trivial themes,
and in this way it becomes a parody or burlesque of the epic. Alexander Pope’s
Dunciad, The Rape of the Lock and Swift’s Tale of a Tub and Battle of the
Books are the finest examples.
3. The Elegy
According to W.H. Hudson, “In Common use, it is often restricted to a
lament over the dead, but that is an improper narrowing of its meaning. There
are laments over places, over lost love, over the past which is never dead over
an individual’s misery or failure, there are laments over departed pet animals
and so forth.”
S.T. Coleridge defined an elegy as a “Form of poetry natural to the reflective
mind which may use any subje, so long as it is related to the poet himself.”
Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, Milton’s Lycidas, Shelley’s
Adonais, Arnold’s Rugby Chapel and Thyrsis, Tennyson’s In Memoriam are
some of well known elegies.
4. The Sonnet
The English Word sonnet is derived from the Italian word ‘Sonnetto’ which
means sound. The sonnet is of Italian origin. Petrarch is the first great Italian
soneteer. A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines. It is of two kinds—
(1) The Italian Sonnet or Petarchan Sonnet—In this form this poet has
been divided into two parts. First Group of eight lines are called octaue and
Indian-English Literature 113. 114. A HAND BOOK OF VIVA-VOCE
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