THE PUPIL OF LITERATURE

1. Published in March 1722, Daniel Defoe wrote The Journal of the Plague Year . It chronicles an individual's account of the 1665 bubonic plague later called the Great Plague of London.  2. The Journal of the Plague year was published under the initials H.F. It is speculated that the account is based on the journal of Defoe's uncle Henry Foe. 3. Octasyllable is a line with 8 syllables. Its first appearance can be traced to the 10th-century French legend of an old saint titled Vie de Saint Leger .  4. Octasyllabic couplet consists of two lines of the same rhyme and meter. It may be iambic or trochaic teterameter lines. ( PAPER 2, Q7,2004 ) 5. Il Penseroso or The Serious Man was first seen in the quarto of verses published in the 1645-46 called  The Poems of Mr. John Milton , both in English and Latin.  6. Il Penseroso was written in couplets of  iambic tetrameter like L' Allegro , its companion piece. The poem invokes the goddess Melancholy . 7. On His Blindness also

INTRODUCTION While studying literature calls for reading, understanding, and reflection. It also requires memorizing a few facts to ace exams, viva, and interviews.  1. Piers finally appears as Jesus in Langland's Piers the Plowman . ( PAPER 2, Q1,2004 )           2. It was decided that each Canterbury Pilgrim will tell in all 4 stories. ( PAPER 2, Q2,2004 )           3.  Shakespeare wrote the long narrative poem ' Venus and Adonis '. ( PAPER 2, Q3,2004 )           4. The total number of poems in Shakespeare's Sonnet is 154 . ( P2,Q4,2004 )           5. Christopher Marlowe (26 Feb 1564-30 May 1593)is also known as Kit Marlowe. He is the predecessor of Shakespeare and one of the most famous Elizabethan playwrights.           6. Michael Drayton ( 1563- 23 Dec 1631 ) was an English poet of the Elizabethan era. He was the first to bring the term Ode for a lyrical poem.           7. Philip Sydney (1554-1586) belonged to the Elizabethan era. He is best remembered for hi

UMBERTO ECO- A STUDY  Umberto Eco ( 1932-2016) was an Italian novelist, literary critic, philosopher, semiotician, and university professor. He is best known for his 1980 internationally acclaimed historical murder mystery novel, The Name of the Rose.   The work combines semiotics, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory.         NOVELIST  THE NAME OF THE ROSE (1980) Debut novel Setting: Italian monastery, in the year 1327 Protagonist: Francisian friar William of Baskerville Narrator: Adso of Melk It was translated into English by William Weaver in 1983 including Foucault's Pendulum       2. FOUCAULT'S PENDULUM (1988) The pendulum of the title refers to an actual pendulum designed by French Physicist Leon Foucault to show earth's rotation. The satirical novel has reference to ' conspiracy theory'. Characters: Three vanity press employees ( Belbo, Diotallevi, and Casaubon) The three invent their own 'conspiracy theory', The Plan and become in

 

  AN OVERVIEW

TOPICS Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow The Bluest Eye Beloved Thomas Love Peacock William Hazlitt Philosophers, Thinkers and Reformers( Romantic Age) 1) TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW Famous soliloquy in Shakespeare's Macbeth. Act 5, Scene 5, lines 17-28 Macbeth delivers this soliloquy in response to Lady Macbeth's death   2) THE BLUEST EYE   Written by Toni Morrison in 1970 The novel is set in 1941 in the backdrop of the Great Depression in Lorain, Ohio Centres around the life of a young African-American girl named Pecola who is constantly called ugly due to her dark skin colour leading to the wish for blue eyes. Narration- Claudia MacTeer and a third-person narrator Drunk Cholly, Pecola's father rapes her. Pecola's child dies prematurely leading to her insanity Due to controversial topics, there had been numerous attempts to ban the book   3) BELOVED   Beloved is a 1987 novel by the American writer Toni Morrison. Setting- Ame

  INTRODUCTION Heard of the mother-daughter duo- Anita Desai and Kiran Desai? The extremely talented women boast numerous awards and nominations in their literary pool.  Now, an introduction to Anita Desai can be read from Wikipedia .  A summary of 'Voices In The City' from here. Maharshi Dayanand University's Directorate of Distance Education has a full- length booklet on Indian Writing in English. In the content, you will find UNIT FOUR under SECTION B assigned to Anita Desai's Voices in the City.  WHY DO WE NEED TO LOOK FURTHER? An introduction and a summary won't help in looking at the novel from a 360-degree perspective. Also, there is a dearth of critical perspective and less matter on Indian Writing in English online. But there are several journals  that attempt a study of the novel from various lenses.  THE READING LIST 1) ANITA DESAI'S VOICES IN THE CITY: RECONSTRUCTING FEMALE IDENTITY JSTOR 2) ANITA DESAI'S WOMEN CHARACTERS: A SPECIAL STUDY OF