Review of related Literature : Dessertation

 Hello readers...

This blog is in response of the dessertation that we are doing in our department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University. This blog is about the topic Theory of Unconscious mind - Dream v/s Reality with reference to selected novels of william Shakespeare that I have selected for the dessertation.

Freud believed that the unconscious mind deals with human mind as how it works and what is the reality. In true sense if we see generally  what happens is people take the meaning of unconsciousness in a negative sense because mostly people think that unconsciousness is related with our dreams and dreams are not the reality. It is a part of our human cycle and its very normal not to consider the unconscious or the dream as reality. Freud believes that human tendency relies upon the fact that whatever is happening is reality means consciousness and whatever happens in the dream is unconsciousness. Freud often use a term “Freudian slips” also known as slip of tongue. This concept of Freud is a part of our day to day life and everyone experiences this thing. It happens when in our unconsciousness mind things are there but we hide it to spoke in front of the world so that thing sometimes we mistakenly spoke it unintentionally, this is what Freud thinks.

The Theory of Sigmund Freud and Carl Yung both refers to the same concept of human mind’s unconsciousness. Both analyzed the same meaning of dream as they refer to the concept of consciousness and unconsciousness. At the very same time there is a split between them on the matter of religion and sexual irges.

The notion that the unconscious mind exists at all has been disputed.

Franz Brentano rejected the concept of the unconscious in his 1874 book Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint, although his rejection followed largely from his definitions of consciousness and unconsciousness.

Jean-Paul Sartre offers a critique of Freud's theory of the unconscious in Being and Nothingness, based on the claim that consciousness is essentially self-conscious. Sartre also argues that Freud's theory of repression is internally flawed. Philosopher Thomas Baldwin argues that Sartre's argument is based on a misunderstanding of Freud.

Erich Fromm contends that "The term 'the unconscious' is actually a mystification even though one might use it for reasons of convenience, as I am guilty of doing in these pages. There is no such thing as the unconscious; there are only experiences of which we are aware, and others of which we are not aware, that is, of which we are unconscious. If I hate a man because I am afraid of him, and if I am aware of my hate but not of my fear, we may say that my hate is conscious and that my fear is unconscious; still my fear does not lie in that mysterious place: 'the' unconscious."

John Searle has offered a critique of the Freudian unconscious. He argues that the Freudian cases of shallow, consciously held mental states would be best characterized as 'repressed consciousness,' while the idea of more deeply unconscious mental states is more problematic. He contends that the very notion of a collection of "thoughts" that exist in a privileged region of the mind such that they are in principle never accessible to conscious awareness, is incoherent. This is not to imply that there are not "nonconscious" processes that form the basis of much of conscious life. Rather, Searle simply claims that to posit the existence of something that is like a "thought" in every way except for the fact that no one can ever be aware of it can never, indeed, "think" it is an incoherent concept. To speak of "something" as a "thought" either implies that it is being thought by a thinker or that it could be thought by a thinker. Processes that are not causally related to the phenomenon called thinking are more appropriately called the nonconscious processes of the brain.

William Shakespeare explored the role of the unconscious in many of his plays, without naming it as such.

We can also turn to Shakespeare’s psychological genius to discover new insights into the mind, that may have been overlooked by psychoanalytic theory. Shakespeare has anticipated insights that later came from the psychoanalytic study of couples, families, and groups. As an example, scholars have discovered that the more closely Shakespeare’s text is read , the more hidden layers of meaning are unlocked. Freud focused on the child’s oedipal conflicts, downplaying the “Laius complex” of the father, whereas Shakespeare forces us to confront an overtly incestuous father in Pericles. Shakespeare also demonstrates an awareness with what are now considered our multiple, normative self states.In explaining the recent turn away from Freud in Shakespeare studies, Brown lists several attacks on his theory in general, and his approach to Shakespeare in particular. Some scholars consider it improper to view literary characters as comparable to real people. This is ironic, considering the widespread agreement that Shakespeare’s characters come close to literary perfection, in their verisimilitude. One suspects there may be a “turf ” aspect to this criticism of Freud, since psychoanalysts have something to say about real people, and literary theorists may not want us encroaching on their territory.

Three plays of Shakespeare’s that feature mental illness most prominently are King Lear, Hamlet, and Macbeth, while also managing to showcase the conception of umconsciousness.
However, Hamlet proceeds to murder and hide the body of Polonius, which leads to Ophelia’s insanity and the scene where everyone dies, as well as the completely senseless murders of minor characters Guildenstern and Rosencrantz. Speaking of Ophelia’s madness, it becomes apparent to the audience that she is well and truly insane, when she enters, singing, 

“They bore him barefaced on the bier;Hey non nonny, nonny, hey nonny;And in his grave rain'd many a tear:--Fare you well, my dove!” 

which, even by the archaic standards of Shakespeare, is complete and utter nonsense. Ophelia, apparently, due to rejection by Hamlet, her boyfriend, and the death of her father, had become hysterical.  Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, is a mental disease commonly found among soldiers, but can be caused by the murders of close family members, and does result in delusions. Whatever the case may have been, Ophelia later commits suicide by drowning herself in the river, possibly due to delusions, or out of depression over her father’s death. Whatever the case may be, both Hamlet and Ophelia are prime examples of insanity and madness within Shakespeare’s writings.
Finally, Macbeth, one of Shakespeare’s shortest and bloodiest works, is near infamous for its main characters, the Lord and Lady Macbeth, both of whom happen to be insane. 

Citations :

Vitz, Paul C. Sigmund Freud's Christian Unconscious. New York: The Guilford Press,New York.1988

 Baldwin Thomas. Ted Honderich (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.1995

Fromm, Erich. Beyond the Chains of Illusion: My Encounter with Marx & Freud.Sphere Books, London.1980

Searle, John. The Rediscovery of the Mind. MIT Press, 1994

Carolyn E. Brown,Shakespeare and Psychoanalytic Theory.Bloomsbury,London 2015.

Thinking Activity : Sample Research Paper

 Obstacles in love with reference to "The Only Story" by Julian Barnes

Abstract

The Only Story, a British teenage romance, is a flawlessly executed novel with no flaws, contradictions, or visible flaws. Is it, however, more than that? Is Barnes just playing it safe following his courageous performance in The Noise of Time on the life of Dmitri Shostakovich.

Perhaps in terms of content. But not in the manner in which that subject is addressed. The Only Story makes bold assertions and raises unexpected concerns, demonstrating that Barnes isn't resting on his laurels.In the beginning of te story he states ,

Most of us have only one story to tell. I don’t mean that only one thing happens to us in our lives: there are countless events, which we turn into countless stories. But there’s only one that matters, only one finally worth telling. This is mine.

As Paul's storey progresses, it becomes evident that it is about love in general, and first love in particular, which, according to the book, is the only storey we have to tell about ourselves.

Other exquisite, haunting novels, such as Patrick Modiano's The Black Notebook, are clearly illuminated by such a claim. Is Barnes' storey of Paul and his sweetheart Susan, on the other hand, intended to serve as a warning tale about how draining it is for people when romantic love becomes their sole story. Is it a tragedy, or is it a comedy. Is Barnes implying that humans are bound to have only one meaningful love storey, even if that love is fleeting, contingent, and complicated, as Paul and Susan's is? Barnes seemed to largely agree with the latter viewpoint.

Consider teeth, for example. Paul says of Susan’s,

I must tell you about her teeth. Well, two of them, anyway. The middle front ones at the top. She called them her “rabbit teeth” because they were perhaps a millimeter longer than the strict national average; but that, to me, made them the more special. I used to tap them lightly with my middle finger, checking that they were there, and secure, just as she was. It was a little ritual, as if I was taking an inventory of her.

It's hard not to crack a smile at this little goofy but entirely plausible love gesture. Her teeth are visible throughout the first half of the novel, until they are tragically lost. If Barnes has anything to say about this, it's that small things like tooth tenderness are the signum et res — the sign and reality — of true love.

Key words

 Time

 Addiction

 Guilt

 Responsibility

 Mental strenghth

Inner peace

Introduction

 Paul Roberts, a 19 year old Sussex University undergraduate returning to his parents' home in London's green southern suburbs, is the protagonist of this novel .The setting is the early 1960s, with a few allusions to present events. Paul joins the tennis club, which is one of the few social activities available in such settings. He is paired with Susan MacLeod, a 48 year old married woman with two daughters older than Paul, in a mixed doubles match. Surprisingly, Paul and Susan fall in love, and Susan finally abandons her family to live with Paul in South London. Susan descends quickly, having nothing to do but a little housekeeping.

As we all know that writing a love story is very common having conflicts either it is of relationships or with the society, but in this story Julian Barnes had brought up some new idea which makes the story very unique and different form othe literary works.

The obstacles in love is the unconventional love between Paul and Susan which turns into an organic one. First they both develop respect for each other then they both develop feelings and decided to live together.From here the conflict starts and we can say thr main obstacle in their love is the age gap that they are having not the viee point of society but time.Here time plays crucial role or wr can say thr main obstacle between them.

All the above things had affected Susan and Paul in their respective place.For Susan it was impossible to leave her responsibility in order to live with Paul because she has her two daughters and a husband who abuses her.For her it was very hard to remove all the cruelty of her husband from her mind but what makes her happy is the time with paul. On the othet hand paul was very young and he was not able to handle the all those problems of Susan with her family.Althought Paul tries to solve it but in doing that he losses his inner peace.He wanted to be with Susan but because he was not that mature and experienced compare to Susan he was not able to make both of their lives at peace.

Although Paul's love story isn't particularly compelling, Barnes' analysis of it is. With careful observation, the author uses a scalpel to reveal his protagonist's goals, beliefs, and neuroses, much as he does in his prior works. The first section of the novel is written in first person, the second in second, and the third in third person, and these three voices correspond to three stages in Paul and Susan's relationship: the birth of love, the dying of love, and the aftermath of love.

Barnes maintains both of these facts in the first half of the story, writing in such a way that the provisionality of Paul and Susan's love is preserved despite the retrospective context. Later in the story, there's a similar reflective dynamic, like in this part, which features more of Barnes's sardonic humour:

I said I never kept a diary. This isn’t strictly true. There was a point, in my isolation and turmoil, when I thought writing things down might help. I used a hardback notebook, black ink, one side of the paper. I tried to be objective. There was no point, I thought, in merely venting my feelings of hurt and betrayal. I remember the  line I wrote down was:

All alcoholics are liars.

All lovers are truth-tellers.

Therefore, the alcoholic is the opposite of the lover.

Conclusion

The whole story is indeed very beautiful beacause the way Barnes gave the freedom to the readers to assume that what will happen next or what is the reason behind having obstacles in love.The Only Story has a distinct voice and distinctive descriptions for each section. Taken as a whole, the novel offers a form of phenomenology of love as it develops, dissolves, and resurfaces in human awareness at various stages: development, dissolution, and remembering. Even if readers reject Paul's argument about the sole storey, it is a confusing and deeply delightful read. Barnes depicted that when their is truth, things goes on change with the passage of time.

Citation

1) Julian Barnes,The Only Story

http://julianbarnes.com/books/onlystory.html

2) Thomas J. Millay, Annotation of pain : First Love in "The Only Story. April 17,2018

Thinking Activity Unit - 4

 Hello readers...

This blog is in response of the thinking activity in our department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University. This blog is about the impressionistic approach of the the poem The piano and The Drum.

What is Impressionistic Approach and criticism :

 rather than depicting accurate portrayal and perfection, try to express a sense or emotion.Impressionistic literature is defined as when an author focuses his story or attention on the character's mental life, such as impressions, feelings, sensations, and emotions, rather than attempting to understand them.

THE POEM,  THE PIANO AND THE DRUMS

When at break of day at a riverside

I hear jungle drums telegraphing

the mystic rhythm, urgent, raw

like bleeding flesh, speaking of

primal youth and the beginning,

I see the panther ready to pounce,

the leopard snarling about to leap

and the hunters crouch with spears poised.

And my blood ripples, turns torrent,

topples the years and at once I’m 

in my mother’s laps a suckling;

at once I’m walking simple

paths with no innovations

rugged, fashioned with the naked

warmth of hurrying feet and groping hearts

in green leaves and wild flowers pulsing.

Then I hear a wailing piano

solo speaking of complex ways

in tear- furrowed concerto;

of far away lands

and new horizons with

coaxing diminuendo,  counterpoint, 

crescendo, but lost in the labyrinth of its complexities, it ends in the middle of a phrase at a daggerpoint

And I lost in the morning mist

of an age at a riverside keep

wandering in the mystic rhythm

of jungle drums and concerto.

Explanation of the poem :

The poetic character shows the disparity between Africans' normal lifestyle and that of the modern world in the poem, which includes piano and drums. The poem's setting ranges from the dawn of civilisation to the present day, as shown throughout the poem. The poem's core issue revolves around Africans' reactions to alien culture. He elaborates on this issue by utilising music as an analogue for the lyrical persona. The poem attempts to stress the purity of African content prior to civilization's influence. Gabriel Okara, in essence, sees the destruction of the African way of life through the lens of music and uses poetry to lament it.

Impressionistic view of the poem :

In the poem, the poet makes a comparison and contrast between the drum and the piano, implying a comparison between African and Western cultures. The first impression that i got after reading the poem was that i first felt that the poem must be an instrumental inspired poem of music but it was not the right one. It follows the path of African culture and its comflicts. The author is expressing his feelings about both cultures. That is to say, whatever he says about the piano alludes to European civilization brought to Africa in some way. In other words, whatever he says about the drum is a veiled reference to African culture. In fact, he employs both to depict the tension that occurs between the two worlds.

Thank you...

Learning outcomes : Research and Dessertation writing Workshop

 Hello readers....

This blog is a part of my academic writing.It is in the response of the workshop conducted  in our department of English,Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University.Prof. Dilip Sir and Dr. Clement Ndoricimpa led a session on dissertation writing and resources on Monday, January 4th. It was an incredible session and it helped us how to choose our dessertation topic and how to do research on it.

What is research writing? 

Research writing is writing that uses evidence from journals, books, magazines, the Internet, experts to persuade or inform an audience about a particular point. 

◼ Descriptive writing

◼ Analytical writing

◼ Persuasive writing

◼ Critical writing

 are the four primary styles of academic writing. Each of these styles of writing has its own set of language characteristics and goals.

Following are the outcomes of the workshop which was designed to assist us in writing our dissertations.

1. Gain an understanding of what research entails.

2.Decide on a study topic that is appropriate for you.

3. Choose and define a research question.

4. Choose the best study approach

5. To Understand the style of argumentation and how to organise and write a dissertation.

We learn a lot throughout the workshop.some of the question that werr rose in thr workshop in choosing the dessertation topics were :

◼ What is the definition of research? 

◼ What is the subject of our research paper? 

◼ What types of issues have you identified? 

◼ What is the subject of your research? 

Identified what we need to know about why research should be done in a systematic manner, because it follows a set of logically connected steps, research is systematic. It helps in Identifying the connected areas of knowledge and understanding the nature of the problem to be studied. It gives a way for examining the literature to see how other people have approached or coped with the issues.In order to arrive at a correct choice, data must be connected in an orderly and regulated manner. It is very important to analyze the  data that is relevant to the issue. By all this Conclusions are drawn and generalisations are made.

The whole workshop was very informative and it helped us in getting things clear about how to make a dessertion and research writing in any field.

Thank you...

Thinking activity

 Hello readers...

This blog is in response of the thinking activity in our department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University. I am assigned with making draft and my topic is The obstacles in love with reference to The Only Story by Julian Barnes.

The obstacles in love with reference to The Only Story by Julian Barnes

The story revolves around Paul Roberts, a 19 year old Sussex University undergraduate returning to his parents' home in London's green southern suburbs, is the protagonist of this novel .The setting is the early 1960s, with a few allusions to present events. Paul joins the tennis club, which is one of the few social activities available in such settings. He is paired with Susan MacLeod, a 48 year old married woman with two daughters older than Paul, in a mixed doubles match. Surprisingly, Paul and Susan fall in love, and Susan finally abandons her family to live with Paul in South London. Susan descends quickly, having nothing to do but a little housekeeping.

What are the obstacles in love?

As we all know that writing a love story is very common having conflicts either it is of relationships or with the society, but in this story Julian Barnes had brought up some new idea which makes the story very unique and different form othe literary works.

The obstacles in love is the unconventional love between Paul and Susan which turns into an organic one. First they both develop respect for each other then they both develop feelings and decided to live together.From here the conflict starts and we can say thr main obstacle in their love is the age gap that they are having not the viee point of society but time.Here time plays crucial role or wr can say thr main obstacle between them.

Here i wanted to point out some of the main obstacles...

👉 Time

👉 Addiction

👉 Guilt

👉 Responsibility

👉 Mental strenghth

👉 Inner peace

All the above things had affected Susan and Paul in their respective place.For Susan it was impossible to leave her responsibility in order to live with Paul because she has her two daughters and a husband who abuses her.For her it was very hard to remove all the cruelty of her husband from her mind but what makes her happy is the time with paul. On the othet hand paul was very young and he was not able to handle the all those problems of Susan with her family.Althought Paul tries to solve it but in doing that he losses his inner peace.He wanted to be with Susan but because he was not that mature and experienced compare to Susan he was not able to make both of their lives at peace.

Conclusion

The whole story is indeed very beautiful beacause the way Barnes gave the freedom to the readers to assume that what will happen next or what is the reason behind having obstacles in love where their is truth and how things goes on change with the passage of time.

Julian Barnes,The Only Story

http://julianbarnes.com/books/onlystory.html

Learning Outcomes - Research methodology

 Hello readers...

This blog is in response of the workshop in our department of English,Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University where 3 sessions  are conducted by 

 Prof. J p Majmudar on Importance of Research. The second one was on Avoid plagiarism : qualitative research in digital era by prof. Dilip Barad and the last one was on citation : tools and techinques by vaidehi Hariyani mam.

 

Here are the outcomes of all the three sessions...

1st session :

 It was on the Imoortance of Research by prof J.P Majmudar.Research,as we all know, should be methodical andscientific. As a result, we can appreciate the importance of making research more useful to our studies. It also improves our capability of thinking over new dimensions in any field.This course has been extremely beneficial to our research. 

2nd session :

Prof. Dr. Dilip Barad sir led the second session. He also addressed the issue of plagiarism. How to pronounce it, how to spot plagiarism.What are the dimensions of the object? Hiw it is useful or not? In which ways people use it and what are its issues regarding research and studies.As a result, it's also quite beneficial to us. Plagiarism is a hot topic these days. This happens in a lot of circumstances, especially in studies with students of English as subjective language.With this other language's research is being done in English too.Its means one translated copy of the same work.As a result,Ex. Hungary's president, Pal Schmitt, resigned from his post on grounds of plagiarism.

3rd session :

This session was very important for us because we have been doing citations in our presentations from semester 1 but how to use it correctly and in which form is known correctly by us in this session.Vaidehi Hariyani ma'am took the  session. We all practised using various citation tools throughout that time. We were split up into five groups and practised citations. Madam and Barad sir also assisted us and provided further citation material. By all the three session we got to know about the true worth of knowing things correctly and how and where to use it wisely.

Thank you...

ThAct : The Ministry

 Hello readers...

This blog is in response of the novel "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness" by  Indian author, and Booker Prize winner, Arundhati Roy. It is a novel based on the liquidity of modernity that is the evolving tendency of people to adapt new identities to fit into rapidly changing social and political contexts.

Following are some important concern about the novel :

1.) political issues in the novel.

Following the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan, Arundhati Roy depicts the many ways in which diverse groups of the Indian populace have been let down and oppressed by their political leaders. She highlights corruption in all political groups involved, including the Indian army, Indian leftists who oppose the occupation of Kashmir, and Kashmiri locals and militants who appear to resist the military occupation, in particular through her depiction of the ongoing Kashmir conflict between these two countries.

2.) Gender concerns in the novel.

The first part of The Ministry of Utmost Happiness is recounted from the perspective of Anjum, a transgender woman and former sex worker who was born intersex meaning she has both female and male genitalia. Readers are introduced to the myriad inequities and types of violence that plague the city in which Anjum lives via the eyes of Anjum. Anjum and the other trans women she lives with use the Urdu word Hijra to describe themselves. By delving into Anjum's gender identification and portraying her as a woman.

3.) Environmental concerns in the novel/ Ecofeminist study.

 Arundhati Roy has investigated how nature may be welcomed to modify the gendered concerns that have been developed to silence women and other non-human life, using an ecofeminist viewpoint. Roy has made numerous attempts to expose the heinous fact that nature and women are used as resources to meet men's wants. In today's world, it's really common. Both are oppressed and raped in their own ways, thus they must be treated equally. Women, according to ecofeminism, have the power to generate wealth.

4.) Narrative patterns in the novel.

The storey begins in the strange setting of a necropolis, illustrating the long litany of necropolitics created by India's compromised pseudo-democratic structure in the grip of political scandals. The novel begins with the storey of Anjum, a trans-woman, or more accurately, a woman trapped in a man's body, according to the novel's framework. The main stream of the storey builds up a dystopian society, providing the readers a catastrophic warning, whilst Roy develops a utopia, guided by Anjum, that is built up by the society's rejects. This is the way the storey unfolds.

Thank you...

Translation workshop : Learning Outcomes

 Hello readers....

This blog is in response of the workshop in our department of English,Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University where Dr. Vishal Bhadani had visited and enhanced our understanding on translation skills.

Based on the workshop here are some questions :

1. ) Has your understanding of translation improved?

Yes. My understanding of translation has totally changed. Sir has shared a different scenerio of understanding the importance of translation in our day to day life experiences.Translation enables effective communication between people and ultimately around the world. 

2.) Can you write about in terms of metaphor?

The term metaphor and translation compares two thing implisitly without using any comparison words such as like, resemble to, etc. As a figurative expression, metaphor requires a special treatment to translate. The ability of the translator is very much influence to the result of metaphorical translation. 

3.) What according to you is the most difficult aspect of practical translation?

Practical translation enables the us to think about the importance of translation which now a days we are lacking. Practical translation is necessary and natural activity, because in many common places foreign words are met and they need to be decoded. 

4.) Learning outcomes from the workshop.

Translation teaches us about language, but not how to use it. But in this workshop we got to know about the real usage of translation and how and where to use it.It takes much efforts to finalise one exact correct word for the replacement of another word which is very interesting and difficult at the same time.

Thank you...