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UGC Approved Journal Serial No. 2585, Journal No. 44762 PRAGATI EDUCATIONAL COUNCIL H.O. Jalandhar City (Registered at Chandigarh in 1988 under the act XXI 1860) PRAGATI'S Pragati's English Journal is a house-journal of the Pragati Educational Council. It is published in June and December every year. ENGLISH JOURNAL ISSN 0975-4091 Editor : Dr. N. K. Neb Editorial Advisory Board : Dr. Gurupdesh Singh : Dr. Kulbhushan Kushal Editorial Advisory Board : Dr. Gurupdesh Singh : Dr. Monika Sethi (Former ) Prof. of English, G.N.D. University, Amritsar All correspondence pertaining to subscription/publicity should be addressed to the General Secretary Pragati Educational Council at Dr. Kulbhushan Kushal Dr. Monika Sethi the following address : Education Advisor Prof. of English Reliance Foundation Jammu University Jammu 61/75A–Garden Colony, Jalandhar City 144 003. (Former) Regional Director Subscription : DAV Institutions (For individuals) Maharashtra & Gujrat. Per copy (Postage extra) : Rs. 250/– $ 6 Annual : Rs. 450/– $ 12 (For institutions) website:www.englishjournal.in Per Copy : Rs. 300/– $14 Annual : Rs. 600 /– $ 26 Payments should be made through a bank draft or a money order Vol. 17 No. I June 2017 in favour of Pragati Educational Council, Jalandhar. Typesetting : Printed by : Opinions expressed by Contributors are not necessarily those Krishna Lazer Graphics Paper Offset Printers Jalandhar. Jalandhar. of the editors. Contents Editorial An Exploration of Jhumpa Lahiri’s Dr. N. K. Neb 1 These days much emphasis is given to the communicative aspect Fictional Art in Interpreter of Maladies of language, particularly that of English language. It appears as if the only purpose of English language now is to communicate with others in whatever way you can and whatever utterances you are able to Freudian Reading of Franz Kafka’s Dr. Ajoy Batta 12 produce to communicate your ideas. A careful study of this phenomenon “A Country Doctor” reveals the factors that have resulted in such an understanding of language and language use. First of all, this understanding is the result Uncensoring the Censored : Dr. Shivani Vashist 20 of a postmodernist cultural imperative where the advanced capital A Critique of Chugtai’s and orientation has brought the people from different places close to one Manto’s Controversial Short Stories another and they have to communicate in some common language that can serve the purpose. Another important reason for the acceptance of Gender and the Cityscape : Dr.Rimika Singhvi 28 only the communicative aspect of language in contemporary Indian Re-negotiating Space in Patricia society, we may agree or not, is the Indian people’s constant outflow McCormick’s Sold and Madhur to the countries where they have to converse in English. These and the Bhandarkar’s Chandni Bar other factors like the belief that the one who fluently speaks English is modern, well educated and hence respected add to the value awarded Dalit Representation and Reality Dr. Geeta Goyal 37 to the communicative aspect of English language. Apart from this, the in Omprakash Valmiki’s Joothan setback received by the modernist thought of standardization of culture, Postcolonial Reconstruction of the Dr. Narinder K. Sharma 43 literature and language has also contributed to the emergence of a Ambivalent Diasporic Space : postmodernist rejection of standardization of things in the name of An Assessment universalization suppressing multiplicity of possibilities. Young learners are often encouraged to communicate in English Girish Karnad’s Tughlaq : Disha 53 without bothering about the grammatical correctness of language. Revisiting History in Sometimes they are prompted to learn the things to clear their IELTs Postcolonial India tests only. Despite the value of such a learning that serves specific purposes, we must keep in mind that all the learners are not to go Vindication of Feminism in Rajan Kapoor 66 abroad. Moreover, even the illiterate do manage to communicate in a Durrani's My Feudal Lord foreign land by a simple imitative learning of certain expressions. Shifting Identity on the Fiction Rekha Rani 74 There are the others who regret that our young learners fail to of Anita Desai Special Study - communicate in English and fail miserably in interviews. They propagate Cry the Peacock introduction of specific expressions in the syllabi so that the students learn to pronounce a few words correctly. Some time a small list of Feminist Perspective of Varinder Kaur 78 words is prescribed in their syllabus so that they learn at least a few Mulk Raj Anand’s Gauri words. Instead of adding to their learning such an exercise rather limits their scope for learning. They mug up the correct pronunciation of the Poems Dr. Kulbhushan Kaushal 83 words prescribed and do well in the examination without learning anything. Moreover, they are not supposed to use only the words An Exploration of Jhumpa Lahiri's Fictional Art in prescribed in their syllabus. Interpreter of Maladies Language is not merely speech. An effective approach to the Dr. N. K. Neb* learning to any second language must involve all the skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing. Until and unless all these aspects are Short story as a distinct genre has not been able to achieve the given their due roles the process of learning a language effectively desired success and popularity in Indian-English fiction. In spite of its remains a distant dream. It can be achieved through a judicious use of ancient history which finds roots in Vedic tales, it came on the scene of grammar translation method, Direct method and communicative Indian-English fiction much later than other forms of art. The neglect approach to language learning. shown to this form of fiction can be ascertained from the fact that Indo–English short story writers who have written novels also are better known as novelists. For example, the writers like Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan, Raja Rao, Khushwant Singh Manohar Malgonkar and women writers like Ruth Prawer Jhabwala, Anita Desai, Shashi Deshpande and Shobha De are better known for their novels rather than short-stories. It does not mean that short story as a form of writing lacks the potential to match the expectations of the readers or the properties of a powerful literary medium to express the complexity informing the evolving nature of life. The success that Jhumpa Lahiri’s first collection of stories Interpreter of Maladies : Stories of Bengal, Boston and Beyond has achieved is enough to dispel all doubts about the success of short story as a form of fiction. In this paper an attempt has been made to explore different aspects of Lahiri’s short stories that show her skill as a fiction writer. Lahiri’s presentation of human experience informing a close interaction among various cultures shows her sharp sense of selection of the subject matter. Her giving an indication about her fictional concerns through the subtitle of the collection–Stories of Bengal, Boston and Beyond–further reveals her understanding as an artist. Her choice of the fictional material has an immediate appeal for the readers in the contemporary world of cultural mix at a mass level. Lahiri’s concentration on the life and experiences of the people freed from geographical and national peculiarities and fixity of culture marks the global nature of her concerns. Instead of building a particular cultural context based on a specific nation Lahiri’s stories show interactive forms of life and the impact of the emerging forms of life on human experience. It not only enlarges the scope of her fictional work but also * Associate Professor, PG Department of English, DAV College, Jalandhar 1 2 An Exploration of Jhumpa Lahiri’s Fictional Art ... Pragati's English Journal (Vol. 17, No. 1, June 2017) 3 matches contemporary reality in which life no longer remains limited to fictional characters are also categorized in terms of good or bad evoking traditional patterns marking regional boundaries and has a tendency to the set norms of human behaviour. Jhumpa Lahiri’s stories mark a shift spill over to different nations and cultures. Lahiri’s achievement lies in from the traditional understanding of life and experience. Her stories a successful presentation of the variety of experiences informing tend to bring out multiple forms of human behaviour and typical human complexity of emerging forms of life. The life and experiences depicted responses in certain situations rather than attempting to define human in these stories have been fictionalised in such a subtle and effective life according to some fixed code. It makes the writer depict a different way that the readers can understand and realize the problems, dilemmas type of characters. The people inhabiting Lahiri’s fictional world are and complexity underlying apparently smooth and uncomplicated different from their cultural stereotypes. Their behaviour is relevant in experiences of the diasporic people. the provisional context and does not necessarily reveal their essential Lahiri’s presentation of the displaced and exiled people’s nature. Sometimes the reader having a traditional orientation is puzzled experiences marks the major thrust of her short stories. Instead of to see the unexpected responses of these characters. For example, in showing the working of power structures at the political level that the story, ‘A Temporary Matter’ Shoba’s decision to leave Shukumar influence people’s lives the story writer has concentrated on the subtle exhibits the complexity informing human behaviour. She does not show ways that result in people’s alienation and a feeling of being the other in any signs of discontentment earlier when she undergoes abortion in the an alien land. Her concern for the displaced people has been noticed by absence of her husband. But his revealing the gender of the dead child Tejinder also, “We find that in her short-stories she has portrayed some incites her to take the decision to live separately.

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