EDTITORIAL BOARD Dr. Terry Nadasdi Hemendra Chandalia Professor Professor Dept. Of Linguistics Janardan Rai Nagar Rajasthan Vidyapeeth, University Of Alberta UdaipurVice President of Rajasthan Association Edmonton, Alberta for Studies in English Canada Dr. Binod Misra Dr. Ms. Bhagyashree S. Varma Associate Professor of English Associate Professor in English Co-ordinator, Dept. of Humanities & Social University of Mumbai Sciences Mumbai - 98, India IIT Patna, Patliputra Kurji Road, Patna, Bihar- 800013 Jai Singh Department of Commonwealth Literary Studies Dr. Sudhir Karan The English and Foreign Languages University, Asiatic Society, Kolkata Hyderabad, India Dr. Arijit Ghosh Dr. Prashant Mishra Department of English, Professor and Head VIT, Madras, India Department of English Government S.V.P.G. College, Neemuch Dr. Vijay Kumar Roy Madhya Pradesh - 458 411, India Department of English Northern Border University, KSA Dr. Ramesh Dhage School of Language and Literature Dr. Ramprasad B.V Swami Ramanand Teerth Marthawada University Department of Studies & Research in English, Nanded, Maharashtra - 431 606, India Kuvempu University, Karnataka. Nabil Salem Apurba Saha Assistant Professor, Department of English Ibb University, Yemen Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University Dr. Partha Sarathi Mukhopadhyay Dr. Amit Chakrabarty Principal, Birbhum Mahavidyalay Principal, Turku Hansda Lapsa Hembram Mahavidyalay Dr.Mala Sharma Associate Prof & H, English Ramkrishna Nagar Colleg, Assam. Editor-in-Chief Dr. Susanta Kumar Bardhan Associate Professor of English Suri Vidyasagar College, Suri, Birbhum West Bengal - 731101, India VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2 thecontour.weebly.com 2 | Page © The Contour Volume 1, Issue 2 ISSN: 2349-6398 Website: thecontour.weebly.com E-mail: [email protected] Facebook: www.facebook.com/thecontour2014 October, 2014 Editor-in-Chief Dr. Susanta Kumar Bardhan Cover Designing & Formatting Suman Saha Publisher Dr. Susanta Kumar Bardhan, On behalf of LOKAYATIK Suri, Birbhum, 731101, W. B. VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2 thecontour.weebly.com 3 | Page Contents EDTITORIAL BOARD ............................................................................................ 2 EDITORIAL ........................................................................................................... 6 ARTICLE .............................................................................................................. 7 I. Existential Predicament of Indian women in Anita Desai’s Novels ....... 7 Vinay Kumar Dubey ................................................................................................................ 7 II. The Gender Equation In Stereotypic Representation Of Women .........19 ABDUL KAYOOM.V ................................................................................................................. 19 III. ‘O Blessed Misery!’: Reading Select Poems of Swami Vivekananda ...25 ARUNABHA GHOSH ............................................................................................................... 25 IV. Bridging the gaps : A Reading of Derek Walcott’s A far Cry From Africa and Ruins of a Great House .......................................................41 Narendra Ranjan Malas ......................................................................................................... 41 V. “The leaden circles dissolved in the air”: Feminism and beyond in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway ...........................................................48 Monali Hui ............................................................................................................................. 48 VI. Painting Riverscape with the colour of Poetry: the Unvarnished Reality in K. N. Daruwalla’s River Poems ........................................................56 Bidhan Mondal ...................................................................................................................... 56 CREATIVE WRITING ........................................................................................... 67 VII. The Silk Road .........................................................................................67 H.S.Chandalia ......................................................................................................................... 67 VIII. Wonder ..................................................................................................68 H.S.Chandalia ......................................................................................................................... 68 IX. The Morning at Chalthan* ....................................................................69 H.S.Chandalia ......................................................................................................................... 69 X. Mesmerizing Drawing ...........................................................................70 Sunil Sharma .......................................................................................................................... 70 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2 thecontour.weebly.com 4 | Page XI. Who am I? .............................................................................................71 Pranay Sarkar ......................................................................................................................... 71 TRANSLATION ................................................................................................... 76 XII. Ulysses’s Adventure ..............................................................................76 Krishna Ranjan Paul .............................................................................................................. 76 Translated by Mala Sharma ................................................................................................... 77 XIII. Peyara Gachh (Guava Tree) .................................................................78 Sanjiv Chattopadhyaya .......................................................................................................... 78 Translated by Supratim Saha ................................................................................................. 81 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2 thecontour.weebly.com 5 | Page EDITORIAL In the present day of crisis in all spheres of life, be it academic or non-academic, the publication of an academic journal at regular interval is a challenging task. Still with kind help of the The Contour fraternity we have been able to give the final shape of its Volume 1, Issue 2 with the stipulated time. We sincerely covey our hearty gratitude to the reviewers and advisers for their critical perspectives and suggestions much needed for upkeep of the sound health of the journal. For several reasons we have not been able to accommodate all the papers submitted in the present issue. The readers and the well-wishers of the journal are requested to give their valuable suggestions for the improvement of its future issues. It is also declared that the views and observations presented in the writings are solely of the respective authors, not of the editor/editorial board of the journal. Special thanks should go to Suman Saha who with his expertise in computer has worked strenuously and sincerely for giving the shape to the journal out of sheer enthusiasm. 27. 10. 2014 Susanta Kumar Bardhan Editor-in-chief The Contour VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2 thecontour.weebly.com 6 | Page ARTICLE Existential Predicament of Indian women in Anita Desai’s Novels Vinay Kumar Dubey ABSTRACT Anita Desai, among all women Indian-English novelists has discussed the art of fiction most comprehensively. She is not only well-versed in the theory and practice of the novel but also in vision and art. She analyses her creative self and explores the inner dilemmas and resources of her characters. Dealing with inner world, her fiction grapples with the intangible realities of life. She delves deep into the inner most depth of human psyche and discovers the inner turmoil and the chaotic layer of mind. Her characters thus reveal the infinite variety of life. Desai, looks into the inner world of reality and prefers it to the outer world of reality. She reiterates the difference between truth and reality. For her truth is synonymous of Art, not of reality, so her novels discover and convey the significance of things. The search for truth, she believes, consists in the life of the mind and the soul- the inner life. In regard to the use of the stream of consciousness technique, she captures the prismatic quality of life in her fiction. With this vision and art of Anita Desai, her novels deal with the problems of love and marriage along with other human problems. All her protagonists discover the tragedy of human soul trapped in the adverse circumstances of life. The tragic effect in her novels is intensified by the external conditions in which her characters are involved. [Key words: inner dilemmas, human psyche, stream of consciousness, protagonists, adverse circumstances, external conditions.] nita Desai's vision and art centres round her preoccupation with the individual and his inner world of sensibility - the chaos inside his mind. This is the keynote of her unique vision of the predicament of the individual is contemporary Indo-English fiction. This Adistinguishes her from other Indian women novelists - Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and Kamala Markandaya. She is much concerned with the exploration of the interior world, penetrating deep into the fathomless depth of human psyche. This inner introspection of the individuals, the inner impressions, passing