Teaching Website of Dhrubajyoti Sarkar has moved to this
Part of the DSE Course Indian Literature I
for Sem II Students of Department of English, University of Calcutta
Text:
'First Complete Edition' of 1955. This is a text that appeared after Sri Aurobindo's death in 1950. This is published by and printed at Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry.
Collected Poems and Plays, Vol I is the earliest available copy of the play in a book. The volume is seventieth birth anniversary collection published in 1942, published by Nolini Kanta Gupta of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. Curiously this volume was printed at Government Central Press at Hyderabad.
Note on the text:
The editor of the 1942 volume considers the "The dramatic poem "Perseus the Deliverer" was written somewhere between the end of the nineties and the first years of the following decade."
Further, the publisher of the 1955 volume notes "Perseus the Deliverer was originally published in serial form in the weekly Bande Mataram of Calcutta (1907)." However, the publisher also notes that two scenes Act II, scenes ii and iii were missing from the 1942 edition. and they were incorporated into the 1955 edition. Hence the 1955 text is considered the first complete edition.
Issues: Discussion and thought prompts for the text are recorded in a Google Doc (LINK). Students are encouraged to seek clarification and send their reflections or objections to anything contained above or anything referred to in the following references. Email (dhruba.sarkar@gmail.com) is the best form of communication. If there are more than one person sending similar kind of questions, I’ll update this document to include my response to them.
I also hope to add some explanatory audio notes based on response of the students.
Bibliography: [annotated in the above document]
“Use of Andromeda Myth” by C.T. Indra. Journal of South Asian Literature, Vol. 24, No. 1, Sri Aurobindo (Winter, Spring 1989), pp. 50-66.
“Plays of Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950): A Survey” by S Krihsna Bhatta. Indian Literature, Vol. 17, No. 1/2 (January-June, 1974), pp. 70-85.
“Perseus the Deliverer” by Prema Nandakumar. Perspectives on Indian Drama in English edited by M. K. Naik and S. Mokashi-Punekar. Madras: OUP, 1977.
“Western Classics, Indian Classics: Postcolonial Contestations” by Harish Trivedi. Classics in the Post-Colonial World edited by Lorna Hardwick and Carol Gillespie. OUP, 2007. pp. 286-304.
“Conflit de Classiques,et Au-Dela: Deterritorialisations Indiennes des Classiques Grecs et Latins.” by Elena Langlais et Claudine Le Blanc. Klincksieck. 2012/4 n° 344. pp. 411-427. (“Conflict of the Classics and Beyond: Indian Deterrritorialisations of Greek and Latin Classics in M.M. Dutta’s Meghnadbadh Kabya, Aurobindo’s Love and Death, Ilion, Perseus the Deliverer”)
The Plays of Sri Aurobindo by S.S. Kulkarni. Rajhauns Vitaran, Panaji, 1990.
[A quick browse through electronic repository Shodhganga https://sg.inflibnet.ac.in/, a UGC initiative to showcase Indian dissertations will surprise you by the number of researchers completing their research degrees on Aurobindo’s plays. On the one hand, it is encouraging that this might finally disseminate the knowledge of Aurobindo’s literary works. On the contrary, in my opinion, their humdrum quality and the tendency in these works to read Aurobindo’s works within the yogi-and-the-nationalist paradigm contribute to ossifying the image I have tried to push against in the first few sections of this note. So if you plan to use that resource, do that with caution and be sensible to the double-bind that might ensnare you.]
The course webpage has been shifted to Google Classroom (LINK) during the suspension of classes due COVID19 pandemic lockdown. You can visit the Classroom page only if you have already joined it.
Course Description (LINK)
Course Plan and Progress (LINK). This document is not updated beyond 11 March 2020. Due to the suspension of contact classes in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, the course now keeps in touch with the help of Google Classroom as part of the University of Kalyani G Suite app. LINK to Google Classroom
Assessment Plan. According to the University academic calendar (linked above), the first internal should begin from 6 April and the second from 11 May. Proposed dates: 20&22 April: First Internal; 1&3 June: Second Internal. [All scheduled exams are suspended till further notice]
Reading list (will be linked to the Course Plan)
Remind.com is the official channel of communication for this course. Those without access to regular internet connection (either via smartphone or a computer) should immediately contact the instructor for alternative modes.
CORE COURSE 104:Compulsory Course for Semester I Students
Restoration to the Age of Sensibility (1660-1788): Fiction & Non-fictional Prose
Course Description (LINK)
Course Plan and Progress (LINK to the class-by-class plan)
Assessment Plan is included into the above course plan. LINK to the detailed notice. Official academic calendar (LINK) of University of Kalyani states that 1st Internal should be held during the 2nd week of November and 2nd Internal should be held during the 4th week of December 2019.
Reading list (will be linked to course plan; will be available during teaching semester)
Formative feedback form was completed on 31/10. This is an anonymous compulsory feedback. Every student is expected to submit her considered and candid response.
Remind.com (LINK to join) is the official channel of communication for this course. Those without access to regular internet connection (either via smartphone or a computer) should immediately contact the instructor for alternative modes.
Course Description (LINK)
Course Plan and Progress (LINK to the class-by-class plan)
Assessment Plan is included into the above course plan. LINK to the detailed notice of the assessments. Official academic calendar (LINK) of University of Kalyani.
Reading list (will be linked to course plan; will be available during teaching semester)
Remind.com (LINK to join) is the official channel of communication for this course. Those without access to regular internet connection (either via smartphone or a computer) should immediately contact the instructor for alternative modes.
Course Plan and Progress (LINK to the class by class plan)
Assessment Plan. KU calendar [link] states that 1st Internal commences on 28/03 and 2nd Internal commences on 02/05). Both the assessments are not updated in the Course Plan document linked above.
Reading list (linked to the above Course Plan)
Remind.com is the official channel of communication for this course. Those without access to regular internet connection (either via smartphone or a computer) should immediately contact the instructor for alternative modes.
Google Classroom will be linked to this course on an experimental basis. [Was constrained to discontinue because CIRM could not fix the accessibility issue after repeated requests and reminders.]
Roll number of students assigned to my group: 21 (Anima), 35 (Sunil), 55 (Bijoy), 70 (Arkadeep), 90 (Gargi Raut),106 (Poulami Ghosh)
Relevant sections from the MA syllabus 2017-19
Dissertation -- 60 marks
Students are required to write a dissertation (as per the latest MLA Handbook) of 3000 words (approximately) on a topic mutually agreed upon by the supervisor and the student. The students would be expected to show analytical and writing skills of advanced Master’s level and the ability to work out a hypothesis.
Internal assessment -- 20 marks
The students will be required to appear in a common mid-semester written examination in which they will be assessed on their abilities of note taking, summarizing, paraphrasing, citation of bibliographic sources and proof reading.
Viva- voce -- 20 marks
The students will be required to submit a self-declaration stating that they have not taken recourse to plagiarism.
Plagiarism will be defined as (as per the latest MLA guidelines). For an extended discussion, students may read the following article "Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty" (link: https://style.mla.org/plagiarism-and-academic-dishonesty/ )
Refer to MLA Style Center (link: https://style.mla.org/) for all issues related to parenthetic citation (in the body of the text) and Works Cited list (at the end of the text).
Timeline of dissertation will be available short.
Course Plan and Progress (LINK to the Class by class plan)
Assessment Plan (1st Internal: 2 April, 12:30-13:30. KU calendar [link] states that 1st Internal commences on 26/03 and 2nd Internal commences on 30/04.
Reading list and some (as examples) annotated texts were circulated during the teaching semester.
Compulsory anonymous Feedback (Deadline: 22/11. Responses should be individual and one per person.)
Further Reading
Rasa theory - a schematic chart
Further Reading
Link to another course at Western Michigan University
Moll Flanders Reading List