Assignment_Paper_209

Name::- Sneha Agravat

Batch:- 2020-22 (MA sem 1)

Paper 4:- Research Methodology

Topic name:- Importance of Note Taking in Research Writing

Roll no.:-16

Enrollment no.:-3069206420200001

 

E-mail Id :- snehaagravat2000@gmail.com

Submitted to:- S.B.Gardi Department Of English Maharaja krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

Importance of Note Taking in Research Writing

Introduction:-

Note-taking is a valuable skill to individuals in both academic and non-academic settings. However, note-taking is not necessarily a skill that students have upon arriving at campus or learn through trial-and-error during their education (van der Meer, 2012).Many students have little to no proficiency in note-taking during teaching, especially during fast-paced lectures, and it is unclear if students' note-taking tendencies alter with time. The purpose of this review is to present experimental research-based insights on note-taking and to address common questions raised by students and instructors alike. The following responses are intended to provide students and instructors with practical note-taking tips in order to improve learning, recall, and long-term retention of course content.

What is Note Taking:-

Note-taking is the practice of writing down or otherwise recording key points of information. It's an important part of the research process. Notes taken on class lectures or discussions may serve as study aids, while notes taken during an interview may provide material for an essay, article, or book. 

"Taking notes doesn't simply mean scribbling down or marking up the things that strike your fancy," say Walter Pauk and Ross J.Q. Owens in their book, "How to Study in College." "It means using a proven system and then effectively recording information before tying everything together."

Cognitive Benefits of Note-Taking:-

Note-taking involves certain cognitive behavior; writing notes engages your brain in specific and beneficial ways that help you grasp and retain information. Note-taking can result in broader learning than simply mastering course content because it helps you to process information and make connections between ideas, allowing you to apply your new knowledge to novel contexts, according to Michael C. Friedman, in his paper, "Notes on Note-Taking: Review of Research and Insights for Students and Instructors," which is part of the Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching.

Shelley O'Hara, in her book, "Improving Your Study Skills: Study Smart, Study Less," agrees, stating:

"Taking notes involves active listening, as well as connecting and relating information to ideas you already know. It also involves seeking answers to questions that arise from the material."

Taking notes requires you to actively engage your brain as you identify what's significant in terms of what the speaker is saying and begin to organise that information into an intelligible structure for subsequent decoding. That procedure, which entails considerably more than merely scribbling down what you hear, demands considerable mental effort.

Note-Taking Methods:-

Note-taking aids in reflection, mentally reviewing what you write. To that end, there are certain methods of note-taking that are among the most popular:

The Cornell method involves dividing a piece of paper into three sections: a space on the left for writing the main topics, a larger space on the right to write your notes, and a space at the bottom to summarize your notes. Review and clarify your notes as soon as possible after class. Summarize what you've written on the bottom of the page, and finally, study your notes.

Creating a mind map is a visual diagram that lets you organize your notes in a two-dimensional structure, says Focus. You create a mind map by writing the subject or headline in the center of the page, then add your notes in the form of branches that radiate outward from the center.

Outlining is similar to creating an outline that you might use for a research paper.

Charting allows you to break up information into such categories as similarities and differences; dates, events, and impact; and pros and cons, according to East Carolina University.

The sentence method is when you record every new thought, fact, or topic on a separate line. "All information is recorded, but it lacks [the] clarification of major and minor topics. Immediate review and editing are required to determine how information should be organized," per East Carolina University.

Note-Taking Tips:-

Among other tips offered by note-taking experts:

Leave a space between entries so that you can fill in any missing information.

Use a laptop and download information to add to your notes either during or after the lecture.

Understand that there is a difference between taking notes on what you read and what you hear (in a lecture). 

If you're unsure what that might be, visit a teacher or professor during office hours and ask them to elaborate.

Is it better to use pen and paper or a laptop to take notes?

Education researchers are still investigating the optimal note-taking medium (especially as laptop use in class becomes more common than pen and paper), but some initial insights can be drawn from current works, framed by the positive and negative aspects of laptop use relative to pen and paper note-taking. Laptop use may reduce the cognitive resources required for production, allowing for additional resources to be dedicated to comprehension during lecture relative to pen and paper note-taking, assisting in learning and long-term retention (Bui et al., 2013). However, the additional cognitive resources required for production in pen and paper note-taking may be alleviated in people who write relatively faster or in shorthand, as those people have automatized their writing so that their WM system is not extensively taxed during the act of note-taking (Peverly, 2006). Due to the relative ease of taking notes on a laptop, learners may also be inclined to take more notes than they would with a pen and paper medium.

Despite the benefits, there are also several costs associated with laptop note-taking. Although the relative ease of laptop use may encourage students to produce more notes than they would with pen and paper, there is an equal risk that learners may be susceptible to reproduce what the instructor is saying word-for-word rather than write notes in their own words.

Additionally, there is no consensus regarding whether note-taking on a laptop may impede the learning of students immediately surrounding the individual using a laptop, especially if that individual engages in multi-tasking during lecture (e.g., doing activities unrelated to instruction on their computer such as checking email, chatting with friends, and watching videos). Many students find that peers’ use of laptops during instruction can be distracting, even if the laptop-user is focused on note-taking. Students report that laptop use by peers is the greatest distraction during instruction (Fried, 2008), and specific distractors include what is on the peer’s screen as well as the sound of keystrokes (Borbone, 2009). However, the largest hazard to laptop use in class may be associated with multitasking.

How can we assess the quality of notes?:-

Due to various ways in which language can be changed by note-taking, in addition to the variety of note-taking styles to be discussed, it is relatively difficult to establish quality criteria that are valid for all forms of notes. Generally, notes are considered private and meaningful only to the note-taker, making it that much more difficult to establish a good criteria for high-quality notes (Piolat et al., 2005). For example, single words in notes that appear to be nonsensical to others may cue the creator of the notes to think about a personal experience and how it relates to the topic of the notes. It could even be argued that note quality cannot be assessed by anyone other than the user of the notes, as a specific note format ideal for one person may not be the best quality or way to convey content to someone else (Bui, Myerson, & Hale, 2013). 

Supporting this claim, Kiewra and colleagues found that reviewing self-produced notes lead to better recall performance than reviewing another student’s notes (Kiewra et al., 1991).

If a student believes that they have created poor quality notes (regardless of the accuracy of their own assessment), that student may engage in behaviors or strategies that they would not have used otherwise to ensure they understand the associated content (e.g., borrowing another student’s notes and comparing details). Importantly, the quality of notes should not be confused with the quantity of notes. Just because a student takes an excess of notes does not necessarily make those notes more beneficial to the learner (Bui et al., 2013), and in some cases, even detrimental to learning outcomes (Mueller & Oppenheimer, in press).

Suggestions for Note Taking:-

Take generative notes

Review early and often

Test yourself

Carefully consider how you want to take notes

Be careful of misperceptions during learning

Explain your rationale for course policies

Provide students with material before lecture to orient them towards 

important ideas or topics

Encourage students to take notes in their own words

Help make connections between current and past content

Carefully consider a laptop policy in your classroom

Conclusion:-

In a variety of areas and courses, note-taking is an acquired skill that increases student learning and retention of information. Importantly, for optimal learning, both comprehension and production processes (which both demand working memory resources) are required at the same time, making successful note-taking challenging to achieve. The methodology of evaluating notes might be subjective or variable from one study to the next, making it difficult to capture what constitutes high-quality notes consistently. Many other characteristics of note-taking, such as note style or format, varied mediums (pen and paper, laptop, handouts), physical environment, and the act of reviewing notes (including how those notes are reviewed), can all affect student learning and understanding of course content..

Work cited:

Brandner, Raphaela. “How to Take Effective Notes Using Mind Maps.” Focus.East Carolina University.

Friedman, Michael C. "Notes on Note-Taking: Review of Research and Insights for Students and Instructors." Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching, 2014.

Gardner, John N. and Betsy O. Barefoot. Step by Step to College and Career Success. 2nd ed., Thomson, 2008.

McWhorter, Kathleen T. Successful College Writing. 4th ed, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010.

Nordquist, Richard. "How to Take Better Notes During Lectures, Discussions, and Interviews." ThoughtCo, Aug. 27, 2020, thoughtco.com/note-taking-research-1691352.

O'Hara, Shelley. Improving Your Study Skills: Study Smart, Study Less. Wiley, 2005.

Pauk, Walter and Ross J.Q. Owens. How to Study in College. 11th ed, Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, 2004.

Theroux, Paul. "A World Duly Noted." The Wall Street Journal, 3 May 2013.

Thank you…

Assignment_paper_208

Name::- Sneha Agravat

Batch:- 2020-22 (MA sem 1)

Paper 3:- Comparative literature and Translation Studies

Topic name:- The Effect Of Translation Studies On Comparative Literature

Roll no.:-16

Enrollment no.:-3069206420200001

 

E-mail Id :- snehaagravat2000@gmail.com

Submitted to:- S.B.Gardi Department Of English Maharaja krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

                    The Effect Of Translation Studies On Comparative Literature

There are various borders among many states in a globalising globe. Over minor languages and nations, there are dominant cultures and languages.Comparative literature aims to break down national barriers. It considers all works of literature, whether they are major or minor. When comparing a piece of literature from other countries, we take into account their culture and history. Translation studies are crucial for comparative literature since a term might have various connotations in different cultures. Many theories and studies, in fact, have an impact on comparative literature. The relationship between comparative literature and translation studies will be examined in this assignment.

Introduction:-

Comparative literature is a large subject with various definitions, but the simplest and most straightforward is "Comparative Literature is the study of "literature without barriers." It is fascinated by all nations, regardless of their languages, epochs, genres, or borders. Unlike the term Weltliteratur, which was coined by Goethe, it grants equal weight to all types of literature. The strength of nations or languages is unimportant in comparative literature; rather, it strives to investigate the relationships between different literatures, whether minor or significant works, and to uncover similarities and distinctions.

Let's talk about the first Comparative literature and translation studies.

Comparative Literature:-

Rene Wellek, one of the European scholars, argued that comparative literature is against nationalism by saying that “Comparative Literature arose as a reaction against the narrow nationalism of much nineteenth century scholarship, as a protest against isolationism of many historians of French, German, Italian, English etc. literature.” (Wellek 165) 

World literature is concerned with major languages such as French, German, and English, whereas Comparative literature is concerned with both major and minor literatures. Many people around the world are familiar with and speak dominant languages, but what about the lesser-known languages? How can we analyse the works of people who speak languages that aren't widely spoken? If we don't speak the languages, how will we be able to comprehend their literature? The significance of translation studies in comparative literature is raised at this point. Many people can understand more easily when fewer spoken languages are translated. Major languages are already spoken; what matters is that minor languages are understood and studied by translating them into major languages. Similarly, translation allows those who speak minor languages to grasp the literature of dominant languages.We can understand their works of literature, languages, civilizations, and even histories through translation. Those lesser-spoken languages would be forgotten and extinct if translation was not a comparative literature study. In comparative literature, we treat all languages equally by translating and analysing them. We don't use translation to discriminate between languages.

TRANSLATION STUDIES:-

When translation studies first emerged in the nineteenth century, they were viewed as a threat to literature. It was a kind of misconception because of how translation was handled. Its accuracy has been questioned, with some questioning if it conveys the same message as the original text. Numerous conservatives opposed the translation of many literature, particularly religious texts such as the Bible, at the start of translation studies. They believed that if it was translated, the words would lose their meanings, and that because they were God's words, it would not be translated. It is assumed that when a text is translated, it loses its originality; otherwise, the translation would be meaningless. However, as comparative literature grew and expanded beyond European literature, translation became necessary.

Now let's see views of some scholars on Comparative literature and translation studies:-

1)Emily Apter:-

Emily Apter who is a professor of French and Comparative Literature in New York University, tries to break the identification of language with nation. “In naming a translational process constitutive of its disciplinary nomination comparative literature breaks the isomorphic fit between the name of a nation and the name of a language”(Apter 410) She proposes a “new comparative literature” based on translation which she sees variously initiated in the work of Leo Spitzer, Jacques Derrida, Edward Said and Gayatri Spivak.

Humanity is linked to translation, according to Emily Apter, because there is a long-term tie between human, nation, and language. Apter quotes Leo Spitzer, who said, "Any language is human before it is national: Turkish, French, and German languages belong to mankind first, then to Turkish, French, and German peoples." (41, Spitzer) Apter considers translation to be a method of denationalization literature. She agrees that language belongs to people first and then to a country. She considers language to be a universal tool for human understanding. Because people can detect parallels between their languages and the translated text when a text is translated, translation studies bring people from all over the world together.

Translation, in reality, demonstrates how language is universal rather than provincial or national. How do people who don't speak English appreciate Shakespeare's works if translation studies aren't available? How do they compare and contrast their works? At this moment, translation enters the picture. If we consider the original text to be the self, then translation brings the self and the other together. "Othering" vanishes as a result of translation. Walter Benjamin, a German literary critic and translator, emphasises the value of translation by contrasting translation and the original text with the concepts of life and death.

2) Gayatri Spivak:-

Unlike Benjamin, In “The Politics of Translation” Gayatri Spivak who is an Indian theorist and philosopher says that “if you want to make the translated text accessible, try doing it for the person who wrote it.” (Spivak 407)

When you consider the receiver, your translation becomes acceptable, according to Spivak. It can't progress any further unless it's in its own country or nation. In reality, she is not a big fan of the idea of translation. To be able to compare languages, she believes that one needs to first study the other languages. You should know the languages of the other if you want to identify with them. "It is vital to study other languages if you are interested in talking about the other and/or claiming to be the other,"(spivak,407) she explains. According to her, the key to comparative literature is to master the target language that you will compare.

You won't comprehend how the "other" is if you only read the translation of a piece of literature. To begin with, understanding the language allows you to read the content more closely and comprehend it better. Otherwise, you'll be reading exactly what the translators see from their own perspective. She accuses Comparative Literature for relying on translations rather than reading intently in the original at this stage. "Unless the translator has earned the right to become the intimate reader, she cannot yield to the text, cannot react to the specific call of the text," she says of the need for close reading in translation.(Spivak,407)

3)Itamar Even Zohar:-

Itamar Even Zohar, an Israeli scholar of cultural studies from Tel Aviv University, developed a poly system. In “The Position of Translated Literature within the Literary Polysystem” (1978) he explains the position of translated literature. According to him, literature is a kind of system and every nation has its own poly system which includes high and low literatures, different styles and genres, canonized or un-canonized works, different studies.According to Zohar, if we divide this poly system into two parts as primary and secondary; high, canonized and popular works of literature are seen as primary while low, un-canonized works are seen as secondary or peripheral. So, what is the position of translated literature in this poly system? In fact, translated literature has both a secondary and primary position in this poly system. Translation has a primary position “(a) when a poly system has not yet been crystallized, that is to say, when a literature is “young” in the process of being established; (b) when a literature is either “peripheral” (within a large group of related literatures) or “weak” or both; and (c) when there are turning points, crisis, or literary vacuums in a literature.” (Zohar 243)

Because young literature is in the process of developing and is ready to change, translation takes precedence in these three scenarios. As a result, translation changes these types of literatures to make them useful or enhances weak literatures by expanding them outside their limits. In these forms of literary works, it plays a crucial part. It does, however, have a secondary function. It is only mentioned in passing in known literatures. This is due to the fact that these high literatures have their own set of norms or values that do not alter. Translation has little meaning at this point because it does not reach the heart of the matter and has little impact on these types of works. It's just a game of words, not the centre. agree with Zohar’s idea of changing the position of the translation in the poly system. For example, less spoken languages and their “young” literatures need translation to become popular. When they are translated, they are read by others. Through translation, they are recognized by other popular literatures and they are shaped.

4)Lawrence Venuti:-

Lawrence Venuti who is a translation theorist describes the role of translator in comparative literature in his book “The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation” (1995). He emphasizes two terms “domestication” and “foreignization” ; he discusses these two translation strategies in his book. 

Domestication is to reduce the foreignness or the strangeness of the foreign text to be adopted in the target language. When a foreign text is domesticated, the reader of target language easily adopts and understands it as if it is a part of their literature. They are not defamiliarized from the text.According to Venuti, domestication is “an ethnocentric reduction of the foreign text to target-language cultural values, bringing the author back home.” (Venuti 20) On the other hand, foreignization is to show the reader of the target language how the foreign text is different from theirs.Foreignization, on the other hand, aims to demonstrate to the target language reader how the foreign text differs from their own. When people read it, they feel alienated since the translations have distinct linguistic or lexical qualities, making it difficult for the reader to understand. They can't see any parallels between the foreign text and their own works. "An ethno deviant push on those (cultural) values to reflect the linguistic and cultural difference of the foreign text, sending the reader abroad," Venuti says. (Venuti 20) Domestication, according to Venuti, renders the translator invisible. Because the text has been domesticated, the readers are oblivious to whether it is a translation or not, and they overlook the translator's role.

Lawrence Venuti supports the idea of foreignization. He also advocates the visibility of the translator through translation. He says that foreignization “entails choosing a foreign text and developing a translation method along lines which are excluded by dominant cultural values in the target language.” (Venuti 242) Venuti sees translation as a mediator between the original text and its translation. For example, when a minor language is translated in English by using the foreignization method, English readers will see the cultural or linguistic features of the original text, so this minor language can broad its fame or it can preserve its cultural elements, values or beliefs. It doesn’t have to be assimilated while being translated. He believes that translator creates a community by showing the values and characteristics of the foreign text. He states that “The interests that bind the community through a translation are not simply focused on the foreign text, but reflected in the domestic values, beliefs and representations that the translator inscribe in it.” (Venuti 477)

Conclusion:-

For comparative literature, a translation study is required. As previously said, without translation studies, dominant languages such as English, French, or Spanish would dominate minor languages, resulting in a lack of language variety in literature. The translator does not assimilate the language by translating Shakespeare's works, but rather expands its fame. People who speak minor languages can grasp other literatures thanks to translation. They are able to compare and contrast various literatures with their own. They broaden their viewpoints by seeing the differences and similarities. Because they connect with other literatures, they can produce a variety of works.Thanks to translation, languages which are less spoken have more readers nowadays. Likewise, well known works of literature earn more reputation all over the world through translation. Shakespeare’s 66 sonnet can be given as an example in this point.

In today's globalising world, translation and comparative literature work together to tear down barriers between countries. Because comparative literature is interested in both minor and major civilizations, translation is a means of bringing them together. People can deepen and widen their ideas on different literatures by translating it. People in comparative literature would not be able to comprehend each other without translation, and hence would not be able to recognise the distinctions and similarities between them. Finally, translation studies are required for comparative literature since they complement one another.

Work cited:-

Apter, Emily. “A New Comparative Literature” Comparative Literature From the Enlightenment to the Global Present. Ed: David Damrosch, Natalie Melas, Mbongiseni Buthelezi. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2009.

Benjamin, Walter. “The Task of the Translator” Comparative Literature From the Enlightenment to the Global Present. Ed: David Damrosch, Natalie Melas, Mbongiseni Buthelezi. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2009.

KIR, Nuran. The Effect of Translation Studies on Comparative Literature. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/319366. 

Spivak, Gayatri. “Crossing Borders” Comparative Literature From the Enlightenment to the Global Present. Ed: David Damrosch, Natalie Melas, Mbongiseni Buthelezi. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2009.

 Spivak, Gayatri. “Death of a Discipline.” Princeton University Press. 2005

Venuti, Lawrence. “From Translation, Community, Utopia” Comparative Literature From the Enlightenment to the Global Present. Ed: David Damrosch, Natalie Melas, Mbongiseni Buthelezi. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2009.

Wellek, Rene. “The Crisis of Comparative Literature” Comparative Literature From the Enlightenment to the Global Present. Ed: David Damrosch,Natalie Melas, Mbongiseni Buthelezi. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2009. 

Zohar, Itaamar Even. “The Position of Translated Literature within the Literary Polysystem” Comparative Literature From the Enlightenment to the Global Present. Ed: David Damrosch, Natalie Melas, Mbongiseni Buthelezi.New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2009.

Thank you...

Assignment_paper_207

Name::- Sneha Agravat

Batch:- 2020-22 (MA sem 1)

Paper 2:- Contemporary Literature

Topic name:- Symbolic significance to Crosswords in ‘The Only Story’

Roll no.:-16

Enrollment no.:-3069206420200001

 

E-mail Id :- snehaagravat2000@gmail.com

Submitted to:- S.B.Gardi Department Of English Maharaja krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

Symbolic significance to Crosswords in ‘The Only Story’

About author:-

Julian Barnes is one of the greatest contemporary English writers.

Born: 19 January 1946 (age 76) Leicester, England

Pen name: Dan Kavanagh (crime fiction), Edward Pygge

Occupation: Writer

Genre: Novels, short stories, essays, memoirs

Literary movement: Postmodernism

Notable awards:

Prix Femina 1992 

Commandeur of L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres 2004 

Man Booker Prize 2011

Jerusalem Prize 2021

Spouse: Pat Kavanagh(m. 1979,Died: 2008)

About Novel:-

The Only Story is a novel by Julian Barnes. It is his thirteenth novel and was published on 1 February 2018. The novel is about the life story of Paul Roberts, who we first meet as a 19-year-old Sussex University undergraduate returning to his parent's house in the leafy southern suburbs of London (Sutton, in Surrey, is suggested as a model.) The time is the early sixties, and there are a few references to current events. Paul joins the tennis club, which is one of the few opportunities such places offer for socialising. In a random-draw mixed doubles, he is thrown together with Susan MacLeod, a 48-year-old married woman with two daughters older than Paul. Improbably, Paul and Susan become lovers and she eventually leaves her family to set up house with Paul in South London. Having nothing to do but a little housekeeping, Susan soon descends into alcoholism and dementia. Paul departs and embarks on foreign travels, picking up jobs and women at random.

Paul is a quintessentially alienated character. With no interest in either politics or religion, and no particular ambition, he takes life as it comes. As he narrates his life in this book, he freely admits that memory is unreliable and he may not be telling us the truth.

There are many symbols in the "The Only Story". So in this I would like to explore one symbol:-

                           Crossword

In this Novel two people are playing crosswords, one is mr. Gordon Macleaod and another is Joan.In ‘The Only Story’ Julian Barnes has captures the nuances of social life lived in the 20th century England. The crosswords was something so significant aspect of this traditional British activity that several characters of this novel are found meaningfully engaged with it. 

It is said that Crossword puzzles have several benefits like:

They can strengthen social bonds. Completing a crossword puzzle on your own is impressive, but you should never feel bad if you need to ask for help. ...

They improve your vocabulary. ...

They increase your knowledge base. ...

They can relieve stress. ...

They boost your mood.

 

Benefits of Crossword in Education:-

Utilizing the crossword puzzle as an enjoyable and participatory teaching tool accompanied by lecture could improve management quality in Speech Therapy sessions. (Zamani))

Young and many other researcher examine that game like crossword puzzle increase learning motivation and improve student satisfaction in the classroom, such as computer-based learning.(Young et al.)

Use of crossword puzzles as a teaching tool in dental materials, can relieve the tedium of lecture and traditional teaching methods, thereby providing a more relaxed and friendly classroom atmosphere. This will facilitate active learning and make the learning experience of students more productive.(Saran and Kumar)

However, the postmodernist novelist Julian Barnes is not interested in this traditional meaning involved in crossword.

See, how Paul Roberts, the narrator of the story, explains the hidden aspects of this British pass-time activity:

“Everyone in the Village, every grown-up – or rather, every middle-aged person – seemed to do crosswords: my parents, their friends, Joan, Gordon Macleod. Everyone apart from Susan. They did either The Times or the Telegraph; though Joan had those books of hers to fall back on while waiting for the next newspaper.I regarded this traditional British activity with some snootiness.I was keen in those days to find hidden motives – preferably involving hypocrisy – behind the obvious ones.

Joan’s habit of ‘cheating at crossword':-

During trips to her house, Paul Roberts has seen that she cheats when tackling crossword puzzles. He's taken aback by this habit of hers. When he asks her directly, she responds positively. Here's her response:

Why do you cheat at crosswords?’ 

Joan laughed loudly. 

‘You cheeky bugger. I suppose Susan told you. Well, it’s a fair question, and one I can answer.’ She took another pull of her gin. ‘You see – I hope you never get there yourself – but some of us get to the point in life where we realize that nothing matters. Nothing fucking matters. And one of the few side-benefits of that is you know you’re not going to go to hell for filling in the wrong answers in the crossword. Because you’ve been to hell and back already and you know all too well what it’s like.’ 

‘But the answers are in the back of the book.’ 

‘Ah, but you see, to me that would be cheating.

Apart from Joan, Gordon Macleod is the only character in the story who is seen solving crossword puzzles. He is seen solving crossword puzzles with Paul Roberts on two occasions. The puzzle's answers are 'Taunton' – a town name – meaning continue mocking at – and 'TREFOIL, REF – arbitrator – in the middle of TOIL – work.' If we interpret these words in the context of Paul and Gordon's relationship, we may find it symbolically important. Taunton – making fun of someone or something, and Trefoil – a common warning symbol – signify a triangle relationship between Paul, Susan, and Gordon. Both of these words in the crossword problem appear to be a dig at Paul's middle-of-the-road marriage to Susan and Gondon.

We can take one contemporary example to related it:-

Wordle Game:-

Wordle has become so popular on Twitter that some of the microblogging platform’s users have started muting the word. For those who haven’t figured it out by now, Wordle is a daily word game that can be played online. It’s like a password without clues and can be played only once a day. Every day there is a new word to guess and players get six chances to go at it.

If you are on Twitter you would have definitely seen people sharing posts from Wordle, a set with its unique yellow, green, and grey boxes. These posts are accompanied by two numbers. The first indicates the game number and the second is the number of attempts out of six that the player needed to win.

Conclusion:

To sum up, we may say that the work contains numerous references to 'Crossword.'

It's been dubbed a "British time-pass activity" by some. It's also the most snobbish criticism of the practice.Apart from these cultural connections, the crossword puzzle serves as a metaphor for studying Joan's character as a contrast to Susan's.It's also worth looking at Paul Roberts, Susan, and Gordon Macleod's tense triangular relationship.

Work cited:-

Barnes, Julian. The Only Story. Penguin Random House UK. 2018. Book. 24 January 2022.

Julian Barnes: Official Website, http://julianbarnes.com.

McMahon, Liv. “What Is Wordle? How to Play Wordle, UK Reset Time, Words to Try and Spin-off Games Nerdle, Quordle and Worldle.” The Scotsman, 22 Feb. 2022, https://www.scotsman.com/culture/gaming/what-is-wordle-how-to-play-the-hit-word-game-plus-words-and-spin-offs-to-try-3525205.

Saran, Runki, and Saurabh Kumar. “Use of Crossword Puzzles as a Teaching Aid to Facilitate Active Learning in Dental Materials.” Indian Journal of Applied Research, vol. 5, no. 4, 2015, https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Saurabh-Kumar-134/publication/320891742

Saxena, Anurag, et al. “Crossword Puzzles: Active Learning in Undergraduate Pathology and Medical Education.” Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, vol. 133, no. 9, 2009, pp. 1457–1462., https://doi.org/10.5858/133.9.1457.

The Shores of Lake Phalen. “Benefits of Crossword Puzzles.” The Shores of Lake Phalen, 25 July 2020, https://www.theshoresoflakephalen.com/benefits-of-crossword-puzzles.

Young, Michael F., et al. “Our Princess Is in Another Castle: A Review of Trends in Serious Gaming for Education.” Review of Educational Research, vol. 82, no. 1, 1 Mar. 2012, pp. 61–89., https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654312436980.

Zamani, Peyman. “The Use of Crossword Puzzles as an Educational Tool.” Journal of Advances in Medical Education & Professionalism, vol. 9, no. 2, 2021, https://doi.org/ 10.30476/jamp.2021.87911.1330

Thank you....

Assignment_Paper_206

Name::- Sneha Agravat

Batch:- 2020-22 (MA sem 1)

Paper 1:- African literature

Topic name:- Fanonism and Constructive Violence in Petals of Blood

Roll no.:-16

Enrollment no.:-3069206420200001

 

E-mail Id :- snehaagravat2000@gmail.com

Submitted to:- S.B.Gardi Department Of English Maharaja krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

Fanonism and Constructive Violence in Petals of Blood

Introduction:-

Constructive violence is used to resist injustice and repressive social order. Ngugi' Wa Thiongo's novel is a stinging indictment of Kenyan governing elites who exploit workers and peasants, as well as a vital and unwavering denunciation of neocolonialist institutions such as Christianity, politics, schools, commerce, banks, landowners, and even motorways. Petals of Blood also shows how important collective action is in empowering ordinary people to fight oppression. Ngugi declared that using violence to oppose this repressive social system is justifiable, echoing Franz Fanon's beliefs. Violence, according to Fanonism, is a productive force. Other than violence, colonised countries have no other option for decolonization. Kenya has a long history of struggle and violence, culminating in the 1963 'Uhuru' (independence).

Let's throw some light on novel and author:-

About author:-

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o born James Ngugi; 5 January 1938) is a Kenyan writer and academic who writes primarily in Gikuyu and who formerly wrote in English. His work includes novels, plays, short stories, and essays, ranging from literary and social criticism to children's literature. He is the founder and editor of the Gikuyu-language journal Mũtĩiri. His short story The Upright Revolution: Or Why Humans Walk Upright, is translated into 100 languages from around the world.

In 1977, Ngũgĩ embarked upon a novel form of theatre in his native Kenya that sought to liberate the theatrical process from what he held to be "the general bourgeois education system", by encouraging spontaneity and audience participation in the performances.

Petals of blood:-

Petals of Blood is a novel written by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o and first published in 1977. Set in Kenya just after independence, the story follows four characters – Munira, Abdulla, Wanja, and Karega – whose lives are intertwined due to the Mau Mau rebellion. In order to escape city life, each retreats to the small, pastoral village of Ilmorog. As the novel progresses, the characters deal with the repercussions of the Mau Mau rebellion as well as with a new, rapidly westernizing Kenya.The novel largely deals with the scepticism of change after Kenya's independence from colonial rule, questioning to what extent free Kenya merely emulates, and subsequently perpetuates, the oppression found during its time as a colony. Other themes include the challenges of capitalism, politics, and the effects of westernization. Education, schools, and the Mau Mau rebellion are also used to unite the characters, who share a common history with one another.

Fanonism:-

Fanon provides a view of violence as a constructive force in Wretched of the Earth. "National liberation, national renaissance, restoration of people's nationhood, common wealth: whatever the headings or new formulas used, decolonization is always a violent phenomenon," he says, adding that "the naked truth of decolonization evokes for us the searing bullets and bloodstained knives that emanate from it." (Fanon, p. 27-28, 1985). "The rise of violence among the colonised people will be proportional to the violence exercised by the threatened colonial regime" (p. 69), but native violence brings the people together. It liberates the locals from his despondency and passivity, as well as his inferiority complex. For an individual, it acts as a "cleaning force."

Ngugi and Constructive Violence:-

It is not savagery to use violence to change an individual's unjust social structure; it purifies man. It is unlawful and dehumanising to use violence to uphold and maintain an unfair repressive social order." -In a 1963 examination of Majdalany's state of emergency, Ngugi declares. It presents Ngugi's perspective on violence as a constructive force, and his attitude is quite positive, similar to Fanon's. "Imperialism, the power of dead capital, in its neocolonial garb, will not be able to eliminate the fighting culture of the African peasantry and working class for the simple fact that this culture is a product and a reflection of real life conflicts going on in Africa today," he says. (see p. xvii)

Kenyan History of Violence:-

For millennia, the coast of Kenya has been open to outside influences; intruders' treasure hunting began in the early eleventh century, and conflict with the natives was the seed of more violence. During the next four centuries, Indonesians, Arabs, Portuguese, and Omani Arabs arrived to trade and halt. After the sixteenth century, the first Europeans arrived in East Africa as explorers and traders. Settlers did not begin to go inland Kenya until the late 1800s. Europeans were stealing land from the indigenous Bantu peoples, the Kikuyuu, in Nairobi, Tigoni, and Limuru. The United States' war for land began, and throughout the colonial period, British settlers and bureaucrats established a system of brutality and tyranny.

Waiyaki Wa Hiinga and others led the early campaign for independence in the late 1800s. The genuine struggle for freedom began in the 1950s, when Dedan, Kmathi, L'Ouverture, Ole Masai, Chaka, Mathenge, Turner, and other brilliant leaders launched the Mau Mau campaign. It was an armed conflict between the Gikuyu peasantry and British colonial soldiers (Maughan, 1985, p.20). Mau Mau had a big influence on Ngugi. It was a war that captivated the public imagination and forever altered the fate of Kenya and many other British-ruled countries. For the first time, peasants, the poor of the earth, were fighting in a highly developed country with a long military history (p, xi).

Constructive Violence in Petals of Blood:-

In Ngugi's 1977 novel Petals of Blood, he is looking for a political plan to abolish "e Whole ing," or global monopoly capitalism, of which Africa is a fundamental part. (Dorn,1999). The Kenya Ngugi talks about in this novel, the Kenya that no one can take away from him, is the 'Kenya of the working class of all nationalities and their heroic struggle against control by nature and other humans throughout the centuries.'

Nobody cared about the fate of the three small preys, the Krupps, Rockfellers, and Delameres, or if Wanja, Karega, Munira, or Abdullah was the one who killed them by the time Petals of Blood finishes. Wanja, an extraordinary struggling female character who, like Kenya, must battle to stay alive and for whom destruction is never far away, is an extraordinary struggling female character. She enables herself to become cruel like the surroundings after being humiliated by society and the world's hatred. "You eat someone or you are eaten," she explained the truth of the neocolonial position. You either sit on someone or they sit on you." She questioned, has Kimeria sinned less than her, why is she the only sufferer. She stroked his head with the punga before the person. According to Fanon this is individual freedom and it will calm and clean her burning hear.

Abdullah, the shy Mau Mau fighter, was completely betrayed by the country for which he fought. The newly independent Kenya was unable to rehabilitate the one-legged fighter who had given up his family and land for the sake of the country. The unsung hero had the opportunity to redeem himself, but Kimeria, the same guy who betrayed his friend during Mau Mau, was involved with the spoils of his business, his earnings. He wanted to revenge the death of his comrade, Ndinguri, and free Wanja from his claws by killing Kimeria. By doing this act of violence, he reserved his manhood.

Karega, the travelling guy, commits himself to worker solidarity and assists the labour union. He disagreed with Wanja's ideology and continued his search for lost innocence, optimism, and faith. He believed that being a perpetrator of violence would not prevent violence. He was certain there had to be another way to the 'new world.'

Munira, the man of God,was likewise haunted by the need to escape the circumstance; as a passive "observer of life," he desired a connection that would drive him to act. To show the behaviour to himself, he even took personal revenge by dismissing Karega. Finally, he was moved by a supernatural intuition to construct a secular new universe.' He wished to save Karega from Wanja's terrible hug. He made the decision to set fire to the 'Sunshine Lodge,' a prostitution den. Kimeria, Chui, and Mzigo, the neocolonial agents, frequented the area. This deed was a reenactment of his childhood, in which he threw the sin, the corruption, into the fire.

Conclusion:-

Ngugi eventually exposes some optimism through constructive violence in this novel. In the violent act of purifying, all of the protagonists actively participate or lend silent support. Following the arson, Wanja's pregnancy, Joseph's school rebellion, and Karega's fate in fresh strikes and protests in Ilmorog, a future generation will be born with the spirit of purification and courage inherited from parents who fought for freedom and social revolution. Constructive violence, such as arson, will burn down the corrupted, rotting society, bringing hope and promise to the future.Kenya is reborn as a new country.

Work cited:-

Amin, Tasnim. “Fanonism and Constructive Violence in Petals of Blood.” INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, vol. 6, no. 4, Apr. 2017. 

Fanon, Frantz. (1985)e Wretched of the Earth. Penguin Books: London. pp. 27-75.

“Fanonism” (1998) Key Concept in Post-Colonial Studies, Routledge.

Thiong'o, N.W. (2005) Petals of Blood. Penguin Books: New York.

Thank you…

Comparitive_Studies_Unit_4

Hello readers...

We have paper on the comparative Studies and translation studies in our syllabus. In that we have to study various articles on that particular subject. So in this blog i would like to talk about two articles from the unit 4.

8) Tejaswini Niranjana. “Introduction: History in Translation” Siting Translation: History, Poststructuralism and the Colonial Context, 1992 :-

Abstract:-

Some of the most pressing debates in current cultural and literary studies have erupted from the tumultuous intersection of poststructuralist theory and historical studies for some time. The difficulty, in its most basic form, is articulating radical political agendas within a deconstructive framework. The critique of representation emanating from within has produced profoundly self-reflexive fears for a discipline like literary studies, whose raison d'être is the investigation of representation. She starts by criticising deconstructive critique for failing to face the subject of colonialism, as well as translation studies' reluctance to pose questions about their own historicity.Contemporary critiques of representation have not extended themselves to the point of questioning the idea of translation, of re-presenting linguistic meaning in interlinguistic transfers.

Key points :-

1)Situating Translation 

2)Translation As Interpellation  

3)The Question of History

Key arguments:-

Her goal is to start small by looking at the "uses" of translation. In a situation where translation has been utilised to underwrite practises of subjectification, particularly for colonised peoples, rethinking translation becomes a crucial endeavour. Although the "original" is brought into being by translation, it acts as a transparent portrayal of something that already existing. Surprisingly, translation also gives the colonised a position in "history."

Given the persistent nature of Hegelian presentation of the non-West and the model of teleological history that authorises them, she was discussing the relevance of historicism critique to a world experiencing decolonization, and how questioning the model could underpin a new practise of translation. Another feature of post-structuralism that is important for rethinking translation is its critique of historicism, which demonstrates traditional historiography's genetic (looking for an origin) and teleological (positing a certain end) nature. A critique of historicism could help us dismantle Mill and Hegel's "pusillanimous" and "deceitful" Hindus. Of course, her concern is not with the supposed portrayal of "Hindus."

Rather, I'm attempting to call into question the essentializing of "different" (what Johannes Fabian refers to as a denial of coevalness) that allows for a stereotyped construction of the other. Translation is traditionally predicated on Western philosophical concepts of reality, representation, and knowledge.

Analysis:-

Tejaswini Niranjana's investigation of translation as critical activity is made possible in the setting of this crisis. Other postcolonial theorists like Gayatri Spivak and Homi Bhabha, as well as feminists like Jane Gallop and Nancy K. Miller, have claimed that deconstruction may be employed in politically helpful ways, and her study seems to strengthen and elaborate on this argument. Niranjana convincingly demonstrates that a critique of presence can be taken to its limits without incapacitating the interventionist critic, insisting that a questioning of humanist or Enlightenment models of representation and translation "can underwrite a new practise of translation... reinscribing its potential as a strategy of resistance."

Conclusion:-

She should go over Spivak's main remarks about the "Subaltern historians" briefly because it is part of her argument that the problems of translation and the telling of history are inextricably linked. Their strategic use of post-structuralist ideas may help us see more clearly how the conceptions of history and translation she wants to reintroduce are not only enabled but also strengthened by the post-colonial criticism of historiography.

Work ciated:-

Niranjana, Tejaswini. SITING TRANSLATION HISTORY, POSTSTRUCTURALISM, AND THE COLONIAL CONTEXT. The Regents of the University of California, 1992.

9) E.V. Ramakrishnan, “ Shifting Centres and Emerging Margins: Translation and the Shaping of the Modernist Poetic Discourse in Indian Poetry”, in Indigenous Imaginaries: Literature, Region, Modernity, 2017 

Abstract:-

The function of translation in establishing a modernist poetic sensibility in some of India's major literary traditions in the twentieth century, between 1950 and 1970, is examined in this article. The chapter will look at instances from Bengali, Malayalam, and Marathi to see how modern Western poets' translations were utilised to challenge the hegemony of dominant literary sensibilities and poetic techniques. Many Indian poets worked as translators, including Buddhadeb Bose, Agyeya, Gopalakrishna Adiga, Dilip Chitre, and Ayyappa Paniker. Poetry from Africa and Latin America was heavily translated during this period of modernism. During this time, Neruda and Parra were regularly translated into Indian languages.

During the modernist phase of Indian poetry, translation served as a critical act of evaluation, a creative act of intervention, and a performative act of legitimation in the development of a new poetic. The term "translation" is used to describe a variety of cultural behaviours ranging from critical commentary to the development of intertextual text. The chapter claims that'rewritings' and'reflections' seen in the 'less evident form of criticism...,commentary, historiography, instruction, the gathering of works in anthologies, the development of playshare' are also instances of translation. Sudhindranayh Dutt's Bengali essay on T.S. Eliot, or Ayyappa Paniker's scathing critique of Vallathol Narayana Menon's poetic practises in Malayalam, can both be classified as 'translational' writing embeded them.

Modernity and Modernism.

Key points:-

The project of Modernism in India. Literary/ artistic movement . 

Postcolonial contex. 

The reception of Western modernist discourses in India. Translation .

 Indigenous roots/ routes ofmodernity and modernism. Western modernity. 

The metaphor of the mice. The surreal image

The Most Important Arguments

• It has been suggested that the basic idea of a 'Self-reflection or Self-validating' literary text in modernist poems is rooted in an aesthetic philosophy that was complicated by colonialism.

• As D.R.Nagaraj has pointed out, nationalism has become the state's philosophy. How should we assess the modernisms that arose in India throughout the postcolonial period? Non-Western modernism, according to critics such as Simon Gikandi, Susan Friedman, Laura Doyle and Laura Winkiel, and Aparna Dharwadker, is not merely a derivative of European hegemonic practise. 'It was not because they imbibed modernism that the adbunik Bengali writers drifted away from Rabindranath Tagore,' Amiya Dev has stated in the context of Bengali.

• Dutta argues in 'The Necessity of Poetry' that poetry's continuance through the years in all communities, particularly among the naïve and primitive, attests to its necessity. • Mardhekar emphasises their haphazard search for survival in a harsh environment. The bizarre image in the statement, "Sadness has poisoned eyes made of glass," encapsulates the opacity of their eyesight and the toxic character of their destined existence devoid of any feeling of benign order of life.

Analysis:-

The term 'Modernism' refers to a literary/artistic movement marked by experimentation, as well as a conscious rejection of nationalist/Romantic as well as popular values.

The pistcolonial background lends a complex political component to Indian Modernism's aesthetic. The dynamics of socio-political upheavals associated to the founding of the nation state and the realignment of power structures in society facilitated the reception of Western modernist discourses in India.

• We can delineate the intricate creative and ideological undercurrents that impacted the trajectory of modernism in Indian literature thanks to translation.

In the context of India, the relationship between 'Modernity' and 'Modernism' can be summarised as follows: Modernity represents an epochal time of wide-ranging transformations brought about by the arrival of colonialism, capitalism, and the industrial method of production.

From the reformer movement of the nineteenth century through the modernist movement of the mid-twentieth century, colonial Modernity influenced literary and cultural movements.

Sudhindranath Dutta (1901-60), B.S.Mardhekar (1909-56), and Ayyappa Paniker (1936-2004) are three notable modernist authors from three different Indian literary traditions: Bengali, Marathi, and Malayalam. These three authors were bilingual and produced essays in both English and their native tongues. Bengali emerged in the 1930s and persisted throughout the 1940s and 1950s, whereas Marathi flourished in the 1950s and 1960s.

• Dutta's knowledge of Western thinking is demonstrated through his discussions of Aristotle, Plato, Voltaire, Byron, Mallarmé, and Yeats.

As a modernist poetry, "The Camel-Bird" transcends the personal by encapsulating the stagnation that a colonised culture is forced to endure.

The name 'Kurukshetram' refers to the location where the Mahabharata's core theme, the epic battle, took place. Through the metaphor of the dream, the poem moves through fragmented pictures from contemporary life, but there are also redeeming recollections of forgotten harmonies that reappear. The poem's intriguing rhythms elicit a profound unease that cannot be pinpointed.

 Modern men and women are denied the tragic dignity of epic heroes, and the self is perceived as a source of struggle and conflict. Understanding the indigenous roots/routes of modernity and modernism in all three writers listed above is critical. They are part of a postcolonial logic that has already evolved internal critiques of Western modernity.

In terms of vision, form, and content, B. S. Mardhekar revolutionised Marathi poetry and its dire dynamics. As an insider who had grasped the insights provided by an alien tradition, Mardhekar intervened in the Marathi literary tradition.

In 'Mice in the Wet Barrel Died,' which became a famous Marathi modernist poetry. The mice metaphor is supposed to convey the gloomy and evil aspects of modern existence. When this poem was first published in Marathi, in Abhiruchi, it was welcomed with a barrage of criticism, sparking lengthy debates and even parodies in Marathi.

• Ayyappa Paniker was a poet, critic, and translator who, among other things, introduced Malayalam readers to foreign poetry.

Conclusion:-

As a result, language became the only reality to which the modernists could relate. Their identification, facilitated by 'Western' modernist discourses, was fundamentally postcolonial. The self-reflexive movement was also made feasible by the transmission of an interior style of being that questioned the current boundaries of freedom, rather than content or form.

Work cited:-

Ramakrishnan, E. V. “CHAPTER FIFTEEN Shifting Centres and Emerging Margins: Translation and the Shaping of Modernist Poetic Discourse in Indian Poetry.” 2017, p. 16.

Thank you...