Indian Research In English Studies Has A Long And Rich Tradition But, Unfortunately, It Has Failed To Make Any Notable Impact On The Academic World. This Is Largely Due To The Fact That Most Of The Indian Doctoral Dissertations In English Studies Lie Buried In University Libraries And Are Inaccessible To Aspiring Researchers. No Attempt Has Been Made So Far To Establish Any Link Or Co-Ordination Between Research Activities Of Different Universities/Institutes. This Has Resulted In A Total Neglect Of Earlier Research And Unnecessary Duplication.The Present Volume Is Designed To End This Unhappy Situation By Providing A Complete And Authentic Account Of Research Carried Out In Indian Universities Not Only In British, American, Commonwealth And Indian English Literature But Also In Comparative Studies, Translation Studies, Language, Linguistics And Elt. Entries On The Above Mentioned Are Arranged Subject-Wise In Chronological Sequence And Are Followed By A Separate Section On Individual Authors In Alphabetical Order. Thus It Provides A Consolidated View Of Indian Research In English And Serves As An Invaluable Reference Manual. It Is A Step Towards Orientation And Systematisation Of Indian Research In English Studies And Will Help To Make Research A Well-Informed, Well-Planned And Meaningful Exercise.

This Study Offers A Fresh Critical Perspective On Mystical Poetry Across Cultures And Faiths From A Point Of View That Balances The Eastern And Western Approaches. It Specifically Examines, In Some Depth And Range, Select Verses Of A Fairly Large Number Of Poets In Order To Highlight The Universal Features Of Mysticism As It Finds Expression In Their Works. The Poets Chosen Include (I) Kashmiri Poets : Lal Ded, Nunda Rishi, Shams Faqir, Zinda Kaul, Swami Govind Kaul And Bhavani Bhagyavaan Pandit, (Ii) British Poets : Coventry Patmore And T.S. Eliot And (Iii) 16Th Century Spanish Poet, St John Of The Cross.In A Refreshingly Novel Way, The Author Discusses Mysticism And Its Relationship With Poetry, Seeking To Show How The Latter, Through Apt Images And Symbols, Serves To Convey Man S Experience Of The Divine. His Competent English Translation Of Kashmiri Verses, Well-Matched By His Fine Critical Analysis Of The Whole Textual Material, Enhances Further The Charm And Value Of This Scholarly Work. The Perceptive Reader Will Notice That The Author S Approach To The Subject And The Critical Method He Employs Reflect A Classical Mind At Work Equipped With Sound Scholarship And A Thorough Grasp Of The Essentials Of Hindu, Christian And Islamic Mysticism.

Thomas Hardy Was Equally Eminent As A Novelist And A Poet And Thus Holds A Unique Place In English Literature.More Than Seven Decades After His Death, Thomas Hardy Is Still Surprisingly Alive If Uninterrupted Critical Attention Is A Test.The Nineteen Essays Included In The Volume Thirteen On Hardy S Fiction, Five On His Poetry, And One On General Overview Cover A Broad Range Of Critical Perspective On Hardy S Fiction And Poetry, Which Include The Comparative, The Freudian, The Existentialist, The Absurdist, The Psychospatial, The Feminist, The Aesthetic-Artistic, The Historicist, The Dialectical, The Mythical, The Symbolic, Among Others.The Collection Will Be Relevant And Useful To Both Students And Scholars Of English Literature As It Brings Into Focus A Wide Spectrum Of Interesting Sidelights On, And Illuminating Analyses Of The Various Dimensions Of Hardy S Works; Some Of The Papers Are Refreshingly Original And Perceptive In Their Approach To And Treatment Of The Respective Subjects.As A Great Writer Hardy Has Remained Problematic, Demanding That His Readers Wrestle With Him. The Present Volume Claims To Have Joined That Unbroken Wrestle More Than A Century-Old With The Words And Meanings Of Hardy S Works.Contributions From The Eminent Scholars In The Field Have Enhanced The Value Of The Collection.

Statement Of President George W. Bush Regarding His Intention To Introduce National Missile Defence (Nmd) Has Given Rise To A Lively Discussion On The Subject All Over The World. In This Book An Attempt Has Been Made To Present The Viewpoints Of Eminent Experts From Different Countries, Particularly Those From Countries Directly Affected By The Nmd E.G. The United States Of America, Russia, China, The United Kingdom, North Korea, India, Etc.It Is Hoped That The Book Would Be Of Great Value To The Researchers And Students Of Defence Studies, Parliamentarians, Senior Executives Concerned With Defence And The Common Readers.

Philosophical Speculations About The Origin Of Poetry And The Nature And Function Of Criticism Have Engaged The Attention Of Poets And Critics For Over 2500 Years In The West And Still There Is No Consensus Either Regarding The Mysterious Process Of Creation Or The Proper Function Of Literary Criticism. One Reason, Of Course, Is That There Is A Lack Of Definiteness Both About The Nature Of The Object And About The Tools For Judging It. Unlike An Architecture A Temple Or A Mosque A Literary Work Does Not Conveniently Exist In Space And Time. Paradoxically, Though Frozen In Time It Transcends Time. The Problem Is Further Complicated By The Fact That Since Reading A Poem Is An Aesthetic Experience We Cannot Read The Same Poem Twice, Because During The Period Intervening Between The First Reading And The Second We Have Changed.However, In Recent Years, Particularly During The Second Half Of The Twentieth Century Literary Criticism Has Burgeoned Into Too Many Schools And Theories Resulting In A Complete Critical Anarchy. In This Period Of Confusion, Standing On The Darkling Plain As We Are, We Must Focus On The Real Function Of Literature And Save Literature From Being A Casualty In The Cross-Fire Of Literary Theories. Literary Criticism Is A Discourse On Literature, An Art Of Judging Literature And Deciding How Far And For What Reasons A Literary Work Is Good Or Bad, Great Or Useless. In Fact, The Term Criticism Is Derived From The Greek Krino Which Means To Judge And Krites Which Means A Judge. We Should Never Lose Sight Of The Fact That Literary Criticism Must Be Literary Criticism. And The Literary Value Of A Work Must Be Judged By Literary Criteria Alone.The Essays Included In This Volume Constitute A Significant Body Of Literary Criticism In The True Sense Of The Term. Keeping Their Focus Sharply On The Literary Text The Critics, By Comparison And Analysis, Have Tried To Evaluate Different Authors And Their Works. In Their Wider Gropings They Have Also Embraced The Other Areas Such As The Relation Between Linguistics, Literary Criticism, Scholarship And Teaching, Etc.

Nightmares With Teasingly Symbolic Undertones, Events That Are Difficult To Disbelieve, Yet More Difficult To Believe, Obsessions That Pass Off As The Bench Marks Of Normalcy All Together Contribute To The Narrator S Confusion And Push Him Into The Outer Edge Of The Mind. This Narrator Named Debasis, A Settled, Middle-Aged, Utterly Ordinary Bloke, Becomes Aware Of His Somewhat Neurotic State Of Mind, And Tries, In His Own Eccentric Way, To Regain His Mental/Emotional Well-Being By Re-Living And Scribbling Down His Past Encounters, Events, Etc., Which Turn Out To Be Equally Confusing, Equally Engrossing. The Characters Associated With His Past Are A Curious Lot Some Crazy, Some Funny, Some Sublime, Some Bawdy But All Believably Human.It Is The Story Of Every Sensitive Individual Living In A Postmodern, Strife-Torn World Which Could Be An Enlarged Version Of The Wave Crest Lodge Situated On The Beach Of The Bay Of Bengal.The Novel Abounds In Sudden Turns And Surprises. It Ends With A Hint Of Hope : The Confusion Will Always Be There, But The Ordinary, Simple Man Living In The Valley May Not Die Of Thirst As Long As There Is A Perennial Stream On The Top Of The Mountain.

V.S. Naipaul Has Claimed That All His Work Is Really One And He Has Been Writing One Big Book All These Years; Also, Considering The World He Has Stepped Into And The World He Has To Look At, He Cannot Be A Professional Novelist In The Old Sense. In Early Youth Naipaul Took Up The Vocation Of A Writer As His Religion And, Since The Beginning Five Decades Ago, Has Drawn On His Intensely Personal Experience Of An Uprooted Person Adrift In The World, His Experience Of The Two Worlds To None Of Which He Could Really Belong An Experience That Imparts The Authentic Voice To His Works Both Non-Fiction And Fiction Enriched By A Distinct Autobiographical Flavour. Naipaul Himself Is Split Into His Characters In Whom Are Manifested Subtle Shades Of His Emotions And Traits. He Is Accidental Man, Dangling Man, History Man And The Mimic Man All Rolled Into One. Naipaul Is Also One Of Literature S Great Travellers, And His Absorption Into The Experience Of Rootlessness, The Alienating Effects Of Colonial Past On Today S Postcolonial People Has Taken Him To Africa, South America, India And All Over The World Not In Search Of Roots But In Search Of Rootlessness, And Has Yielded A Rich Harvest Of Travelogues Which Are About Much More Than Travel.An Author Of A Large Number Of Fictional And Non-Fictional Works, Naipaul Continues To Surprise, Excite, Provoke And Move Readers At Every Turn Of His Literary Voyage. Naipaul Has Unseverable Emotional Bond With India Which Remains For Him An Area Of Pain, An Ache For Which One Has A Great Tenderness Yet From Which He Wishes To Separate Himself. The World Of V.S. Naipaul Is The World Of Two Worlds. The Present Volumes Of Papers On Naipaul, Led By Naipaul S Nobel Lecture, Offer Illuminating Perspectives And Interesting Explorations Into This Rich, Enigmatic, Sad, Hilarious And Fascinating World Of Naipaul.