www.the-criterion.com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN 0976-8165 Vol. II. Issue. II June 2011 C O N T E N T S Articles From Ignorance to knowledge: A Study of J. M. Synge’s The Well of the Saints [PDF] Arvind M. Nawale An Exploration of Narrative Technique in Gita Mehta’s A River Sutra [PDF] Mrs. Madhuri Bite De’s fiction: A Protest Against Malist Culture [PDF] Nishi Bala Chauhan Role of the English Language/Literature in Quality Education and Teacher Development [PDF] Baby Pushpa Sinha Feminist Concerns in Verginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own [PDF] Sachin Vaman Londhe Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London (1933) : A Documentary on Hunger, Starvation and Poverty [PDF] N. R. Sawant Chetan Bhagat: A Libertarian [PDF] R. A. Vats, Rakhi Sharma Postmodern Trends in the Novels of Amitav Ghosh [PDF] Prof. R. Chenniappan, R. Saravana Suresh Translating Amrit Lal Nagar’s Nachyo Bahut Gopal: Some Considerations—Casteist and Linguistic. [PDF] Sheeba Rakesh Vol.II Issue II 1 June 2011 www.the-criterion.com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN 0976-8165 Salman Rushdie as a Children’s Writer: Reading Haroun And The Sea Of Stories (1990) and Luka And The Fire Of Life (2010) [PDF] Ved Mitra Shukla When Mr.Pirzada Creates Anuranan: A Study of Home Through the Bong Connection [PDF] Dhritiman Chakraborty Using Internet in Improving One’s English Language Skills: 50 Informative, Educative & Entertaining Websites [PDF] Vangeepuram Sreenathachary Critical Review on the MLA Handbook (7th Edition) [PDF] Shahila Zafar, Zaved Ahmed Khan, K Meenakshi Premonition of Death in J.M.Synge’s Poetry [PDF] D.S.Kodolikar Pride, Pestilence and Annihilation: Destruction of the Family Idyll in Mary Shelley’s The Last Man [PDF] Oindrila Ghosh Full Flowering of Faith A Study of Usha Akella’s Poetic Vision Phase II [PDF] V.V.B.Rama Rao Language Acquisition Through Literature Promotes Creativity and Thinking Skill [PDF] Kiranjeet Kaur Bedi Intersexuality and The Truth of Achebe’s Fiction: Militarised Nigerian Postcolony in Anthills of The Savannah [PDF] Uzoechi Nwagbara Computer Mediated Communication: The Use of CMC to Promote Learners’ Communicative Competence [PDF] Vahid Norouzi Larsari Trimetric of Land, Culture and Identity in Indian English Fiction [PDF] G.A. Ghanshyam Salman Rushdie’s Grimus as an Alternative History [PDF] Abdulmonim Ali Ben Ali Shiv K Kumar’s A River With Three Banks: Revisiting Partition [PDF] P.R. Shewale Futuristic Dystopias as Feminist Protest in Angela Carter’s fiction [PDF] Rajaram Sitaram Zirange The World of ‘Marginalised’ in Mahasweta Devi’s Play “Mother of 1084” [PDF] G.Gulam Tariq “Gender Barrier Communication in IT Industry” [PDF] Mr. Madhav K Raul From Routes to Roots: Diaspora in the Novels of Salman Rushdie. [PDF] Vol.II Issue II 2 June 2011 www.the-criterion.com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN 0976-8165 Janmejay Kumar Tiwari Confessional Mode in the Poetry of Kamala Das and Sylvia Plath [PDF] Mrs. Tasneem Anjum Women in Contrast: A Study of Image of Woman in Arun Joshi’s The Strange Case of Billy Biswas [PDF] - Dr. Arvind M. Nawale Interview Interview with Melissa Studdard, author of Six Weeks to Yehidah [PDF] Aparna Mukhedkar Poetry Slow Dancing [PDF] Alan Kleiman What Was That You Just Asked Me? [PDF] Andy Fenwick Utopia [PDF] Aparna Raj Mukhedkar Trinities Genuflecting on Ice [PDF] Charles F. Thielman Closet Poet [PDF] Edward Nudelman Nocturne [PDF] Gerburg Garmann Stars and Stripes [PDF] A.J. Huffman Lovey-dovey [PDF] Vivekanand Jha I Know from My Bed [PDF] Michael Lee Johnson Lamentations for a Cold Drink [PDF] Stephan Anstey Fiction Hagski’s Domain Chapter One of Six Weeks to Yehidah [PDF] Melissa Studdard Riding [PDF] Christina Murphy In This Sign [PDF] Dave Hoing Vol.II Issue II 3 June 2011 www.the-criterion.com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN 0976-8165 The Driver [PDF] Jen Knox Trailing Sky Six Feathers: Her Story Excerpt from Chapter One [PDF] Ian Prattis Book Reviews A Study of Love, Sex and Marriage In Anita Desai’s Novels Author: Vinay Dubey [PDF] Mrs. Madhuri Bite The Flame Unmasked Editor: Sudhir K. Arora [PDF] Mrs. Madhuri Bite The Concept of Anti-Hero in the Novels of Upamanyu Chatterjee Author: R. P. Singh [PDF] Mrs. Madhuri Bite Indian Writing in English: Critical Perspectives Editors: Dr. Vishwanath Bite, Dr. Arvind M. Nawale [PDF] Mrs. Madhuri Bite Reliving the DAAD Experience with “ der deutsche sommer” [PDF] Arnab Chakraborty Vol.II Issue II 4 June 2011 www.the-criterion.com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN 0976-8165 Representation of Terrorism in Indian Graphic Novel Dr. Aju Aravind Assistant Professor Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Indian School of Mines Dhanbad 826004 Jharkhand The growth of Graphic novel as a medium of expression is inextricably linked with the American counter cultural experiments of the 1960s. In 1954, fearing government crackdown following Dr Frederick Wertham’s incessant attack on comics for its ‘corrupting influence on young minds’, the comic book industry had set up a comics code authority laying down guidelines for acceptable comic book material.The new code insisted that in comics,women be properly clad, violence and sex toned down and authority figures respected(Weiner , 8). The Underground comix movement of the late 1960’s, sharing the spirit of the times, was in a way, a reaction to this authoritarian gagging of artistic freedom. Revisionist and subversive, the underground comix artists substituted the ‘c’ in the comics with an ‘x’- x standing for ‘adult’- and boldly explored subjects hitherto considered taboo by the comics code authority. If the code meant that comics was prevented from saying anything meaningful about the real world, then by defying it the revisionist possibility was re-awakened(Sabin, 92). The underground comix got disseminated outside the traditional market through a network of head shops peddling psychedelic posters and drug paraphernalia, and sold in large numbers. This alternative distribution system would later play a vital part in the setting up of comic book specialty shops and the direct market, bringing about the rise of alternative comics and revisionist re telling of super hero tales in the 1980s.The underground demonstrated that it was possible to create comics outside the dominant publishing industry, asserting the creative rights of the individual artist as against the anonymity of the artist in the assembly line- studio system (Hatfield , 16). Despite being hit by the closing of the head shops in the 1970s, the underground comix movement proved to be instrumental in shaping the counter narrative characteristics that alternative comics and later graphic novels would incur in terms of subject matter, treatment, artistic rights and modes of dissemination. However, graphic novel’s investiture in India in 2004 with Sarnath Banerjee’s Corridor concurred with a different set of social, political and economic situations. India, despite internal unrests was bubbling with new found confidence as a result of its economic liberalisation policies, boasting a growth rate of 8.5% while the world was still recuperating from the repercussions of 9/11 attack. America was deeply mired in the ‘War on Terror’ in Afghanistan and Iraq and the global project of ‘othering’ the Muslim community had attained ominous proportions. The speakers participating in the 59th U N general assembly plenary (11th and 12th meetings) had rightfully warned about the increasing tendency to link international terrorism and Islam reiterating the urgent need to stop the tarnishing of Muslims by unfair stereotypes and to debunk the theory that there is a ‘clash of civilizations.’ Examining The Believers (2006) and Kashmir Pending (2007) (seminal for being the first two Indian graphic novels published by Phantomville, the first Indian graphic novel publishing company- and thereby in a position to set the tone for later works) this paper seeks to explicate Vol.II Issue II 5 June 2011 www.the-criterion.com The Criterion: An International Journal in English ISSN 0976-8165 why despite being written by Muslim writers, these graphic novels shirk from exploring the counter narrative capabilities of the medium and end up inadvertently promoting the prevalent national/ international narratives that blindly equate Muslims with terrorist activities across the world. The Believers traces the growth of religious fundamentalism in Kerala, through the tale of two Muslim brothers- one who goes on to pursue an academic career abroad and the other who gets sucked into the whirlpool of terrorism and religious fundamentalism. The secular, educated younger brother returns home to find his brother, friends and neighborhood divided on religious lines, nurturing mutual distrust. Chagrined at the dilapidating situation he sets out to make his brother see the light of reason and persuade him to forsake the path of violence. In the end the two brothers reconcile and while the elder brother realises the futility of violence, he is unable to escape his inevitable end at the hands of law. To his credit, Abdul Sultan tries to touch upon the alienated existence of the Muslim community, the rise of Hindu fundamentalism and the economic backwardness that haunt the lower rungs of the community in an attempt to provide an over deterministic view of the rise of Muslim fundamentalism. Sadly, this is done with a few references strewn across the story and predictably, the work stops short of exploring these reasons to the full. The reasons are always provided by the hardliners in the story while the secular adopt an apologetic tone continually lamenting the loss of democratic ideals. This in effect, undermines the legitimacy of such claims. By limiting the discussion of the politicization of the Hindu identity by the right wing Hindu groups to a few remarks, the work inadvertently plays down the magnitude of the effect that it had on the feelings of alienation, insecurity and fear of persecution increasingly felt by the Muslim community post-Ayodhya and Gujarat where the state had been a mere spectator and then a participant.