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DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
ASSAM UNIVERSITY, SILCHAR

MA English Programme

Programme Objectives and Outcomes

The MA English Programme offered by the Department of English, Assam University is a highly
sought after course of the University and there is no dearth of applicants for the programme in any
given year. While this in itself speaks volumes for the usefulness and popularity of the course, one of
the chief reasons behind this is that the MA Programme taught by the Department is a perfect blend of
tradition and modernity. For reasons historical as well as academic, the core component of the
programme is British Literature which constitutes about 60% of the course components. However,
this is closely followed by courses and papers covering almost all the latest developments in English
Studies, some of which are Critical Theory, American Literature, Postcolonial Literature, Translation
Studies, Gender Studies and Film Studies (Open Choice). This indeed grounds the takers of the MA
programme in a wide range of seminal issues which are important both globally as well as locally.
Thus, while the major emphasis of the programme is on British Literature, it also gives the students a
wide exposure to literature written in English from other countries and contexts as well. For instance,
the syllabus features papers and components on Australian, Canadian, African as well as Indian
Writing in English. The Translation papers even give them an exposure to a few major texts written in
Modern Indian Languages through translation. In addition, current interest in issues like gender,
ecology and globalisation is duly reflected while choosing texts and books for each individual paper.
In addition, the following points are central to the programme:

➢ Papers/Courses conform to the descriptions/definitions given in the CBCS regulations with

Core, Elective and Open Courses. Each Core paper in the syllabus carries 100 marks: 70
marks for end semester examination +25 Marks for internal assessment +5 marks from credit
based on attendance.
➢ There is a comprehensive and compulsory course at the very beginning of the MA
programme which seeks to impart to the students a deeper understanding of the chronology
as well as components of the major socio-cultural events in England against which the texts
of English literatures have been generated in the first place.
➢ For the papers dealing with literatures from countries other than England, the aforesaid
historical sense is imparted through the very first unit of the course generally named as the
“Context” unit.
➢ There is a minute monitoring of the student’s progress especially by way of holding three
internal tests of 15 marks each in every paper.
➢ Students have to compulsorily write term papers for 10 marks in every paper. This is done
under close supervision of individual teachers and thus they get the basic trainings in
academic writing and research writing as well.
➢ After completion of the course, students get suitable placements in teaching jobs primarily.
But there is also a sizeable number of students who have been appointed in the media and
corporate jobs. Quite a few students come back to the department for doing MPhil and PhD.
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Structure of M.A. (C.B.C.S.) Syllabus

(ABSTRACT)

Course Title Course No.

SEMESTER I

Foundation Contexts of English Literature E-101 (C)

6 Credits

Foundation Literary Criticism E-102 (C)

6 Credits

Foundation Reading Literature E-103 (C)

6 Credits

Core English Literature From the Middle Ages E-104 (C)

to the Elizabethan Age
6 Credits

Core English Literature: The Seventeenth E-105 (C)

Century
6 Credits

SEMESTER II

Core English Literature: The Eighteenth E-201 (C)

Century
6 Credits

Core English Literature: The Romantic Period E-202 (C)

6 Credits

Open Choice Literature & Film E-203 (C)

6 Credits

Open Choice Contemporary Approaches to the Study of E-204 (C)

Literature
6 Credits

Core English Literature: The Victorian Period E-205 (C)

6 Credits

SEMESTER III
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Core Shakespeare E-301 (C)

6 Credits

Core English Literature: The Twentieth E-302 (C)

Century up to 1945
6 Credits

Core Indian Literature in English I E-303 (C)

6 Credits

Elective (A) Gender & Literature I E-304 (C)

6 Credits (Optional Paper)

Elective (B) Language & Linguistics

6 Credits

Elective (C) Translation Studies I

6 Credits

Elective (D) Dissertation I: Research Methodology

6 Credits

Elective (E) Modern Literary Classics I

6 Credits

Core American Literature I E-305 (C)

6 Credits

SEMESTER IV

Core English Literature: The Twentieth E-401 (C)

Century post 1945
6 Credits

Core American Literature II E-402 (C)

6 Credits

Core Indian Literature in English II E-403 (C)

6 Credits

Elective (A) Gender and Literature II E-404 (C)

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6 Credits (Optional Paper)

Elective (B) English Language Teaching: Current

Practices
6 Credits

Elective (C) Translation Studies II

6 Credits

Elective (D) Dissertation II

6 Credits

Elective (E) Modern Literary Classics II

6 Credits

Core Post Colonial Literatures in English E-405 (C)

6 Credits
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Syllabus for M.A. in English (CBCS)

Effective July, 2015

FIRST SEMESTER

E – 101 (C): CEL: 6 credits

CONTEXTS OF ENGLISH LITERATURE

OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this course are to make the learners understand the cultural
contexts of English literature from the medieval period to the contemporary times, so that the
study of the literary texts included in the subsequent courses can be impacted upon by
contexts in which they were produced.

COURSE OUTCOME: The learners get to delve further into the social setting or
environment, events or situations relevant to the values and practices of the cultures that
produced English literature from the Medieval Period to the Contemporary times. With the
inputs derived from this course, the students will be better equipped in their approach to and
understanding of the subsequent courses.

Course Content:
UNIT 1: Medieval Period: From 1066 to 1485
UNIT 2: The Renaissance: From 1485 to 1660
UNIT 3: Restoration and the Eighteenth Century: From 1660 to 1780
UNIT 4: The Romantic and the Victorian: From 1780 to 1901
UNIT 5: The Twentieth Century and Beyond: From 1901 to 2004

Texts Prescribed:

1. Padmaja Ashok. The Social History of England, Orient Blackswan, 2011.

2. Poplawski, Paul (ed.) English Literature in Context, Cambridge University Press,
2008.
3. Trevelyan, G. M. English Social History, Longman, 1978.

Scheme of Examination: (a) Five questions of 10 marks each: 10 x 5 = 50

(b) Five questions of 04 marks each: 04 x 5 = 20

E – 102 (C) LC: 6 credits

LITERARY CRITICISM

OBJECTIVE: This course has been planned to provide the learners with a historical
perspective of the development of the literary critical tradition. Contributions of the
commonly accepted core thinkers in literary theory and criticism are to be studied both
diachronically and synchronically.
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COURSE OUTCOME: The course will provide the students with foundation for studying
English Literature critically, with insights from Classical, Medieval as well as Modern
literary criticism. Further, this course will prepare them for the critical theory course [204],
and both these courses together provide the basic training for becoming a sensible appreciator
of literature.

Course Content:

UNIT 1: CLASSICAL CRITICISM

1. Plato: Republic, Book X (Translated by D. A. Russell)

2. Aristotle: On the Art of Poetry (Translated by Ingram Bywater)
3. Longinus: On the Sublime (translated by T. A. Moxon)

UNIT 2: RENAISSANCE TO NEOCLASSICISM

1. Sir Philip Sidney: An Apologie for Poetry

2. Samuel Johnson: ‘Preface to Shakespeare’

UNIT 3: ROMANTIC CRITICISM

1. William Wordsworth: Preface to the Lyrical Ballads (1800)

2. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Biographia Literaria, Chapters XIII, XIV and XVII

UNIT 4: VICTORIAN CRITICISM

1. Matthew Arnold: ‘The Function of Criticism at the Present Time’

2. Walter Pater: from The Renaissance (as in Das and Mohanty)
3. Thomas Carlyle: ‘Hero as Poet’

UNIT 5: TWENTIETH CENTURY CRITICISM

1. T. S. Eliot: ‘To Criticise the Critic’

2. F. R. Leavis: Introduction to The Great Tradition
3. Wimsatt Jr and Beardsley: ‘The Intentional Fallacy’

Texts Prescribed:

1. Blamires, Harry. AHistory of Literary Criticism. New Delhi: Macmillan India, 2001.
2. Das, B and J. M. Mohanty (ed.) Literary Criticism: A Reading. New Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 2009.
3. Ramaswami, S et. al. (ed.) The English Critical Tradition. New Delhi: Macmillan
India, 2007.

Scheme of Examination: (a) Five questions of 10 marks each: 10 x 5 = 50

(b) Five questions of 04 marks each: 04 x 5 = 20
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Recommended Reading:

1. Abrams, M. H. and Geoffrey Galt Harpham. A Handbook of Literary Terms. New

Delhi: Cleanage, 2009.
2. Habib, M. A. R.. A History of Literary Criticism and Theory: From Plato to the
Present, 2008, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford.
3. Harland, Richard. Literary Theory from Plato to Barthes. London: Macmillan, 1999.

Course E – 103 (C) RL: 6 credits

READING LITERATURE

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this course is to train the students to be able to critically read a
literary text.

COURSE OUTCOME: The students to be able to critically read a literary text. They will
understand the very basic concepts and nuances of reading poetry, fiction, drama, non-
fictional prose and how to critically appreciate a literary piece. The students will get
familiarized, to a large extent, with the basic literary features of all genres. This course
enables the students to comprehend, analyse and critically interpret the ideas, values and
concerns or themes that they may come across while reading the texts. It also opens up a
window to creativity, inspiration and pleasure, thereby goading them to refine their
sensibility/ taste/temperament.

UNIT 1: READING POETRY

1.1 Poetic Rhythm: Metrical patterns and variation, Rhyme and Internal patterns
(alliteration, assonance, etc.)
1.2 Diction, Syntax and Lineation, Stanzaic forms and Verse forms, Poetic Voice
and Tone
1.3 Imagery and Figurative Language (Simile, Metaphor, Personification,
Apostrophe,
Metonymy, Synecdoche)
1.4 Rhetorical Tropes: Parallelism, Anaphora, Antithesis, Paranomasia, Oxymoron,
Zeugma, Chiasmus
1.5 Types: Narrative Poetry (Epic Poetry, Ballads), Lyric Poetry (Sonnets, Odes,
Greater Romantic Lyrics)

UNIT 2: READING FICTION

2.1 Meaning and Form: Fable, Fabliau, Fairy tale, Folktale, Hypertext, Flash fiction,
Legend, Novella, Novel, Epic, Parable, Screenplay, Short story.
2.2 Narrative Structure: Plot and story. Aristotle on plot (the protasis, epitasis, and
catastrophe). Freytag on Plot (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and
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dénouement/resolution). Linear and non-linear narrative. Frame story, Framing

device, In medias res.
2.3 Character, theme, and setting:
Character (Protagonist, Antagonist, human and non-human character, Major and
minor character, Focal character, Foil, Stock character, stereotype)
Theme (Leitmotif, Moral, Motif)
Setting: Place (geographic location): Utopia, Dystopia, Fictional location.
Setting: Time (the historical moment in time): Past, Present and Future. Backstory,
Flashback, Flashforward and Foreshadowing.
2.4 Style and technique:
Narration and Point of view (First-person, Second-person, Third-person/omniscient,
Stream of consciousness, Unreliable narrator)
Figurative language (Figure of speech; Irony: verbal, situational and dramatic;
Allusion; Magic realism)
Stylistic device (Imagery, Symbolism, Allegory, Suspension of
disbelief/Defamiliarization)
Register (Diction, Syntax, Voice and Tone)
2.5 Types: Adventure, Comic, Crime/mystery/thriller, Epistolary, Fantasy, Gothic,
Graphic, Historical, Picaresque, Political, Romance, Satire, Science-fiction.

UNIT 3: READING DRAMA

3.1 The Background:

Origin of Drama (Mystery, Miracle, Morality, Interludes)/ Theatre; Drama as a
Performing Art; Drama and Theatre.
3.2. Types of Drama:
Tragedy, Comedy, Tragi-comedy, Melodrama, Farce, Heroic Play, Problem Play,
Comedy of Errors, Comedy of Manners, Comedy of Humours, Sentimental Comedy,
Anti-sentimental Comedy, Drama of Ideas, Didactic Drama – Propaganda Plays,
History Play – the Episodic Play, Symbolic Drama – Expressionism, Dance Drama,
Mime, Poetic Drama, Discussion Play.
3.3. Types of Theatre:
Abstract Theatre; Theatre of the Absurd; Epic Theatre; Street Theatre; Third Theatre;
Theatre of Cruelty; Feminist Theatre; Postmodern Theatre.
3.4. Elements of Drama/ Theatre:
Plot; Character; Dialogue; Setting; Audience; Stage and Staging.
3.5. Ancient Indian Drama/ Theatre Aesthetics:
Rasas; Bhavas; Purbaranga; Mandapa; Sutradhara.

UNIT 4: READING NON FICTIONAL PROSE

4.1 Distinction between fictional and non fictional prose.

4.2 Definition, identifying features and types.
● Narrative
● Expository
● Persuasive
● Descriptive
4.3 Text Structures and organizational patterns:
● Description
● Sequence & Order
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● Comparison & Contrast

● Cause & Effect
● Problem & Solution
4.4 Analysis and Interpretation:
● The notions of content, language, and structure
● Style, Tone, Perspective, Purpose
4.5 Forms of non-fiction:
● Creative non fiction
Autobiography, Biography, Diary, Essay, Journal, Letter, Memoir, Popular science,
Speech, Travelogue
● Academic or technical writing non-fiction:
Academic paper, Academic publishing, Almanac, Blueprint, Book report,
Design document, Diagram, Dictionary, Documentary film, Encyclopedia,
Guides and manuals, Handbook, History, Journalism, Literary criticism,
Natural history, Philosophy, Photograph, Self-help, Science book, Scientific
paper, Statute, Technical writing, Textbook, Thesaurus, Theology, Travel
writing, User manual

UNIT 5: CRITICAL APPRECIATION

Texts prescribed:

1. Lennard, John. The Poetry Handbook; A Guide to Reading Poetry for Pleasure and
Practical Criticism. Oxford University Press, 2006
2. Boulton, Marjorie. The Anatomy of Poetry. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982
3. Wolosky, Shira. The Art of Poetry: How to Read a Poem. Oxford University Press,
2001.
4. Mullan, John: How Novels Work, OUP, 2006
5. Boulton, Marjorie. The Anatomy of the Novel, Routledge, 2014
6. Muir, Edwin, The Structure of the Novel, Hogarth Press, 1928
7. Boulton, Marjorie. The Anatomy of Drama. Routledge & Paul, 1960.
8. Esslin, Martin. The Field of Drama. Methuen, 1987.
9. Nicoll, Allardyce. The Theory of Drama. Ayer Co Pub; Reprint edition, 1967.
10. Read, Herbert: English Prose Style. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1928
11. Boulton, Marjorie. The Anatomy of Prose. Routledge , 2015.
12. Benjamin DeMott, Close Imaging, St. Martin Press, New York, 1988
13. Bharata. The Natyasastra

Scheme of examination: (a) 4 questions of 10 marks each (Units 1 to 4): 10 x 4= 40

(b) 4 questions of 04 marks each (Units 1 to 4): 04 x 4= 16
(c) 1 question of 14 marks from (Unit 5): 14 x 1= 14

E – 104 (C) ELME: 6 credits

ENGLISH LITERATURE FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO THE ELIZABETHAN AGE

OBJECTIVE: The objectives sought to be achieved by the course are to acquaint the learners
with the literature written in English during the period from the Norman Conquest to 1603.
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This is a period when we see the rise of major forms of literature such as narratives, lyric
poetry—particularly the sonnet, the drama and English prose including fiction. By studying
representative texts learners are expected to develop skills of literary criticism and an
understanding of the relationship between the texts and their context.

COURSE OUTCOME: The objectives of this course are to acquaint the learners with the
representative poetic voices, drama, and prose writing through the study of selected texts. It is
designed to help the students familiarise themselves with the seminal poetic voices, drama
and prose writing through a close study of selected texts. It will also enable them to
understand the complex social, political, religious and cultural formations of the 16th Century
England.

Course Content:
UNIT 1: NARRATIVE POETRY

1. Geoffrey Chaucer: The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales

2. Edmund Spenser: The Faerie Queene, Book I

UNIT 2: LYRIC POETRY

1. Sir Thomas Wyatt: ‘Farewell, Love’, ‘My Heart I gave thee, not to do it pain’
2. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey: ‘The Soote Season’, ‘When Summer took in hand the
winter to assail’
3. Sir Philip Sidney: Sonnet No. 20 and 72 from Astrophel and Stella
4. William Shakespeare: Sonnets Nos. 18, 55, 65 and 116

UNIT 3: MEDIEVAL DRAMA

1. Anonymous: Everyman
2. Thomas Dekker: The Shoemaker’s Holiday

UNIT 4: ELIZABETHAN DRAMA (THE UNIVERSITY WITS)

1. Christopher Marlowe: Edward II

2. Thomas Kyd: The Spanish Tragedy

UNIT 5: NON-FICTION PROSE

1. John Lyly: Euphues: The Anatomy of Wyt (as in Greenblatt, Stephen et. al. The
Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1, Eighth Edition, London: W.W.
Norton, 2006, pgs 944-946)
2. Baldassare Castiglione: “The Courtier” translated by Sir Thomas Huby (as in The
Norton Anthology of English Literature, 7th Edition)

Texts Prescribed:
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1. Greenblatt, Stephen et. al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1, Eighth
Edition, London: W.W. Norton, 2006.
2. Hakluyt, Richard. Voyages and Discoveries: The Principal Navigations, Voyages,
Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation. Edited, abridged and introduced by
Jack Beeching. London: Penguin, 1985 reprint.

3. Sukanta Chaudhuri (ed.) An Anthology of Elizabethan Poetry. Delhi: Oxford

University Press, 1992.
4. Salzman, Paul. An Anthology of Elizabethan Prose Fiction. USA: Oxford UP, 1998.

Scheme of Examination: 5 questions of 10 marks each: 10 x 5 = 50

5 questions of 04 marks each: 04 x 5 = 20
Recommended Reading:

1. Bradbrook, M. C. Themes and Conventions of Elizabethan Tragedy. 2nd ed.

Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1980.
2. Eagleton, Terry. How to Read a Poem. Oxford: Blackwell, 2007.
3. Ford, Boris, ed. Medieval Literature: Chaucer and the Alliterative Tradition.
Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1983. Vol. 1, Part I of The New Pelican Guide to English
Literature.
4. Ford, Boris, ed. Medieval Literature: The European Inheritance. Harmondsworth:
Penguin, 1983. Vol. 1, Part II of The New Pelican Guide to English Literature.
5. Kermode, Frank. The Age of Shakespeare. London: Phoenix, 2004.
6. Lever, J. W. The Elizabethan Love Sonnet. London: Longman, 1966.
7. Lewis, C. S. The Allegory of Love. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1936.
8. Waller, Gary. English Poetry of the Sixteenth Century. 2nd ed. London: Longman,
1993.

E – 105 (C) ELSC: 6 credits

ENGLISH LITERATURE: THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this course are to acquaint the learners with the representative
poetic voices, drama, and prose writing through the study of selected texts.

COURSE OUTCOME: The objectives of this course are to acquaint the learners with the
representative poetic voices, drama, and prose writing through the study of selected texts. It is
designed to help the students familiarise themselves with the seminal poetic voices, drama
and prose writing through a close study of selected texts. It will also enable them to
understand the complex social, political, religious and cultural formations of the 17th Century
England.

Course Content:
UNIT 1: LYRIC POETRY
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1. John Donne: ‘The Good-Morrow’; ‘The Canonization’; ‘The Ecstasy’; Holy Sonnet
No. 14 ‘Batter My Heart, three-personed God’
2. George Herbert: ‘The Collar’; ‘The Pulley’
3. Andrew Marvell: ‘The Garden’

UNIT 2: NARRATIVE POETRY

1. John Milton: Paradise Lost, Books I and IX

2. John Dryden: Mac Flecknoe

UNIT 3: DRAMA

1. Ben Jonson: Volpone

2. William Congreve: The Way of the World

UNIT 4: PROSE I

1. Aphra Behn: Oroonoko, or The Royal Slave (as in Greenblatt, Stephen et. al. The
Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1, Eighth Edition, London: W.W.
Norton, 2006, pgs 2183—2226)
2. Samuel Pepys: The Diary (as in Greenblatt, Stephen et. al. The Norton Anthology of
English Literature, Vol. 1, Eighth Edition, London: W.W. Norton, 2006, pgs 2134—
2141)

UNIT 5: PROSE II

1. Sir Francis Bacon: ‘Of Truth’; ‘Of Studies’ (1625 version); ‘Of Revenge’
2. John Milton: from Aeropagitica (as in Greenblatt, Stephen et. al. The Norton
Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1, Eighth Edition, London: W.W. Norton, 2006,
pgs 1816—1825)
3. John Bunyan: from The Pilgrim’s Progress (as in Greenblatt, Stephen et. al. The
Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1, Eighth Edition, London: W.W.
Norton, 2006, pgs 2143—2151)
4. Sir Isaac Newton: from ‘A Letter of Sir Isaac Newton’ (as in Greenblatt, Stephen et.
al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1, Eighth Edition, London:
W.W. Norton, 2006, pgs 2156—2160)

Texts Prescribed:

1. Greenblatt, Stephen et. al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1, Eighth
Edition, London: W.W. Norton, 2006.

Scheme of Examination: 5 questions of 10 marks each: 10 x 5 = 50

5 questions of 04 marks each: 04 x 5 = 20
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Recommended Reading:

1. Bennett Joan. Five Metaphysical Poets: Donne, Herbert, Vaughan, Crashaw,

Marvell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1964.
2. Ford, Boris, ed. From Donne to Marvell. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1982. Vol. 3 of
The New Pelican Guide to English Literature.
3. Ford, Boris, ed. From Dryden to Johnson. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1982. Vol. 4 of
The New Pelican Guide to English Literature.
4. Gardner, Helen (ed.) The Metaphysical Poets. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972.
5. Jack, Ian. Augustan Satire: Invention and Idiom in English Poetry, 1660-1750.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971.
6. Singh, Brijraj. Five Seventeenth Century Poets: Donne, Herbert, Crashaw, Marvell,
Vaughan. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1992.
7. Sutherland, James. English Satire. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1962.

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SECOND SEMESTER

E – 201 (C) ELEC: 6 credits

ENGLISH LITERATURE: THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this course is to enable students to have a broad understanding
of the cultural context of English Literature of the period and to acquaint them with the
representative poetic voices, drama, and non-fictional prose writing through the study of
selected texts.

COURSE OUTCOME: Students will acquire a deeper understanding of the cultural context
of English Literature of the period and to acquaint them with the representative poetic voices,
drama, and non-fictional prose writing through the study of selected texts. It will also enable
them to understand the complex social, political, religious and cultural formations of the 18th
Century England.

Course Content:
UNIT 1: POETRY
1. Alexander Pope: ‘The Rape of the Lock’
2. Thomas Gray: ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’
3. Oliver Goldsmith: ‘The Deserted Village’

UNIT 2: PROSE I
1. Jonathan Swift: Gulliver’s Travels, Book IV
2. John Gay: Beggar’s Opera
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UNIT 3: PROSE II

1. Joseph Addison: ‘Sir Roger in London’

2. Richard Steele: ‘Art of Story Telling’
3. Samuel Johnson: ‘Life of Milton’

UNIT 4: DRAMA

1. Richard B. Sheridan: The Rivals

2. Oliver Goldsmith: She Stoops to Conquer

UNIT 5: FICTION

1. Daniel Defoe: Robinson Crusoe

2. Henry Fielding: Tom Jones

Scheme of examination: 5 questions of 10 marks each: 10 x 5 = 50

5 questions of 04 marks each: 04 x 5 = 20

Recommended Reading:

1. Dyson, A. E., ed. The English Novel. Oxford: OUP, 1974.

2. Eagleton, Terry. The English Novel: An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005.
3. Kettle, Arnold. English Novel: An Introduction. London: Unwin Hyman Ltd., 1967.
4. Sambrook, James. The Eighteenth Century Intellectual and Cultural Context of
English Literature (1700—89). London: Oxford UP, 1986.
5. Sitter John E. The Cambridge Companion to Eighteenth Century Poetry. Cambridge:
Cambridge UP, 2001.
6. Sutherland, James. English Satire. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1962.
7. Walker, Hugh. English Satire and Satirists. Macmillan, 1968.
8. Watt, Ian. The Rise of the Novel. London: Penguin, 1963
9. Weinbrot, Howard D. Eighteenth Century Satire. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1988.

E – 202 (C): ELROM: 6 credits

ENGLISH LITERATURE: THE ROMANTIC PERIOD

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this course is to make the students aware of the literature of the
Romantic Age: 1770 to 1830, with particular focus on the dual emphasis of the poets of the
period on lyric poetry and longer narrative poems. The canon has been expanded to include
the women poets writing in this period. The students will also be exposed to the works of
fiction and non-fiction prose in the period marked by political debates on issues ranging from
the Revolutions and the rise of feminism.
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COURSE OUTCOME: The students will acquire a thorough understanding of the historical
development of Romanticism in English literature. It will further enable them to understand
the complex social, political, religious and cultural formations of the early 19th Century
England.

Course Content:
UNIT 1: LYRIC POETRY
1. William Blake: Songs of Innocence and of Experience
2. John Keats: ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’
3. P. B. Shelley: ‘Ode to the West Wind’

UNIT 2: WOMEN POETS

1. Charlotte Smith: ‘Written at the Close of Spring’, ‘Written in the Church-Yard at
Middleton in Sussex’, ‘The Sea View’
2. Mary Robinson: ‘London’s Summer Morning’, ‘To the Poet Coleridge’
3. Felicia Dorothea Hemans: ‘The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in New England’,
‘The Homes of England’

UNIT 3: NARRATIVE POETRY

1. William Wordsworth: The Prelude (1805), Book I
2. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’
3. John Keats: ‘The Eve of St. Agnes’

UNIT 4: FICTION
1. Jane Austen: Emma
2. Walter Scott: The Heart of Midlothian

UNIT 5: NON-FICTION PROSE

1. Edmund Burke: From Reflections on the Revolution in France (as in Greenblatt,
Stephen et. al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 2, Eighth
Edition, London: W.W. Norton, 2006 Norton, pp. 152 - 158
2. Mary Wollstonecraft: From A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Introduction
and Chapter 2 [as in Greenblatt, Stephen et. al. The Norton Anthology of English
Literature, Vol. 2, Eighth Edition, London: W.W. Norton, 2006 Norton, pp. 170 –
188]
3. Thomas Paine: From Rights of Man [as in Greenblatt, Stephen et. al. The Norton
Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 2, Eighth Edition, London: W.W. Norton,
2006 Norton, pp. 163 – 167]

Scheme of examination: 5 questions of 10 marks each 10 x 5 = 50

5 questions of 04 marks each: 04 x 5 = 20

Recommended Reading:
1. Wu, Duncan (ed.) Romanticism: An Anthology, Second edition. Oxford &
Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 1998.
2. Day, Aidan. Romanticism. London: Routledge, 1996.
3. Prickett, Stephen (ed) The Romantics. London: Methuen & Co, 1981.
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4. Curran, Stuart (ed) The Cambridge Companion to British Romanticism. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 1993.

E – 203 (C): LF: 6 credits

(Open Choice Course)
LITERATURE AND FILM

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this course is to provide a basic introduction to the students
about the profound interrelation between literature and films as mediums of art. The course
explores the praxis of film adaptation based on a few canonical literary texts.

COURSE OUTCOME: After taking this course, the students will be familiarized with the
philosophy, style and technique/s of adaptation; how the same work of art can be represented
in other mediums, how adaptations can be at once translation, creation as well as commentary
with respect to the original text.

UNIT 1:

1. How to Read a Film: James Monaco (“Film and the Novel”, “Film and Theater”,
“The Language of Film: Signs and Syntax”)
2. Speaking of Films: Satyajit Ray translated by Gopa Majumdar (“The Making of a
Film: Structure, Language and Style”)
3. A Theory of Adaptation: Linda Hutcheon and Siobhan O’flynn (“Beginning to
Theorize Adaptation”)

UNIT 2:
Text: William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Films:
• West Side Story, 1961, Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins
• Romeo and Juliet, 1968, Franco Zeffirelli
• Romeo + Juliet, 1996, Baz Luhrmann

UNIT 3:
Text: Pather Panchali: Song of the Road translated by T. W. Clark and Tarapada
Mukherji

Films:
• Pather Panchali, 1955, Satyajit Ray
• Aparajito, 1956, Satyajit Ray
• Apur Sansar, 1959, Satyajit Ray

UNIT 4:
Text: Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
 17

Films:
• Pride and Prejudice, 1995, BBC Miniseries.
• Bride and Prejudice, 2004, Gurinder Chaddha
• Pride and Prejudice, 2005, Joe Wright

UNIT 5:
Text: Mario Puzzo, The Godfather

Films:
• The Godfather, 1972, Francis Ford Coppola
• The Godfather, Part II, 1974, Francis Ford Coppola
• The Godfather, Part III, 1990, Francis Ford Coppola
• Sarkar, 2005, Ram Gopal Verma

Scheme of examination: 5 questions of 10 marks each: 10 x 5 + 50

5 questions of 04 marks each: 04 x 5 = 20

Essential Reading:

Dix, Andrew. Beginning Film Studies. Manchester University Press: 2008

Wood, Michael. Film; A Very Short Introduction.OUP: 2012
Bone, Jan and Ron Johnson. Understanding the Film: An Introduction to Film
Appreciation.McGraw-Hill Contemporary: 1992
Hutcheon, Linda and Siobhan O’flynn. A Theory of Adaptation. Routledge: 2006
Ray, Satyajit. Deep Focus. Harper: 2013
Ray, Satyajit. Speaking of Films. Penguin: 2005
Monaco, James. How to Read a Film. OUP: 2009

E – 204 (C): CASL: 6 credits

CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF LITERATURE

OBJECTIVE: To introduce the students to the significant critical positions and issues that
came up in the Twentieth century and enable them to get an access to the domain of “critical
theory” transcending the limits of “literary criticism.” They will be familiarized with the
critical ideas and tools of all the major schools of contemporary theory.
COURSE OUTCOME: The students will be able to appreciate the significant critical
positions and issues that came up in the Twentieth century. The learners will get familiarized
with the critical ideas and tools of all the major schools of contemporary theory like
Psychoanalytical Criticism, Reader-Response theories, Formalism, Structuralism,
Poststructuralism, Feminism, Gender Studies, Marxism, New Historicism, Postcolonialism
and Globalization. This is one of the most important courses as students get theoretically
 18

equipped which would immensely help in opening up the prescribed literary texts of other
courses as well as future research engagement.
Course Content:
UNIT 1: PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM AND READER-RESPONSE
1. Freudian Psychoanalysis: the Unconscious, Ego, Superego and Interpretation of
Dreams
2. Dreams and Literature: Condensation, Displacement, Symbolism, Latent Content,
Manifest Content and the process of Sublimation
3. Jungian Psychoanalysis: the Collective Unconscious and Archetypes in literature
4. Phenomenology and Reader-response Criticism: Wolfgang Iser
5. The Reading Process, Ambiguities, Interpretive Structures, Interpretive Communities:
Stanley Fish

UNIT 2: FORMALISM, STRUCTURALISM AND POSTSTRUCTURALISM

1. Russian Formalism and the American New Critics
2. Dialogism and the Carnivalesque: Mikhail Bakhtin
3. The Origins of Structuralism, Langue and Parole, the Sign: Ferdinand de Saussure and
Claude Levi Strauss
4. Structuralism and Literature: Jonathan Culler, Roland Barthes, Tzvetan Todorov
5. Poststructuralism and the Author: Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault

UNIT 3: FEMINISM AND GENDER STUDIES

1. Patriarchy and male dominance: MaryWollstonecraft and John Stuart Mill
2. Sex and Gender—the difference—women: born or made? : Simone De Beauvoir
3. Gynocriticism, écriture feminine, phallogocentrism
4. Womanism and Third World Feminism
5. Introduction to Queer Theory: construction and otherization of the homosexual

UNIT 4: MARXISM AND THE NEW HISTORICISM

1. Marx and the concept of base and superstructure, class struggle
2. Georg Lukacs and the concept of Ideology in Marxist criticism
3. The Frankfurt School—Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer
4. Antonio Gramsci’s concept of hegemony and Louis Althusser’s notion of ISA
5. The New Historicism : Representations, appropriation, political reading and Cultural
poetics

UNIT 5: POSTCOLONIALISM AND GLOBALIZATION

1. Edward Said’s formulations about Orientalism, Eurocentrism and Culture and
Imperialism.
2. Homi Bhabha: Hybridity, Mimicry, Third Space
3. Gayatri Spivak and the postcolonial appropriation of the concept of ‘subaltern’
4. Dipesh Chakrabarty on the condition of postcoloniality and its relation to history
5. Politics of Globalization, postnationalism and globalectics

Scheme of Examination:5 questions of 10 marks each: 10 x 5 = 50

5 questions of 04 marks each: 04 x 5 = 20
Recommended Reading:
 19

1. Abrams, M.H. & Geoffrey Galt Harpham. A Handbook of Literary Terms. New Delhi:
Cengage, 2009.
2. Bertens, Hans. Literary Theory: The Basics. London: Routledge, 2003.
3. Guerin, W. et al. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. New York: OUP,
2005.
4. Lodge, David. Modern Criticism and Theory: A Reader. Delhi: Pearson 2004
5. Loomba, Ania. Colonialism/Postcolonialism. New Delhi: Routledge, 1998.
6. Nayar, Pramod K. Contemporary Literary and Cultural Theory. New Delhi: Pearson,
2010.
7. Selden, Raman et al. A Reader’s Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory. Delhi:
Pearson, 2006.
8. Waugh, Patricia. Literary Theory and Criticism. New Delhi: OUP, 2006.
9. Wolfreys, Julian. Introducing Literary Theories. New Delhi: Atlantic, 2005.

E – 205 (C) ELVIC: 6 credits

ENGLISH LITERATURE: THE VICTORIAN PERIOD

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this course is to enable the learners to develop an

understanding of the intellectual and the cultural trends of the Victorian period through the
study of selected texts of the representative poets, dramatists, novelists and writers of non-
fictional prose. The texts are to be studied synchronically and diachronically in relation to
their context.

COURSE OUTCOME: The learners will be familiarized with the representative poetic
voices, drama, and prose writing through the study of selected texts. They will get a thorough
grounding in the issues and stakes raised by the seminal poetic voices, drama and prose
writing through a close study of selected texts. It will also enable them to understand the
complex social, political, religious and cultural formations of the 17th Century England.

Course Content:
UNIT 1: POETRY
1. Robert Browning: ‘My Last Duchess’; ‘A Grammarian’s Funeral’
2. Alfred Tennyson: ‘The Epic’ [Morte d’ Arthur]; ‘Tithonus’
3. Matthew Arnold: ‘Dover Beach’; ‘Isolation To Marguerite’; ‘To Marguerite—
continued’

UNIT 2: FICTION I
1. Charles Dickens: Hard Times
2. Thomas Hardy: Tess of d’Urbervilles

UNIT 3: FICTION II
1. Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre
2. Emile Brontë: Wuthering Heights
 20

UNIT 4: DRAMA
1. Oscar Wilde: The Importance of Being Earnest
2. George Bernard Shaw: Mrs. Warren’s Profession

UNIT 5:NON-FICTION PROSE

1. John Henry Cardinal Newman: ‘Knowledge its own end’ (from Discourse 5 of The
Idea of a University) (as in Greenblatt, Stephen et. al. The Norton Anthology of
English Literature, Vol. 2, Eighth Edition, London: W.W. Norton, 2006, pgs 1035—
1036)
2. John Stuart Mill: from Chapter I of The Subjection of Women. (as in Greenblatt,
Stephen et. al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 2, Eighth Edition,
London: W.W. Norton, 2006, pgs 1061—1070)
3. John Ruskin: from Of Pathetic Fallacy. (as in Greenblatt, Stephen et. al. The Norton
Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 2, Eighth Edition, London: W.W. Norton, 2006,
pgs 1322—1324)
4. George Eliot: from ‘Silly Novels by Lady Novelists’ (as in Greenblatt, Stephen et. al.
The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 2, Eighth Edition, London: W.W.
Norton, 2006, pgs 1342—1349)

Texts Prescribed:
1. Greenblatt, Stephen et. al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 2, Eighth
Edition, London: W.W. Norton, 2006.
2. Students are expected to use the Norton critical editions of the prescribed novels.

Scheme of examination:5 questions of 10 marks each: 10 x 5 = 50

5 questions of 04 marks each: 04 x 5 = 20
Recommended Reading:
1. Armstrong, J. Victorian Poetry, Poetics and Politics. London: Routledge, 1993.
2. Eagleton, Terry. The English Novel: An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005.
3. Ford, Boris. The New Pelican Guide to English Literature. Vol. 6: From Dickens to
Hardy, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1982.
4. Holloway, J. The Victorian Sage: Studies in Argument. London: Macmillan, 1953.
5. Houghton, Walter E. The Victorian Frame of Mind: 1830- 1870. New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1957.
6. Kettle, Arnold. English Novel: An Introduction. London: Unwin Hyman Ltd., 1967.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THIRD SEMESTER

Course E – 301 (C): SHKP : 6 credits

 21

SHAKESPEARE

OBJECTIVE: The Course aims at exploring the ways in which Shakespeare has been
“reinvented” since the Seventeenth century to the present and seeks to explore the dynamics
of contemporary Shakespeare studies realized in terms of the multipolar contexts of
Shakespearean texts as well as the plurality of the Shakespearean critical discourses.

COURSE OUTCOME: After doing the course, the students will develop a thorough idea of
the Elizabethan stage and staging conditions as well. More importantly, they will internalize
the major issues and contentions of Shakespeare’s works which is believed to represent the
universal human condition, recent views to the contrary notwithstanding. They will also be
acquainted with a few film adaptations of Shakespearean plays, gaining some expertise in
film studies thereby.

Course Content:
UNIT 1: TRADITION
1. The Elizabethan stage and audience
2. Shakespearean criticism down the ages: S. T. Coleridge, A. C. Bradley, G. Wilson
Knight, F. R. Leavis, Ian Kott, Stephen Greenblatt, Jonathan Dollimore

UNIT 2: COMEDIES
1. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
2. Measure for Measure

UNIT 3: TRAGEDIES
1. King Lear
2. Hamlet

UNIT 4: HISTORY PLAYS/ PROBLEM PLAYS

1. Antony and Cleopatra
2. The Tempest

UNIT 5: ADAPTATIONS
1. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
2. Macbeth

Scheme of Examination: 5 questions of 10 marks each: 10 x 5 = 50

5 questions of 04 marks each: 04 x 5 = 20

Recommended Reading:

1. Students are expected to use the New Cambridge Shakespeare or Arden/New Arden
Shakespeare for the prescribed texts.
2. Bevington, David. The Norton Anthology of Renaissance Drama. N.Y.: Norton, 1998
3. Beja, Morris. Film and Literature. An Introduction, Longman, 1979
4. Bradley, A. C. Shakespearean Tragedy London, Macmillan, 1905
5. Dollimore, Jonathan. Political Shakespeare: Essays in Cultural Materialism.
Manchester University Press, 1994.
 22

6. Greenblatt, Stephen. Renaissance Self-Fashioning: From More to Shakespeare.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005.
7. Gurr, Andrew The Shakespearean Stage, 1574 – 1642. CUP, 1992
8. Lerner, Lawrence ed. Shakespearean Tragedy. Hammondsworth, Penguin, 1999
9. Leggat, Alexander ed. The Cambridge Companion to Shakespearean Comedy,
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2004
10. Loomba, Ania and Martin Orkin (eds.) Post-Colonial Shakespeares. Routledge, 1998
11. Kott, Ian, Shakespeare, Our Contemporary, London, Methuen, 1967
12. Tillyard, E. M. W., Shakespeare’s Problem Plays, University of Toronto Press, 1949
13. Wells, Stanley. The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Studies, CUP, 1986

E – 302 (C): ELTC 1945 : 6 credits

ENGLISH LITERATURE: THE TWENTIETH CENTURY UP TO 1945

OBJECTIVE: The spurt in modernism(s) that swayed entire Europe since the second half of
the 19th century had a significant impact on English literature during the first half of the
twentieth century. This course will aim at a broad understanding of the spirit of the time
through the study of a selection of literary texts which were not only experimental but also
represented the concern for social and literary emancipation.

COURSE OUTCOME: After taking the course, the students would be able to develop
perception about a range of theoretical discourses associated with modernism and its impact
in culture and society especially as reflected in the British literature up to1945. They will be
able to interrogate conventional and canonical conceptions of what, when, why and how
modernism was (and/or is) through an appreciation of principles and prescribed texts.

Course Content:
UNIT 1: POETRY I
1. Gerard Manley Hopkins: ‘The Windhover’, ‘Pied Beauty’, ‘God’s Grandeur’
2. William Butler Yeats: ‘Éaster 1916’, ‘Byzantium’, ‘Circus Animal’s Desertion’
3. Wilfred Owen: ‘Insensibility’, ‘Strange Meeting’

UNIT 2: POETRY II
1. T. S. Eliot: The Waste Land
2. W. H. Auden: ‘September 1st, 1939’, ‘In Memory of W. B. Yeats’
3. Dylan Thomas: ‘The Force that through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower’, ‘Fern
Hill’

UNIT 3: FICTION I
1. Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness
2. Virginia Woolf: To the Lighthouse

UNIT 4: FICTION II
1. D. H. Lawrence: Sons and Lovers
2. James Joyce: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

UNIT 5: DRAMA
 23

1. J. M. Synge: Riders to the Sea

2. T. S. Eliot: Murder in the Cathedral

Scheme of examination:5 questions of 10 marks each 10 x 5 = 50

5 questions of 04 marks each 04 x 5 = 20

Recommended reading:

1. Bradbury, Malcolm. The Social Context of Modern English Literature. Oxford: OUP,
1971.
2. Eagleton, Terry. The English Novel: An Introduction. USA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2005.
3. Edel, Leon. Modern Psychological Novel. New York: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers,
1964.
4. Faulkner, Peter: Modernism. London: Methuen, 1977.
5. Hynes, Samuel. The Auden Generation: Literature and Politics in England in the
1930s. New York: Viking, 1977.
6. Kenner, Hugh. Joyce’s Voices. London: Univ. of California Press, 1978.
7. Leavis, F. R. D.H. Lawrence: Novelist. London: Chatto and Windus, 1955.
8. Levenson, Michael. The Cambridge Companion to Modernism. Cambridge :
Cambridge University Press, 1999.
9. Smith, Stan. The Origins of Modernism: Eliot, Pound, Yeats and the Rhetorics of
Renewal. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1994.

E – 303 (C) ILE I : 6 credits

Indian Literature in English I

OBJECTIVE: This course seeks to introduce the students to the literature written in English
from India during the pre-Independence period. Texts will be explored as sites of exchange
between the self and the other, which is crucial to all processes of self-fashioning or subject
formation. This paper will also focus on narratives that interweave into their texture issues
like colonialism, nationalism, subject formation, identity etc.

COURSE OUTCOME: Students will have a wide understanding about the re-formation of
India in the changed socio-political-economic-cultural aspects under the colonial rule. This
paper also will focus on narratives that interweave into their texture issues like colonialism,
nationalism, subject formation, identity, hybridity, mimcry, ambivalence and diaspora etc.
They will have a deep understanding of certain key issues like colonialism, nationalism and
citizenship, subject formation, identity, hybridity, mimicry, ambivalence and diaspora vis-a-
vis the re-formation of India under the British Raj.

Course Content:
UNIT 1: CONTEXT
1. Colonial Rule
2. Indian Renaissance
3. Freedom Struggle

UNIT 2: NON-FICTION PROSE I

 24

1. Raja Rammohun Roy: ‘Rights of Women to Property’

2. Swami Vivekananda: ‘My Life and Mission’
3. Mahatma Gandhi: Hind Swaraj

UNIT 3: NON-FICTION PROSE II

1. Rabindranath Tagore: ‘Nationalism’ from Sisir Kumar Das ed. The English Writings
of Rabindranath Tagore Vol. II, New Delhi Sahitya Akademi, 1996.
2. Sri Aurobindo, ‘Indian Culture and External Influence’ from Explorations: A
Selection of English Prose, Orient Blackswan, 2010

UNIT 4: POETRY
1. Michael Madhusudan Dutt: ‘Satan’
2. Toru Dutt: ‘The Lotus’, ‘Our Casuarina Tree’
3. Sri Aurobindo: ‘Revelation’
4. Sarojini Naidu: ‘The Queen’s Rival’, ‘Songs of Radha – Kanhaya’

UNIT 5: FICTION
1. Mulk Raj Anand: The Untouchable
2. R. K. Narayan: Swami and Friends

Scheme of examination: 5 questions of 10 marks each: 10 x 5 = 50

5 questions of 04 marks each: 04 x 5 = 20

Recommended Reading:

1. Abrams, M. H. and Stephen Greenblatt ed. The Norton Anthology of English

Literature Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 2000
2. Gokak, Vinayak Krishna, ed. Golden Treasury of Indo-Anglian Poetry, New Delhi;
Sahitya Akademi, 1970
3. King, Bruce. New National and Postcolonial Literatures: An Introduction. Oxford,
OUP, 1996
4. Iyengar, K. R. Srinivasa. Indian Writing in English, 1962. New Delhi: Sterling, 2001
5. Mehrotra, Arvind Krishna ed. A Concise History of Indian Literature in English,
Ranikhet: Permanent Black, 2008
6. Naik, M. K. A History of Indian English Literature 1982. New Delhi: Sahitya
Akademi, 2008
7. Naik, M. K. & Shyamala A. Narayan. Indian English Literature 1980 – 2000: A
Critical Survey. Delhi, Pencraft, 2007

E – 304 (C): GL: 6 credits

(Optional Paper A)
GENDER AND LITERATURE I

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this course is to introduce the students to the major movements
in Feminist, LGBT and Queer theories and the concurrent literary practices. Beginning with
early twentieth century attempts at gender theorisation, the course traces the developments
and various socio-political movements associated with it concluding with the Queer and the
LGBT. The chosen literary texts are representative and effectively display how the literary
 25

practices both arose from and contributed to the theorisation and social practices associated
with Gender as such. The course also attempts to accommodate the Indian perspective and
other minority voices to provide a glimpse into the broad variety of Gender movements
across the world.

COURSE OUTCOME: Since the chosen literary texts are representative and effectively
display how the literary practices both arose from and contributed to the theorisation and
social practices associated with Gender, this course contributes immensely towards a more
inclusive and dynamic understanding of Gender roles which is essential for a democratic and
liberal nation. The students also get familiarized with the Indian perspectives on Gender and
minority voices, having thereby a broad understanding of the variety of Gender movements
across the world.

Course Content:
UNIT I: THEORY

1. Virginia Woolf: A Room of One’s Own. Chapter V.

2. Simone de Beauvoir: The Second Sex (selected portions)
3. Kate Millett: Sexual Politics (selected portions)

UNIT II: THEORY

1. Juliet Mitchell: Psychoanalysis and Feminism (from Introduction)

2. Elaine Showalter: from “Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness”
3. Bell Hooks: “Postmodern Blackness”

[The prescribed portions from Virginia Woolf, Simone de Beauvoir, Kate Millett, Juliet
Mitchell, Bell Hooks, Elaine Showalter as well as the Judith Butler essay are to be found in
the Gilbert, S. & Gubar, S. (ed.) Feminist Literary Theory and Criticism: A Norton Reader.
New York: Norton, 2007]

UNIT III: FICTION

1. Kate Chopin: The Awakening

2. Margaret Atwood: The Edible Woman

UNIT IV: DRAMA

1. Henrik Ibsen: A Doll’s House

2. Eve Ensler: Vagina Monologues

UNIT V: POEMS & SHORT STORIES

1. Charlotte Perkins Gilman: “The Yellow Wallpaper”

2. Alice Munro: “Boys and Girls”
3. Maya Angelou: “Phenomenal Woman”
4. Nellie Wong: “When I was Growing Up”
 26

Scheme of examination: 5 questions of 10 marks each: 10 x 5 = 50

5 questions of 04 marks each: 04 x 5 = 20

Prescribed Texts:

1. Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. New York: Bantam Books, 1899.

2. Dattani, Mahesh. Collected Plays I. New Delhi: Penguin Books, 2005.
3. Gilbert, S. & Gubar, S. (ed.) Feminist Literary Theory and Criticism: A Norton
Reader. New York: Norton, 2007.
4. Tharu, Susie & K. Lalita. (ed.) Women Writing in India. Vol. II. New York: The
Feminist Press, 1993.
5. Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. New York: Pocket Books-Washington Square,
1982.
6. Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll's House. Ibsen: The Complete Major Prose Plays. (Trans. Rolf
Fjelde.) New York: New American Library, 1978.

Recommended Reading:

1. Butler, J. Gender Trouble. New York, London: Routledge, 1999.

2. de Beauvoir, S. The Second Sex. London: Vintage, 1997
3. Freedman, E. No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women.
New York: Ballantine Books, 2002
4. Eagleton, Mary. Ed. Feminist Literary Theory: A Reader. 3rd ed. West Sussex:
Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.
5. Mc. Cann, Carol R. et al. Ed. Feminist Theory Reader: Local and Global
Perspectives. New Delhi: Rawat Publications
6. Woolf, Viriginia. A Room of One's Own: and Three Guineas. New Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 1998.
7. Millett, Kate. Sexual Politics. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990.
8. Moi, Toril. Sexual/ Textual Politics. London and New York: Methuen, 1985.
9. Friedan, Betty. The Feminie Mystique. Norton, 2010.
10. Gilbert, Sandra M. and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic: the Woman Writer
and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. New Haven: Yale UP, 1979.

E-304 (C): LL: 6 credits

(Optional Paper B)
LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS

OBJECTIVE: The main objective of this course is to introduce the student to the basic tools
essential for a systematic study of language. While the course will include, under various
topics, an illustrative discussion of the specific features of English language, the multilingual
context of the classroom will also be kept in mind.

COURSE OTCOME: The students will have a greater command over the English Language
which will be of great help to them in whatever career path they choose to tread in the
future—academic as well as corporate.
 27

Course Content:

UNIT 1
Language: language and communication; properties of human language; language varieties:
standard and non-standard language, dialect, register, slang, pidgin, Creole; varieties of
English; language change

Texts Prescribed:

● Chapter 1: The spread of English

(as in Mesthrie, Rajend and Rakesh M Bhatt. 2008. World Englishes: The study of new
linguistic varieties. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.)
● Chapter 1: An instinct to acquire an art
● Chapter 2: Chatterboxes
● Chapter 3: Mentalese
(as in Pinker, Steven. 1994 The language instinct. Harmondsworth: Penguin.)

UNIT 2
Structuralism: Ferdinand de Saussure; synchronic and diachronic approaches; langue and
parole; sign, signifier, signified and semiology; syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations

Texts Prescribed:

● Introduction: Chapter 3
● Part I: Chapters 1 & 2
● Part II: Synchronic linguistics
● Part III: Diachronic linguistics
(as in de Saussure, Ferdinand. 1966. Course in general linguistics. New York: McGraw Hill.)

UNIT 3
Phonology: phoneme, classification of English speech sounds, suprasegmental features,
syllable, weak forms, intonation.

Texts Prescribed:

● Chapter 3 (as in Akmajian, A., R. A. Demers and R, M. Harnish, Linguistics: An

Introduction to Language and Communication, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT
Press, 1984; Indianedition, Prentice Hall, 1991).
● Chapters 2 (as in Fromkin, Victoria ed. 2000. Linguistics: An introduction to
linguistic theory. Malden, MA: Blackwell.)
● Chapters 3, 6 & 7 (as in Fromkin, V., and R. Rodman, An Introduction to Language,
2nd ed. (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1974).

UNIT 4
Morphology: morpheme, word, word classes, inflection, derivation, compounding, English
morphology, word formation.
 28

Texts Prescribed:

● Chapter 4 (as in Akmajian, A., R. A. Demers and R, M. Harnish, Linguistics: An

Introduction to Language and Communication, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT
Press, 1984; Indianedition, Prentice Hall, 1991).

UNIT 5
Syntax and semantics: categories and constituents, predicates and argument structure,
thematic roles, case; phrase structure; lexical meaning relations; implicature, entailment and
presupposition; maxims of conversation, speech act

Texts Prescribed:

● Chapters 5 & 6 (as in Akmajian, A., R. A. Demers and R, M. Harnish, Linguistics: An

Introduction to Language and Communication, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT
Press, 1984; Indianedition, Prentice Hall, 1991).
● Chapter 1: The empirical domain of semantics (as in Chierchia, Gennaro and Sally
McConnell-Ginet. 2000. Meaning and grammar: An introduction to semantics.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.)
● Chapter 1: Methodological preliminaries (as in Chomsky, Noam. 1965. Aspects of the
theory of syntax. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.)
● Chapters 4 & 5 (as in Fromkin, Victoria ed. 2000. Linguistics: An introduction to
linguistic theory. Malden, MA: Blackwell.)
● Chapters 4 & 5 (as in Fromkin, V., and R. Rodman, An Introduction to Language, 2nd
ed. (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1974).

Scheme of examination: 5 questions of 10 marks each: 10 x 5 = 50

5 questions of 04 marks each: 04 x 5 = 20

E – 304 (C): TS: 6 credits

(Optional Paper C)
TRANSLATION STUDIES I

OBJECTIVE: The course is designed to familiarize students with the theoretical concepts and
practice of translation in the western and eastern traditions and to help them to get exposure
to the dynamics of translation and enable them to understand the process of translation and
appreciate linguistic, cultural and philosophical issues involved in this process through the
study of some theoretical positions.

COURSE OUTCOME: The objective behind designing the was to familiarize them with the
theoretical concepts and practice of translation in the western and eastern traditions and to
help them to get exposure to the dynamics of translation and enable them to understand the
 29

process of translation and appreciate linguistic, cultural and philosophical issues involved in
this process through the study of some theoretical positions.
The outcome of the course can be measured by the fact that the objective was largely
achieved as the students offering this course:
1. Got familiarized to a large extent with both the theoretical concepts and the
practice of translation through their study of theoretical books and Indian literature in
translation.
2. Some of the students after M.A. pursued Ph. D / M. Phil. Research on subjects
related to translation.
3. Since in a multicultural and multilingual abode like India translation plays a
significant role in building bridges across cultures, the Translation Studies Course
helped/helps the students to play significant roles in mediating in intercultural
transactions.
4. Several students pursuing the course got engaged in various works, including
translating from one language to another and in content writing.
5. This course has also helped some alumni of the Department, who are engaged in
teaching, particularly in government schools where Hindi, Assamese and Bengali are
the medium of instructions, in imparting lessons in a more fruitful manner.

Course Content:

UNIT 1: TRANSLATION: CONCEPTS AND HISTORY

1. Development of the concept of translation and a brief history of translation theory

2. Concepts: Fidelity and Transparency; Relevance; Function and Reception; Formal
Equivalence and Dynamic Equivalence; Types of Translation; Loss and Gain:
Decoding and Recoding; Correspondence and Identity; Untranslatability; Translation
Shifts; Metaphors and Idioms in Translation; Transcription; Transliteration;
Transcreation; Translation and Ethics; Imitation, Adaptation and Parody, etc.

UNIT 2: THEORIES OF TRANSLATION II

1. Roman Jakobson (4.7)*

2. Jiri Levy (4.8)*
3. Eugene Nida (4.9)*

UNIT 3:

1. Kalidasa: Sakuntala (Sanskrit) (Trans. Romila Thapar)

2. Shudrak: Mricchakatika (Sanskrit) (The Little Clay Cart. Trans. Arthur William
Ryder)

UNIT 4:

1. Kabir’s Dohas (Dialect in Hindi)*

2. Mirza Ghalib: Wine of Passion :The Urdu Gajals of Ghalib* (Urdu) (Trans. Sarfaraz
K. Niazi)

UNIT 5:
 30

1. Rabindranath Tagore’s poems in translation from Song Offerings

(*Poems to be selected by teacher)

2. Rabindranath Tagore: Gora (Bengali) (trans. Sujit Mukherjee)

Texts Prescribed:

1. Bassnett, Susan: Translation Studies.

2. Choudhury, Sukanta. Translation and Understanding. Oxford University Press, 1999.
3. Mukherjee, Sujit. Translation as Discovery and Other Essays: On Indian Literature
in English Translation. Orient Longman, 1994.
4. Weissbort, Daniel & Astradur Eysteinsson (ed.) Translation – Theory and Practice: A
Historical Reader, OUP, 2006. (* Unit 2, 3, 4 & 5 starred Chapters selected from this
book)

Scheme of Examination: 5 questions of 10 marks each: 10 x 5 = 50

5 questions of 04 marks each: 04 x 5 = 20

Recommended reading:

1. Baker, Mona. Critical Readings in Translation Studies. London. Routledge. 2010

2. Bassnett, Susanand Andre Lefevere (Ed) Translation, History and Culture.
Continuum International Publishing Group. 1996
3. Bassnett, Susan and Harish Trivedi, eds. Post-Colonial Translation: Theory and
Practice (London & New York: Routledge. 1999.
4. Catford J. C.: A Linguistic Theory of Translation, London OUP, 1965.
5. Hatim, Basil and Jeremy Munday: Translation: An Advanced Resource Book,
Routledge, 2004.
6. Holmes, James (ed.): The Nature of Translation: Essays on the Theory and Practice
of Literary Translation, The Hague Mouton, 1970.
7. Jakobson, Roman (ed.): 'On Linguistic Aspects of Translation', in R. Brower (ed.) On
Translation, Cambridge Mass Harvard UP, 1959.
8. Kelly L. G. True Interpreter: A History of Translation Theory and Practice in the
West, Oxford, Blackwell, 1979.
9. Levy Jiri: 'Translation as a Decision Process' in To Honour Roman Jacobson II, The
Hauge, Mouton, pp. 1111-1182.
10. Nida, Eugene Anwar Dil, (ed.), Language Structure and Translation, Stanford
University Press, 1975.
11. Parks, Tim. Translating Style: A Literary Approach to Translation—A Translation
Approach to Literature, Manchester, St. Jerome, 2007.
12. Schulter, Rainer and John Biguenet, eds., Theories of Translation: An Anthology of
Essays from Dryden to Derrida. Chicago, 1992.
13. Steneir, George. After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation, OUP, London,
1975.
 31

14. Venuti, Lawrence (ed.) The Translation Studies Reader, 3rd Edn, Routledge, 2012

E – 304 (C): DIS I 6 credits

(Optional Paper D)
DISSERTATION I: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

OBJECTIVE: This course is designed to introduce to students some of the basic issues of
research; to focus on literary research and some of the research methods relevant to literary
research; to highlight on various skills and methodologies adopted in research; to prepare
students to be able to write a Research Proposal and a Research Report in the form of a
Dissertation.

COURSE OUTCOME: Students will be in the know of the basic methodological protocols
of research writing in English literature and allied disciplines. This will help them become
advanced researchers during M. Phil. and Ph. D. courses in the future.

Course Content:

UNIT 1: Research as a form of Exploration;

Research paper as a form of Communication (Clarity of Expression);
Selecting a Topic for Research;
Conducting Research;
Compiling a Working Bibliography;
Taking Notes

UNIT 2: Introduction to Literary Research;

Introduction to Research Methods, Methodology and Skill
Nature of the Research Project – historical, comparative, descriptive,
interdisciplinary

UNIT 3: Correlation of Theory and application

UNIT 4: Library Work;

Collection of Study Material;
Analysis of Study Material;
Plagiarism

UNIT 5: Mechanics of Writing;

The Format of the Research Paper;
Documentation: Preparing the List of Works Cited;
Documentation: Citing Sources in the Text

Texts/ Books Prescribed:

 32

1. Raju, Anand Kumar. American, British and Commonwealth Literature: A Guide to

Research from Explorations to Publication. New Delhi: Affiiated East-West Press
Pvt. Ltd., 1990. Print.
2. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (Seventh Edition). New Delhi:
Affiiated East-West Press Pvt. Ltd., 2009. Print.
3. Eliot, Simon and W.R. Owen, Handbook to Literary Research. Routledge, 1998
4. Gabrielle Griffin, ed., Research Methods for English Studies, Jaipur: Rawat
Publications, 2005

Scheme of Examination:
Compulsory Home Assignment Topic may be ‘Writing a Research Proposal’ [Area to be
decided by the Department]
5 questions of 10 marks each: 10 x 5 = 50
5 questions of 04 marks each: 04 x 5 = 20

E – 304 (C) MLC: 6 credits

(Optional Paper E)
MODERN LITERARY CLASSICS I

OBJECTIVE: This course has been designed to introduce the students to the dynamically and
heterogeneous nature of modern World literature by providing the learners exposure to a few
seminal literary texts (in English translation) by prominent litterateurs. It has been designed
to examine the fundamental ontological assumptions/notions about modernity, a
critical/ideological positioning about the term modern and its implication/s.

COURSE OUTCOME: After taking the course, the students would be able to develop
perception about a range of theoretical discourses associated with modernism, interrogate
conventional and canonical conceptions of what, when, why and how modernism was (and/or
is) through an appreciation of principles and prescribed texts.

Course Content:
UNIT 1: POETRY

1. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: ‘To the Distant One’ (An die Entfernte); ‘The Dance
of the Dead’ (Der Todtentanz)

2. Charles Pierre Baudelaire: ‘The Carcass’ (Une Charogne); ‘To A Woman of Malabar’
(À une Malabaraise)
3. Rainer Maria Rilke: ‘Encounter in the Chestnut Avenue’ (Rencontre Dans L'Avenue
De Châtaigne); ‘In the Beginning’; ‘The Panther’ (Der Panther)

UNIT 2: DRAMA I
 33

1. Henrik Ibsen: The Wild Duck

2. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov: The Cherry Orchard (Vishnevyi sad)

UNIT 3: DRAMA II

1. Bertolt Brecht: Mother Courage and Her Children (Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder)
2. Dario Fo: Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Morte accidentale di un anarchico)

UNIT 4: FICTION I

1. Franz Kafka: The Trial

2. Leo Tolstoy: Anna Karenina

UNIT 5: FICTION II

1. Honoré de Balzac: ‘Sarrasine’

2. Guy de Maupassant: ‘Two Little Soldiers’
3. Jorge Luis Borges: ‘The Garden of the Forking Paths’’

Scheme of examination: 5 questions of 10 marks each: 10 x 5 = 50

5 questions of 04 marks each: 04 x 5 = 20

Recommended reading:

1. Ardis, Ann L. Modernism and Cultural Conflict 1880—1922. Cambridge: CUP, 2002.
2. Bassanese, Fiora A. et.al. (ed.), Understanding Luigi Pirandello, University of South
Carolina Press, 1997
3. Benoit-Dusaosay and Guy Fontaine (ed.). History of European Literature. London:
Routledge, 2000.
4. Bradbury, Malcolm and James McFarlane (ed.). A Guide to European Literature 1890
– 1930. London:Penguin Books, 1991.
5. Childs, Peter. Modernism. London: Routledge, 2000.
6. Everdell, William R. The First Moderns: Profiles of the Origins of Twentieth Century
Thought. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.
7. Golding, William Charles Baudelaire Infobase Publishing, 1987.
8. Hobsbawm, Eric. Fractured Times: Culture and Society in Twentieth Century Europe.
London: Little Brown, 2013.
9. Morell, J. R. A History of European Literature. Oxford: OUP, 2006.

10. Poplawski, Paul (ed.) Encyclopedia of Literary Modernism, Westport: Greenwood

Press, 2003.
 34

11. Symons, Arthur. The Symbolist Movement in Literature Independent Publishing

Platform, 2014.
12. Travels, Martin. An Introduction to Modern European Literature: From Romanticism
to Postmodernism. New York: Macmillan, 1998.
13. Weiss, Beno. Understanding Italo Calvino, University of South Carolina Press, 1993

Course E – 305 (C) AL I: 6 credits

AMERICAN LITERATURE I: UP TO 1900

OBJECTIVE: This course has been designed to provide the students with a historical
perspective of the development of American literature from the Pre-Colombian period up to
1900. This would enable them to view/review the growth of American literature as a
discipline in relation to its context. The ‘canon’ has been shifted to give space to the
indigenous, multicultural and multiethnic voices and texts selected for study are to be studied
both diachronically and synchronically in relation to their respective contexts as well as to
their broader milieu.

COURSE OUTCOME: Upon the successful completion of this course, the learners should
be able to read and comprehend the literature of the United States of America from the
indigenous oral literatures and cultures before the European contact up to the nineteenth
century. The exposure to American writers of diverse backgrounds (race, class, gender,
ethnicity) and the placement of each text in its historical, cultural, rhetorical and political
contexts should enable them to interpret and analyse the various literary forms and examine
the written manifestations of a range of key ideas, representative authors and texts, significant
historical or cultural events, and characteristic perspectives or attitudes expressed in the
literature of different periods or regions.

Course Content:

UNIT 1: THE CULTURAL CONTEXT

1.1 Native American worldview

1.2 The European contact,

1.3 American Revolution and Independence

1.4 American Civil War and Emancipation

1.5 Westward migration

UNIT 2: POETRY

2.1 Phyllis Wheatley: On Being Brought from Africa to America

2.2 Edgar Allan Poe: The Raven

 35

2.3 Walt Whitman: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d

2.4 Emily Dickinson: [The Soul selects her own Society - ], [Because I could not stop
for Death - ]

2.5 Paul Laurence Dunbar: We Wear the Mask

UNIT 3: FICTION I

3.1 James Fenimore Cooper: The Last of the Mohicans

3.2 Mark Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

UNIT 4: FICTION II

4.1 Herman Melville: Moby Dick

4.2 Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter

UNIT 5: NON-FICTION

5.1 Ralph Waldo Emerson: Nature

5.2 Frederick Douglass: ‘What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?’

5.3 Zitkala Sa (Gertrude Simmons Bonnin): Chapters I, II, IV and VII from
Impressions of an Indian Childhood

5.4 Frederick Jackson Turner: from The Significance of the Frontier in American
History (extractin The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Volume C:
American Literature 1865-1914)

5.5 Helen Hunt Jackson: Chapter VI from A Century of Dishonour

Scheme of examination: 5 questions of 10 marks each: 10 x 5 = 50

5 questions of 04 marks each: 04 x 5 = 20

Texts prescribed:

Baym, Nina, Wayne Franklin, Philip F. Gura and Arnold Krupat (editors). The Norton
Anthology of American Literature,Vol A: American Literature Beginnings to 1820,
Seventh Edition, New York: W.W. Norton, 2007.

Baym, Nina, Arnold Krupat and Robert S. Levine (editors). The Norton Anthology of
American Literature, Vol B: American Literature 1820-1865, Seventh Edition, New
York: W.W. Norton, 2007.
 36

Baym, Nina, Arnold Krupat and Jeanne Campbell Reesman (editors). The Norton
Anthology of American Literature, Volume C: American Literature 1865-1914,
Seventh Edition, New York: W.W. Norton, 2007.

Gates, Henry Louis and Nellie Y McKay (editors). The Norton Anthology of African
American Literature, Second Edition, New York: W.W. Norton, 2004.

Kearns, Frances E. Black Identity: A Thematic Reader. New York: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, 1970.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FOURTH SEMESTER

E – 401 (C) ELTC: 6 credits

ENGLISH LITERATURE: THE TWENTIETH CENTURY (POST 1945)

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this course is to make the students understand the shift from the
modern to the postmodern in English literature. The emphasis will be on highlighting the idea
that the postmodern is both a continuation and a reversal of the modern, and that it is still
emerging.

COURSE OUTCOME: After taking the course, the students would be able to develop
perception about a range of theoretical discourses associated with postmodernism especially
as reflected in the British literature post 1945. They will be able to interrogate conventional
and canonical conceptions of what, when, why and how modernism was (and/or is) through
an appreciation of principles and prescribed texts.

Course Content:
UNIT 1: POETRY
1. Philip Larkin: ‘Whitsun Weddings’, ‘Çhurch Going’
2. Ted Hughes: ‘Hawk in the Rain’, ‘Thrushes’, ‘Pike’
3. Thom Gunn: ‘My Sad Captains’, ‘Faustus Triumphant’

UNIT 2: FICTION I
1. Graham Greene: The Heart of the Matter
2. William Golding: Lord of the Flies

UNIT 3: FICTION II
1. John Fowles: The French Lieutenant’s Woman
2. Dorris Lessing: The Golden Notebook

UNIT 4: DRAMA I
1. Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot
 37

2. Harold Pinter: Old Times

UNIT 5: DRAMA II
1. John Osborne: Look Back in Anger
2. Tom Stoppard: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Scheme of Examination: 5 questions of 10 marks each 10 x 5 = 50

5 questions of 04 marks each 04 x 5 = 20

Recommended Reading:

1. Sinfield, Alan Literature, Politics and Culture in Post-War Britain, London, 1989
2. Bradbury, Malcolm The Modern British Novel, OUP, 1993
3. Corcoran, Neil English Poetry since 1940, Longman, 1993
4. Bigsby, C. W. F. Contemporary British Drama, 1981
5. Hayman, Ronald, British Theatre since 1955: A Reassessment, OUP, 1979
6. Morrison, Blake The Movement: English Poetry and Fiction of the 1950s, OUP, 1980

Course E – 402 (C) AL II 6 credits

AMERICAN LITERATURE II
OBJECTIVE: This course has been designed to familiarize the students with the
development of American literature from 1900 to the present. The ‘canon’ has been expanded
to accommodate texts that are to be studied both diachronically and synchronically to enable
the students to critically review the multiculturalism of the twentieth century American
society and culture. Studied in successive semesters, the two courses on American literatures,
Courses 305 and 402 have been designed to highlight the major periods in American
literature, with the focus on each period’s relevance and impact on American societal and
cultural issues, as well as the significant contributions of specific authors to the canon and
tradition.
COURSE OUTCOME: Upon the successful completion of this course, the learners should
be able to discuss the strengths, limitations, and cultural assumptions of various literary forms
practiced in America through the twentieth century. They should be able to examine the
historical, cultural, and rhetorical contexts of the different texts and evaluate the issues,
conflicts, preoccupations, and themes of the multicultural literatures of the contemporary
America. The learners should be able to develop knowledge of the literary works as
expressions of individual or communal values within the social, political, cultural, and/or
religious contexts of the different literary periods and be able to write research-based critique
of the aesthetic principles that guide the scope and variety of the preoccupations and
experiences of the peoples creating and recreating the American society, culture and literature
using various critical approaches to literature.

Course Content:
UNIT 1: POETRY
1.1 Robert Frost: ‘The Road Not Taken’, ‘Once by the Pacific’
 38

1.2 Langston Hughes: ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’, ‘I, Too’

1.3 Sylvia Plath: ‘Daddy’, ‘Words’
1.4 Maya Angelou: ‘Still I Rise’
1.5 Sherman Alexie: ‘Crow Testament’
UNIT 2: FICTION I
2.1 Ernest Hemingway: ‘The Snows of Kilimanjaro’
2.2 Alice Walker: ‘Everyday Use’
2.3 Leslie Marmon Silko: ‘Lullaby’
UNIT 3: FICTION II
3.1. F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby
3.2 Ralph Ellison: Invisible Man
UNIT 4: FICTION III
4.1 N. Scott Momaday: House Made of Dawn
4.2 Toni Morrison: Paradise
UNIT 5: DRAMA
5.1 Tennessee Williams: A Streetcar Named Desire
5.2 Arthur Miller: Death of a Salesman

Scheme of examination: 5 questions of 10 marks each: 10 x 5 = 50

5 questions of 04 marks each: 04 x 5 = 20

Texts prescribed:

Baym, Nina, Arnold Krupat and Jeanne Campbell Reesman (editors). The Norton Anthology
of American Literature, Volume C: American Literature 1865-1914, Seventh Edition, New
York: W.W. Norton, 2007.

Baym, Nina, Jerome Klinkowitz, Arnold Krupat, Mary Loeffelholz and Patricia B. Wallace
(editors). The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Vol D: American Literature 1914-
1945, Seventh Edition, New York: W.W. Norton, 2007.
 39

Baym, Nina, Jerome Klinkowitz, Arnold Krupat and Patricia B.Wallace (editors). The Norton
Anthology of American Literature: Volume E: American Literature since 1945, Seventh
Edition, New York: W.W. Norton, 2007.

Gates, Henry Louis and Nellie Y McKay (editors). The Norton Anthology of African
American Literature, Second Edition, New York: W.W. Norton, 2004.

Kearns, Frances E. Black Identity: A Thematic Reader. New York: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, 1970.

E – 403 (C) ILE II: 6 credits

INDIAN LITERATURE IN ENGLISH II

OBJECTIVE: This course seeks to introduce the rich gamut of Indian literature written in
English after the independence of the country from British rule. Selected texts would mainly
focus on the re-formation of India in the changed socio-political-economic-cultural aspects in
the twentieth century. Texts would be explored as sites of exchange between the self and the
other, which is crucial to all processes of self-fashioning or subject formation.

COURSE OUTCOME: Students will have a wide understanding about the re-formation of
India in the changed socio-political-economic-cultural aspects in the twentieth century. This
paper also will focus on narratives that interweave into their texture issues like colonialism,
nationalism, subject formation, identity, hybridity, mimcry, ambivalence and diaspora etc.
They will have a deep understanding of certain key issues like colonialism, nationalism and
citizenship, subject formation, identity, hybridity, mimicry, ambivalence and diaspora vis a
vis the re-formation of India after the colonial rule.

Course Content:
UNIT 1: NON-FICTION PROSE

1. Nirad C. Choudhuri: selection from The Autobiography of An Unknown Indian

2. Amartya Sen: ‘More than 100 Million Women are Missing’

UNIT 2: POETRY

1. Nissim Ezekiel: ‘Enterprise’; ‘Night of the Scorpion’

2. Kamala Das: ‘My Grandmother’s House’; ‘The Looking-glass’
3. Jayanta Mahapatra: ‘Indian Summer’
4. K. Ramanujan: ‘Looking for a Cousin on a Swing’; ‘Of Mothers’; ‘Among Other
Things’

UNIT 3: FICTION I

1. Anita Desai: Cry, The Peacock

 40

2. Arundhati Roy: The God of Small Things

UNIT 4: FICTION II

1. Salman Rushdie: Midnight’s Children

2. Amitav Ghosh: The Hungry Tide

UNIT 5: DRAMA

1. Girish Karnad: The Fire and the Rain

2. Mahesh Dattani: Thirty Days in September

Texts Prescribed:

1. Parthasarathy, R. (ed.) Ten Twentieth Century Indian Poets. Delhi: OUP, 1976.
2. Sen, Sudeep, The HarperCollins Book of English Poetry by Indians, Harper Collins,
2011.

Scheme of examination: 5 questions of 10 marks each: 10 x 5 = 50

5 questions of 04 marks each: 04 x 5 = 20

Recommended reading:

1. Abrams, M.H. and Stephen Greenblatt. Ed. The Norton Anthology of English
Literature. Vol 2. New York: Norton, 2000.
2. King, Bruce. New National and Postcolonial Literatures: An Introduction. Oxford:
OUP,1996.
3. Iyengar, K.R. Srinivasa. Indian Writing in English. 1962. New Delhi: Sterling, 2001.
4. Mehrotra, Arvind Krishna, ed. A Concise History of Indian Literature in English.
Ranikhet: Permanent Black, 2008.
5. Naik, M.K. A History of Indian English Literature.1982. New Delhi: Sahitya
Akademi, 2008.
6. Naik, M.K & Shyamala A. Narayan. Indian English Literature 1980—2000: A
Critical Survey. Delhi: Pencraft, 2007.
7. Patke, Rajeev S. Postcolonial Poetry in English. New Delhi: OUP,2007.
8. Thieme, John. The Arnold Anthology of Post-Colonial Literatures in English.
London: Arnold, 1996.

E – 404 (C): GL: 6 credits

(Optional Paper A)
GENDER AND LITERATURE II

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this course is to introduce the students to the major movements
in feminist theory and the concurrent literary practices. Beginning with early twentieth
 41

century attempts at gender theorisation, the course traces the developments and various socio-
political movements associated with it concluding with the Queer and the LGBT.

COURSE OUTCOME: Since the chosen literary texts are representative and effectively
display how the literary practices both arose from and contributed to the theorisation and
social practices associated with Gender, this course contributes immensely towards a more
inclusive and dynamic understanding of Gender roles which is essential for a democratic and
liberal nation. The students also get familiarized with the Indian perspectives on Gender and
minority voices, having thereby a broad understanding of the variety of Gender movements
across the world.

Course Content:
UNIT I: THEORY

1. Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick: “Epistemology of the Closet”

2. Judith Butler: “Imitation and Gender Subordination”
3. Annamarie Jagose: Chapter 7, Queer Theory
UNIT II: THEORY

1. Chandra Talpade Mohanty: “Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory,

Practicing Solidarity” from Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial
Discourse
2. Susie Tharu: Indian Women’s Writing, Vol. II (Introduction by the editor)
3. Bhaswati Chakraborty: “Rights of the Third Gender: Problems of Identity and
Recognition” from The Phobic and the Erotic: The Politics of Sexualities in
Contemporary India ed. Brinda Bose and Subhabrata Bhattacharya, Seagull, 2007:
Calcutta
[The prescribed portions from Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Judith Butler and Chandra Talpade
Mohanty are to be found in the Gilbert, S. & Gubar, S. (ed.) Feminist Literary Theory and
Criticism: A Norton Reader. New York: Norton, 2007]

UNIT III: FICTION

1. Sylvia Plath: The Bell Jar

2. Alice Walker: The Color Purple
UNIT IV: DRAMA

1. Vijay Tendulkar: A Friend’s Story

2. Mahesh Dattani: On a Muggy Night in Mumbai

UNIT V: POEMS & SHORT STORIES

1. Rokeya Sakhwat Hossain: “Sultana’s Dream”

2. Adrienne Rich: “Rape”
3. Kamala Das: “An Introduction”
4. Revathi, “A Hijra’s Own Story” from Arvind Narrain and Gautan Bhan eds., Because
I Have a Voice: Queer Politics in India, New Delhi: Yoda Press, 2005

Recommended Reading:
 42

1. Butler, J. Gender Trouble. New York, London: Routledge, 1999.

2. de Beauvoir, S. The Second Sex. London: Vintage, 1997
3. Freedman, E. No Turning Back: The History of Feminism and the Future of Women.
New York: Ballantine Books, 2002
4. Eagleton, Mary. Ed. Feminist Literary Theory: A Reader. 3rd ed. West Sussex:
Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.
5. Mc. Cann, Carol R. et al. Ed. Feminist Theory Reader: Local and Global
Perspectives. New Delhi: Rawat Publications
6. Woolf, Viriginia. A Room of One's Own: and Three Guineas. New Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 1998.
7. Millett, Kate. Sexual Politics. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990.
8. Moi, Toril. Sexual/ Textual Politics. London and New York: Methuen, 1985.
9. Friedan, Betty. The Feminie Mystique. Norton, 2010.
10. Gilbert, Sandra M. and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic: the Woman Writer
and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. New Haven: Yale UP, 1979.

E – 404 (C): ELT CP: 6 credits

(Optional Paper B)
ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING: CURRENT PRACTICES

OBJECTIVE: The course intends to give students an insight into the current approaches, issues
and practices in ELT within tertiary educational institutions where English is taught as a
‘second’ language or a ‘foreign’ language.

COURSE OUTCOME: This exposure is expected to enhance the students’ understanding of

both the drawbacks of the traditional methods and approaches of ELT and the advantages of
the ‘learner-centred’ methodological innovations like multiple intelligences, learner strategy
training, and cooperative learning.

Course Content:
UNIT 1: BACKGROUND AND ORIENTATION

1. ELT: A brief historical overview

2. The role of ELT in a changing Global Scenario: The emergence of new paradigms
3. ELT in the ‘Post-Method’ Era: Implications for the language teacher, the learner and
the teaching-learning process.

UNIT 2:

1. Introduction and historical background

2. Principles underlying the procedure in CLT
3. Classroom techniques and Materials: Use of Information gaps, role play, games, and
authentic materials
4. Advantages and disadvantages
 43

UNIT 3:

1. The notion of Participatory Instruction: Introduction and history

2. Content-Based Instruction
3. Task-Based Instruction

UNIT 4:

1. Cooperative Learning
2. Developing Learner Strategies
a. Listening Strategies through verbal reports
b. Tackling Reading Strategy related problems of weak learners
3. Multiple Intelligences

UNIT 5:

1. Computer-Aided Language Learning

2. The Internet for English Language Teaching

Scheme of examination: 5 (Five) essay type questions (one from each unit): 15 x 5 = 75

Recommended reading:

1. Brumfit, C. J., and K. Johnson. The Communicative Approach to Language Teaching.

Oxford: Oxford U P, 1979.
2. Larsen-Freeman, D. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford U P,
2004.
3. Richards, J. C., and T. S. Rodgers. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching.
Cambridge, Mass: Cambridge U P, 1986.
4. Richards, J. C., and Willy A. Renandya. Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology
of Current Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge U P, 2002.

E – 404 (C): IWET: 6 credits

(Optional Paper C)
TRANSLATION STUDIES II

OBJECTIVES: Emerging out of the context of a vast social, political, economic and cultural
diversity, Indian literature is one of the richest literatures in the world. The course has been
designed to introduce the students to the multicultural tradition of Indian literature down the
ages through the study of some important texts from different Indian languages as available
in English translation.
 44

COURSE OUTCOME: The objective behind designing the was to familiarize them with the
theoretical concepts and practice of translation in the western and eastern traditions and to
help them to get exposure to the dynamics of translation and enable them to understand the
process of translation and appreciate linguistic, cultural and philosophical issues involved in
this process through the study of some theoretical positions.
The outcome of the course can be measured by the fact that the objective was largely
achieved as the students offering this course:
1. Got familiarized to a large extent with both the theoretical concepts and the
practice of translation through their study of theoretical books and Indian literature in
translation.
2. Some of the students after MA pursued PhD/MPhil Research on subjects related
to translation.
3. Since in a multicultural and multilingual abode like India translation plays a
significant role in building bridges across cultures, the Translation Studies Course
helped/helps the students to play significant roles in mediating in intercultural
transactions.
4. Several students pursuing the course got engaged in various works, including
translating from one language to another and in content writing.
5. This course has also helped some alumni of the Department, who are engaged in
teaching, particularly in government schools where Hindi, Assamese and Bengali are
the medium of instructions, in imparting lessons in a more fruitful manner.

Course Content:

UNIT 1: THEORIES OF TRANSLATION III

1. Walter Benjamin (4.4)*

2. George Steiner (5.2)*
3. Andre Lefevere (5.5)*

UNIT 2: THEORIES OF TRANSLATION: INDIAN PERSPECTIVE

1. K. Ramanujan (5.10)*
2. Sujit Mukherjee (Translation as Discovery and Other Essays: On Indian Literature in
English Translation, Paperback, Orient Longman. 1994.) Chapters: 6 and 10
3. Sukanta Choudhury (Selections from Translation and Understanding, Oxford
University Press, 1999) Chapters: 3 and 4

UNIT 3: DRAMA II
1. Badal Sarkar: Evam Indrajit: Three Act Play. (Bengali) (trans. Girish Karnad)
2. Vijay Tendulkar: Kamala (Marathi) (as in Five Plays, trans. Priya Adarkar)

UNIT 4: FICTION I
3. Bhisham Sahani: Tamas (Hindi) (trans. By self)
4. “Wake up Call”, “Ashraf Ali’s Homeland”, “Fire” from Barbed Wire Fences

UNIT 5: FICTION II
1. Mahasweta Devi: ‘The Breast Giver’ (Bengali) (trans. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak)
 45

2. Saurabh Kumar Chaliha: ‘The Jasmine Bower’ (Assamese)*

3. S. K. Pottekkat: ‘On the River Bank’ (Malayalam)*
4. Kishori Charan Das: ‘Death of an Indian’ (Oriya)*

(* as in Contemporary Indian Short Stories. Series III. Sahitya Akademi. 2009 reprint)

Texts Prescribed:

1. Contemporary Indian Short Stories. Series III. Sahitya Akademi. 2009 reprint.

Scheme of examination: 5 questions of 10 marks each: 10 x 5 = 50

5 questions of 04 marks each: 04 x 5 = 20

Recommended Reading:

1. Ahmed Aijaz. Indian Literature –Notes Towards a Definition of Category. London:

Verso, 1992
2. Das, Sisir Kumar. A History of Indian Literature: 1800 – 1910: Western Impact,
Indian Response. Sahitya Akademi, 2005
3. Dharwadker, Vinay and A. K. Ramanujan (eds.) ‘Modern Indian Poetry and Its
Contexts’, The Oxford Anthology of Modern Indian Poetry
4. France, Peter ed. The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation. London,
OUP, 2000
5. Mukherjee, Sujit. Translation as Discovery. Hyderabad, Orient Longman, 1994
6. Mukherjee, Sujit, Translation as Recovery, Pencreft International, 2004

E - 404 (C): DIS II: 6 credits

(Optional Paper D)
DISSERTATION II

(Currently not offered due to certain limitations)

E – 404 (C) MLC: 6 credits

(Optional Paper E)
MODERN LITERARY CLASSICS II

OBJECTIVE: This course has been designed to introduce the students to the dynamically and
heterogeneous nature of modern European literature by providing the learners exposure to a
few seminal literary texts (in English translation) by prominent litterateurs. It has been
designed to examine the fundamental ontological assumptions/notions about modernity, a
critical/ideological positioning about the term modern and its implication/s.
 46

COURSE OUTCOME: After taking the course, the students would be able to develop
perception about a range of theoretical discourses associated with modernism, interrogate
conventional and canonical conceptions of what, when, why and how modernism was (and/or
is) through an appreciation of principles and prescribed texts.

Course Content:
UNIT 1: POETRY

1. Vladimir Mayakovsky: “My Soviet Passport”, “Past One O’Clock”

2. Pablo Neruda: Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair (Two poems to be selected
by the course teacher)
3. Federico Garcia Lorca: ‘Ode to Salvador Dali’
4. Czeslaw Milosz: ‘It was Winter’

UNIT 2: DRAMA I

1. Luigi Pirandello: Six Characters In Search of an Author (Sei personaggi in cerca

d'autore)
2. Eugene Ionesco: Rhinoceros
UNIT 3: FICTION I

1. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky: Crime and Punishment

2. Albert Camus: The Plague (La Peste)

UNIT 4: FICTION II

1. Gabriel Garcia Marquez: One Hundred Years of Solitude

2. Haruki Murakami: A Wild Sheep Chase
UNIT 5: FICTION III

1. Orhan Pamuk: My Name is Red

2. Naguib Mahfouz: Palace Walk
Scheme of examination: 5 questions of 10 marks each: 10 x 5 = 50

5 questions of 04 marks each: 04 x 5 = 20

E – 405 (C) PL: 6 credits

POSTCOLONIAL LITERATURES IN ENGLISH

OBJECTIVE: This course aims at introducing to the students the literatures written in English
from the erstwhile British colonies. Along with suitably selected texts to this effect, it also
takes note of the shifting horizons of postcolonial literatures. This is proposed to be done by
taking into consideration key-concepts like colonialism, nationalism, subject formation,
identity, hybridity, mimicry, ambivalence and diaspora. The choice of texts, both theoretical
and literary, is indicative rather than exhaustive. The texts chosen here highlight
Postcolonialism rather as a uniting theme, and do not necessarily reflect a historical
continuity or geographical contiguity.
 47

COURSE OUTCOME: After taking this course, the students become familiar with the
major trends in postcolonial representations from countries and continents as diverse as
Africa, Australia and Canada. In addition, they get practical insights into leading human
concerns of our times by way of understanding key issues like colonialism, nationalism and
citizenship, subject formation, identity, hybridity, mimicry, ambivalence and diaspora as well
as the condition of women in the postcolonial spaces spread across the globe.

Course Content:
UNIT 1: CONTEXT

1. Chinua Achebe “The Novelist as Teacher”

2. Ngugi Wa Thiongo: “On Abolition of the English Department”
3. David Malouf: Remembering Babylon

UNIT 2: POETRY

1. Leopold Sedar Senghor, ‘New York’

2. A. D. Hope: ‘Australia’, ‘Death of a Bird’
3. Margaret Atwood: ‘Progressive insanities of a Pioneer’
4. Derek Walcott, ‘Far Cry from Africa’
5.
UNIT 3: FICTION I

1. Ngugi Wa Thiongo: The Devil on the Cross

2. Nadine Gordimer: July’s People

UNIT 4: FICTION II

1. V.S. Naipaul: The Mimic Men

2. Sally Morgan: My Place

UNIT 5: DRAMA

1. Wole Soyinka : The Lion and the Jewel

2. George Ryga: The Ecstasy of Rita Joe

Texts Prescribed:

1. Narasimhaiah, C.D. An Anthology of Commonwealth Poetry. Chennai: Macmillan,

1990.

2. The Novels and Plays as detailed in the contents above.

Scheme of examination: 5 questions of 10 marks each: 10 x 5 = 50

5 questions of 04 marks each: 04 x 5 = 20

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Recommended reading:

1. Boehmer, Elleke. Colonial and Postcolonial Literatures. New Delhi: OUP, 2005.
2. King, Bruce. New National and Postcolonial Literatures: An Introduction. Oxford:
OUP, 1996.
3. Loomba, Ania. Colonialism/Postcolonialism. 2nd ed. Oxon: Routledge, 2005.
4. Loomba, Ania, et al, ed. Postcolonial Studies and Beyond. Durham: Duke UP, 2005.
5. McLeod, John. Beginning Postcolonialism. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2007.
6. Patke, Rajeev S. Postcolonial Poetry in English. New Delhi: OUP, 2007.
7. Said, Edward. Culture and Imperialism. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993.
8. Said, Edward. Orientalism. 1978. New Delhi: Penguin, 2001.
9. Said, Edward. Reflections on Exile. New Delhi: Penguin, 2001.
10. Thieme, John. The Arnold Anthology of Post-Colonial Literatures in English.
London: Arnold, 1996.
11. Walsh, William. Readings in Commonwealth Literature. Oxford: OUP, 1973.

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