New Criticism

1.1 A Postcolonial Aesthetic? This thesis seeks to contribute to the dialogue on the postcolonial aesthetic, by using concepts raised in Roland Barthes’ The Pleasure of the Text (1975) as a frame, through which to interrogate the ostensibly thorny issue of aesthetics in postcolonial writing. The idea behind this thesis stems from a reading of Elleke Boehmer’s essay “A Postcolonial Aesthetic” (2010), in which she questions the viability of approaching postcolonial fiction through its “aesthetic,…

build on previous ideas, like semiotics, phenomenology, and the univocal or equivocal reading. De Man’s discussion of the history of literary theory is integral to his argument and appears early in his article. He divides the history of literary criticism between pre-1960 and post-1960, arguing that anything pre-1960 was more widely accepted than the post-1960 theories that were met with resistance. After listing several prominent pre-1960 theorists, de Man states, “none of…

Discover Your Atman or Strive For True Happiness? Evidence Based Argument: Katha Upanishads vs The Persian Wars When analyzing different works of literature it can be approached from many different viewpoints. Looking at what the author is saying is one way to analyze the text, but also not just what they are saying but, how they are saying it. To determine how they are portraying their message means to identify and examine literary devices are utilized. The structure in which the author…

Allusions that are used in stories should not be over-complicated and new to readers if the author wants to write a successful novel. Foster made it clear that the best kind of allusions in novels are myths, references to the bible, other classic novels, “kiddie” literature, and Shakespeare. Each of those subjects have something…

Prior to this course, I was concerned about the challenges of writing until I come across the course syllables. However, what gravitate my attention from the listed content on the syllables is writing for success. So as one pondered through the content of the course one realizes the course expectation and the importance of successful writing strategies to succeed in college courses (Saylor.org). But, it became apparent as one acknowledges that it is crucial to learn the general techniques of…

Experiencing Literature is a foundational core class that few students may believe is unnecessary towards their major and ultimately useless. Those few students cannot be more wrong in their perception of EN-201. The course is an introduction to literature, which from there we are able to understand the readings and further discover their important features, functions, and possible meanings. The people who consider a foundational core class, not-related to their major, are simple minded and…

CHAPTER 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION My Seminar Paper entitled ‘RAMAYANA- THE GAME CHANGERS’ is based on Kamban’s (sometimes pronounced as Kambar or Kamba) version of Ramayana which is translated and produced by one of the major stalwarts of modern Indian literature i.e. R.K. Narayan himself. His book entitled The Ramayana is a short version in the prose form of the epic and, serves as a base for my groundwork in this Seminar Paper. This paper would be divided into five chapters out of which the first,…

2. The Crying of Lot 49: modernism or postmodernism? In my arguing that The Crying of Lot 49 can also be construed as a late-modernist text, I will turn to Harvey’s essay ‘The Cry from Within or Without? Pynchon and the Modern – Postmodern Divide’ where he fervently argues against McHale’s ‘claim’ that The Crying of Lot 49 is fundamentally a modernist text by presenting two core arguments relating to a) intertextuality and b) Oedipa’s search for truth. Before I will dispute any arguments of…

Extended Response - Shakespeare INTRO William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream are plays that share similar ideologies and representations despite them being a tragedy and a comedy respectively. The similarities are predominantly that of the father daughter relationship, as well as love, marriage and rebellion. Romeo and Juliet is a story about star crossed lovers whose families are feuding, with a plot line that focuses on Juliet and her father Capulet. A Midsummer…

1. The definition of character as it relates to literature is a person, animal or creature that takes part in the action of a story, play or other literary work. To demonstrate I chose the movie The Blind Side and the main character Michael Oher. After completing the descriptions of the types of characters listed I had to go back and add more to Michael's character. When I first wrote the paper all I saw was that Michael was the main character in the story, he is the character the story is…