Paper XVII (Choose any one)
(1) Indian Literary Criticism and Theory II
This paper is an extension of the paper on Indian literary criticism introduced in
Semester III. Here the focus would be on twentieth century texts and literary
Interventions. Right from the days of the Freedom Movement, Indian literary
criticism has increasingly taken political turns. At one level, attempts have been made
to de-colonize literary theory by way of excavating schools and theories of the ancient
past, at another level, the endeavour has been to search for critical alternatives from
within the historical past. While in the previous paper, the thrust has been on wellevolved and taxonomically rich critical frames of rasa, dhavni and vakrokti, here the
emphasis is on theoretical debate about the possibilities of multiple critical authorizes
that exist in Indian culture.The paper shall consist of five questions of 16 marks each,
one from each unit. The questions shall be designed in such a way that they focus
more on the candidate‘s understanding of the issues involved in literary studies, and
not just his/her capability for memorizing information. Also, there could be questions
of practical nature in which the candidate may be asked to apply his/her analytical
skills to literary texts. Each question shall have internal choice, and is to be answered
in 500-600 words. The paper shall carry a total of 80 marks.
Unit I
1. Anand Coomaraswamy, ―The Dance of Shiva", The Dance of Shiva (Delhi:
Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, 1999 ed). 83-95.
2. Raja Rao, The Meaning of India (Vision Books, 2007 2
nd Edition). 153-174.
Unit II
1. Aurobindo, ―Indian Literature", The Foundations of Indian Culture, Vol. 14
Birth Centenary Library, Pondicherry(255-322)
2. Vinayak Krishna Gokak, "The Idea of a National Literature: Indian
Literature‖, The Concept of Indian Literature (Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal
Publishers, 1979) 75-85.
Unit III
1. G.N.Devy, ―After Amnesia", After Amnesia: Tradition and Change in Indian
Literary Criticism (Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 1992)
2. Bhalchandra Nemade, ―Nativism in Literature", translated and edited by
Arvind Dixit and Makarand Paranjape, Nativism: Essays in Criticism (Delhi
Sahitya Akademi).
Unit IV
1. Bhikhu Parekh, ―Indianisation of Autobiography", Colonialism, Tradition
and Reform (Delhi, Saga, 1989)
2. G.N. Devy, ―Two Paradigms of History", Of Many Heroes (Hyderabad:
Orient Longman, 1998).
Unit V
1. "Manifesto" of the Indian Progressive Writers Association, London, 1935,
https://archiveseducate.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/manifesto-of-the-indianprogressive-writers-association.pdf
2. Saran Kumar Limbale, ―Dalit Literature and Aesthetics" in Towards an
Aesthetics of Dalit Literature (Delhi: Orient Blackswan,2004).
