Twentieth-Century Fiction I
December 9. Narayan, Malgudi Days, and course conclusion.
Andrew Goldstone [email protected] Ian Bignall [email protected] http://20fic-f13.blogs.rutgers.edu the final
distributed Monday at 9 a.m. on Sakai under Resources due Tuesday, December 17, at 3 p.m. email immediately if you cannot access the file or any other crisis arises, or call xxx-xxx-xxxx (phone number given out in class)
Sakai submission: upload test doc to Drop Box by 12/12 otherwise, exam due in person to Scott 207 No e-mail submission the final
3 essay questions, one hour each Choose one question from each of three groups Discuss at least seven texts Cite evidence
Honor code Spend no more than four hours working; record timing Open book (including course slides) No collaboration; all work your own questions?
comments? random thoughts? review
Nightwood language is dominated by forms for assimilation to type simile, satiric characterization, absurd episode but character-system consists entirely of unassimilables (sexually, nationally, temperamentally, historically) every likeness is catachretic review
Nightwood community and relationship are dominant themes utopian: Bohemian, transnational, sexually open gender, like status, nationality, becomes performative it is queered but also radically atomized church “marriage” before dog at end Barnes’s position-taking as a radically committed stylistic performer blocks other kinds of solidarity vanguardist mode is conspicuously not a political or sexual identity: problem of historical succession Narayan…
‘Swaminathan, where is your homework?’ ‘I have not done any homework, sir,’ he said blandly. There was a pause. ‘Why—headache?’ asked Samuel. ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘All right, sit down.’ “Father’s Help,” 70 Swaminathan left his seat joyfully and hopped on the platform. The teacher took out his cane from the drawer and shouted angrily, ‘Open your hand, you little devil.’ He whacked three wholesome cuts on each palm. Swami received them without blenching…. Swami jumped down from the platform with a light heart, though his hands were smarting. 70–71 succession (?)
Leading question: Does this remind you of anything? How does this compare to Portrait—how do Narayan’s representational technique and his distribution of attention resemble or differ from the earlier book? succession (?)
Parallels scene of colonial schooling “Sir, was Vasco da Gama the very first person to come to India?”… “That’s what they say.’ (70) disempowered child who nonetheless exerts agency third-person narrator with ambiguous irony Divergences interior life represented but highly reduced authority, instead of being a menace, is absurd novelistic trajectory is foreshortened by short form (Even in novel Swami and Friends, limited or no Bildung) R.K. Narayan
1906 b. Madras (Chennai); father a school headmaster educated in English (and Tamil); fails English exam 1930 B.A., journalism, brief career as English teacher 1935 after many rejections, Swami and Friends published in London by Hamish Hamilton through intervention of Graham Greene
Greene: “His novels increase our knowledge of the Indian character certainly, but I prefer to think of them as contributions to English literature” (1937)
Photo from N. Ram, “Reluctant Centenarian,” The Hindu, October 8, 2006 (online ed.), http://www.hindu.com/ mag/2006/10/08/stories/2006100800050100.htm R.K. Narayan
1906 b. Madras (Chennai); father a school headmaster educated in English (and Tamil); fails English exam 1930 B.A., journalism, brief career as English teacher 1935 after many rejections, Swami and Friends published 1939–50s stories in The Hindu (Madras newspaper) 1942 starts Indian Thought Publications 1956 leaves India for first time (to USA, later visits yearly) continuing production of novels and stories increasing acclaim prose versions of Mahabharata and Ramayana 2001 d. J T .
4 4
J D D.
n l h F t r n J p n, d r bl
d t d f r th H l t t b
r. d rd nd Th p n ( 88 .
Th rd r ll l J v n
j r b hd , l t. l n t r, j r
b n n xp rt, t r f r ft,
nd b hd th t. bhd hd, p h.
l n n, D t., r t J r b h
r. t pr f r j r bh .
60 .†t P t n th H ll nd r h v n
rr v d, nd nt pr nt †" l f r nt pr His mother said, ‘Why don’t you go to school in a jutka?’ p r n ff r n n * r n ( R N ‘So that I may be completely dead at the other end? J r b , n t t tr p rt n ."
†n R . d V , d. 0 , . 66 . Have you any idea what it means to be jolted in a jutka?’
l pp. 6 2, 6 .
6 .†"( d th nd r n f n f (66)
. . . pt n j r, d t r, r d nt ,
nd j r b , f r th p f t d
t b f r t tt nd t th
n tr t n ( p tvt , n rd r th t
r t t th ll . . . .
"Th n t n b n r d n th
h b r f th t f , b f r th
V r d r , th p pl , nd th pt n
j r th n nd n n th d t , Hobson-Jobson (1903 ed.)
J rr d nh , th ht f r
p r n h ht b h r d t r pl , h
h d n l d nd xp r n f th
h n , nd f th r nn r f p h, nd
f nd n L r n rvnlh ... h d
th r pl n th f ll n f r f rd
. . .T th p rp th pt n j r,
th d t r, th V r d r , th P dr , nd th J r b . bl n t th r nd : (nm) a jerk, jolt, shock; lurch b t n r f r h d b f r d. . . ." †jhaṭka
rr , pp. 2 2 . (Caturvedi, A Practical Hindi-English dictionary, 1970)
,, "Th f r t nth, nt . ,
nd nr b t b th th n t
ntr t th t pr d f d z n
n."†pt. r , n P r h , 8.
6 .†". . . h d r th t, f r h
, ld v v r th p r t f th
tt r n t th B b n , f r th t f t
r f ll d, f f r th d txtn t t
t h b ll , nd th n j r b t
d th l . nt h h h r t
nt nt t r . . . ."†* D r , . .
,, "Th n ht h d nf r n
th r J r b ."†F lrr, L tt r .
6 .
J T , . Th f br ( nn f br
f th b r f r h r p l râ„¢, L.,
nd r h r l t r , L., h h n th
l t 4 r h b p rt nt
n xp rt fr nd , nd t r l
f r n f t r n r t Br t n
ll n nd . " t th l t t
n f th br d Ph l ph l
t , Pr f r t nt d
n v r n l h rd . J t ,
f br b t n , h xpl n d fr
th n r t jt t , l l f r f
j t , n n , t, th tt d h r f
n t 2ndl , th f br r t f
tr h th b n n rdl , n
f br b t n " ( d , D . 2 , n r t d n 20 2 2 0 20: T http: hdl.h ndl .n t 202 dp. 0 0 4 88 2 T 20: 20 2 2 0 n n r t d http: .h th tr t. r pd l l d t z d t t , n t d th n D n P bl
8 . Th nd r n n ttr
b t d h r t j t r v r d btf l.*
Th t r j t pp r t h v b n
f r t d b Dr. R xb r h n l tt r
d t d , n h h h dr th
tt nt n f th rt f D r t r t
th v l f th f br " ll d j t b
th n t v ." t pp r , h v r,
rl 46 n th L f v
t d b l. T pl n J.R. .6.,
J n. 00, p. 8. Th n n f t
pp r t b t n fr th v rn l r .
n n r . Th t t d t b
pr p rl jh t , b t jh t d b th
n d t d. R p rt f th J t
n, b B b H h ndr
rr, l tt , 8 4 l l tt r
fr r. J. . tt n n th d ,
J n. , 880.
J T , . Fr D .†H nd.
jh t d, . Th n t v b f
dr , nd f f l t n n th t
Pr d n nv n nl t b
h r t r d b th p th t r h l ,
th h n th t r p t ll d b th
l tt r n h. ( .v. . t n t
f rt f b x th V n t n nd ,
n t h l , nd dr n b r
bl p n . t nt r d b d r t
th b . ( BH , th l
n n .
J Z L, . Th rd j zd l
n r ll ppl d t th h v f h n
r fl , f r d th f r d r t. f t
r. t t b j zd l, th pl r l f
j z l, b , d b t nt v . J z l
ft n d f r b , th th n ,
t l pr l bl . ( N LL.
H n j zdhl h , n r d th h
p n.
8 2.†"Th j z r h l , th n
h bl nd rb , r t r th
n R n dr ."†r r, J rn thr h
P r , 0.
8 8.â€
" ll n ht th r t l r d p l
n l r br nd T n j z .
R. pl n , B rr r B ll d , 84.
00.†"T p n f h b r J z l
h ."†rb rt n, ht rn r n th
h b r, 8.
J D D, . P.†H.j ddd. T rr
t r n d f r th pp rt f tr p .
824.†" R p r n th h b l . . .
h d b n r nt d t D d rn , J d d,
* Th r r fr l tt r f Dr. B rn tt
dd. T nj r , r h 0, 880. Indian/English: many paths
A week later one of the sons of his old master came and told Velan, ‘You will have to go back to your village, old fellow. The house is sold to a company. They are not going to have a garden.’…
He let out a scream: ‘Stop that!’ He took his staff and rushed at those who were hacking. They easily avoided the blow he aimed. “The Axe,” 106–7 Indian/English: many paths
“Sharing a joke with Mulk Raj Anand in Chennai, 1995,” photo by N. Ram, in Ram, “Reluctant Centenarian,” The Hindu, October 8, 2006 (online ed.), http://www.hindu.com/mag/2006/10/08/stories/ 2006100800050100.htm Indian/English: many paths
The anglophone Indian novel [N.B., novel] is a genre that has been distinguished from its inception by a preoccupation with both history and nation as these come together to shape…‘the idea of India’. Priyamvada Gopal, The Indian English Novel (2009) Indian/English: many paths
Those who write in the languages of India, whether that happens to be English or one of the modern ‘vernaculars’, do not necessarily write about ‘India’…but about cultures and localities that are both situated in, and disperse the idea of, the nation. Amit Chaudhuri, “The Construction of the Indian Novel in English” (1999) Indian/English: many paths
[The Indian writer] hopes to express through his novels and stories the way of life of the group of people with whose psychology and background he is most familiar, and he hopes that these pictures will not only appeal to his own circle but also to a larger audience outside. R.K. Narayan in 1953 the small; the restricted
Venkat Rao mumbled, ‘Yes, sir,’ and slunk back to his seat. The clock showed 5:30. Now it mean two hours of excruciating search among vouchers. All the rest of the office ha gone. Only he and another clerk in his section were working, and of course, the manager was there. “Forty-five a Month,” 89 the small; the restricted
It was twilight. Everyone going about looked gigantic, walls of houses appeared very high and cycles and carriages look as though they would bear down on her. She walked on the very edge of the road. Soon the lamps were twinkling, and the passers-by looked like shadows. (87) the small; the restricted
Narayan’s pathos compare Barnes: not misfits but simply the little people children, the elderly, the small-time employee
who is named? (“Attila”: the dog, the thief; “The Axe”: the old man…)
Why are they little people? option one: contingency or “fate”: it’s just like that (Narayan’s realism or naturalism) option two
Rama Rao went out of work when a gramophone company, of which he was the Malgudi agent, went out of existence…. A series of circumstances in the world of trade, commerce, banking and politics was responsible for it. “Out of Business,” 91
“This flower garden…H’m, it is…old-fashioned and crude, and apart from that the front portion of the site is too valuable to be wasted…” “The Axe,” 106; ellipses Narayan’s option two: modernity
It was a fine sight: the temple elephant yoked to the engine by means of stout ropes, with fifty determined men pushing it from behind, and my friend Joseph sitting in the driving seat. A huge crowd stood around and watched in great glee. The engine began to move. It seemed to me the greatest moment in my life. “Engine Trouble,” 81 secular magic
Presently he grew tired of lying down there. He rose and walked back to the station. There was a good crowd on the platform. He asked someone, ‘What has happened to the train?’ “Out of Business,” 95
“Have you heard of a thing called jujitsu? Well, this is a simple trick in jujitsu perhaps known to half a dozen persons in the whole of South India.” “Fellow-Feeling,” 45 realism
He sat there in the front part of his home, bent over his clay, and brought into existence a miniature universe; all the colours of life were there, all the forms and creatures, but of the size of his middle finger…he had the eye of a cartoonist for human faces. Everything went down into clay. It was a wonderful miniature reflection of the world; and he mounted them neatly on thin wooden slices, which enhanced their attractiveness. “Gateman’s Gift,” 28 “after” modernism or, the doom of modernism
Woolf and Joyce claim to put paid to realist novel Narayan exemplifies continuing vitality of realistic narrative realism proves supple enough for many strands Woolfian/Joycean technique takes place on shelf of tools rather than becoming a norm the question…
What happened to fiction in English 1900–1950? Discussion (1) Lines of affinity (2) Lines of conflict
James Conrad Stein Joyce Sayers Hemingway
Woolf Faulkner Anand Hurston Barnes Narayan Conrad, Heart (1899) James, “Beast” (1903) Stein, “Melanctha” (1909) Joyce, Portrait (1916) Sayers, Whose Body? (1923) Hemingway, In Our Time (1925) Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway (1925) Faulkner, As I Lay Dying (1930) Anand, Untouchable (1935) Hurston, Their Eyes (1937) Barnes, Nightwood (1937) Narayan, Malgudi Days (1942–56) what happened? stream of consciousness, narrative fragmentation pursuit of aesthetic autonomy disenchantment of the world & alienated selves traumas of the Great War
or political commitments, realistic representation vernacular Englishes; who does English belong to? shifting global system of English-language writing & reading seeing it both ways
or rather: these are major lines of struggle for recognition, artistic prestige power to represent and re-imagine people/situations history of fiction in English 1900–1950 can be seen as both the chronological line and the space of proliferation next
Read on.