This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1963.

Poetry And Poetics Are Integrally Related. The Former Is An Art Based On Emotions, Whereas The Latter Is A Science Evaluating Poetry. So Long Their Common Mode Of Treatment Has Been To Excite In The Mind The Emotions Appropriate To The Subject-Matter. But Science And Art Are Not Identical. The Former Uses The Discursive Mode; And The Latter The Presentational Mode. While Science Is Truth, The Art Is Adjectively True , I.E. It Does Not Conflict With The Truth.The Book Critique Of Poetics Is An Extremely Bold And Far Reaching Attempt At A Comprehensive Theory Of Poetry. It Starts With A Sound-Sense Continuum And Ends With Quantum Poetics. The Path Of Evolution Is Marked By The Poetic Process, The Flow Of Rasa, The Flight Of Pegasus, The Dance Of Resonons, The Doctrine Of Suggestion, Rx For Rhetoric, The Logic Of Signs And Symbols, The Poetic Imagery, The Miracle Of Communication, The Concept Of Criticism, Style And Stylistics, The Law Of Inspiration And Catharsis, The Limits Of Art, The Philosophy Of Beauty, East And West In Poetics, And The Theory Of Literature. And This Has Been Treated In A Global Perspective, Which Harmonizes Both East And West In Poetics. A Balance Has Also Been Struck Between The Two Approaches To The Study Of Literature Extrinsic And Intrinsic. The Former Is Characterized By Psychology-Society And Other Arts Whereas The Latter By Style And Stylistics, Image And Metaphor, Rhetoric And Suggestion, Beauty And The Like. A New Theory Of Literature Has Been Derived From These. This Is Born In A Continuum Of Sound And Sense, Of Space And Time. It Provides An Organ Of Evaluating The Past, Present And Future Works Of Literature. In This Context Quantum Poetics Marks The End Of The Evolutionary Process.

Art and life in India have been inextricably intertwined from ancient times to the present day. Art as a way of life, as ritual, as decoration and as unity with the Sublime bore testament to the socio-cultural milieu; the high level of sophistication that developed in ancient India was reflected in the arts in a holistic light. The arts, thus, strived to hone man’s intellectual sensibilities, thus raising him to the level of the transcendental, which in India was Brahma or ultimate reality. This book brings forth the popular theories of Indian aesthetics and Indian poetics. Bharatmuni, Abhinavgupta, Anandvardhana and a number of seers have given substantial dimensions to the concept as found in Natryashastra, Dhvanyavloka, and Abhinavbharati, among other texts. It represents primarily a compilation of commentaries and criticism of these texts, and will serve as a preliminary guide to students, beginners and researchers of Indian aesthetics and poetics. The appendices bring together a number of papers on Indian aesthetics, while there is also an informative and comprehensive bibliography and an exhaustive glossary to provide added aid for non-Sanskrit speakers.

This innovative study develops a unified theory of literature by critically evaluating the categories of sanskrit poetics from a single theoretical standpoint that of rasa the theory that holds that poety is essentially emotive discourse. Literature Chariargues is defined not by the use of any formal linguistic devices but rather by the emotive meaning embodied is therefore the proper aim and the common denominator of all literary works.

In the whole range of Sanskrit poetics, the term vakrokti took altogether a new significance and the highest position as the all pervading poetic concept in Kuntaka's Vakroktijivita. He revived the concept from more verbal poetic figure to the lessons of poetry. He not only explains but also explores the multi-dimensional aspects of Vakrokti. But unfortunately, no comprehensive study of Vakrokti has been done in a systematic way. This book is an effort in this direction. Presenting the major schools of Sanskrit poetics, the book gives general definition of vakrokti and its multi-dimensional implications. Further taking a close look at the views of different theorists on vakrokti, it exposes in detail kuntaka's theory of vakrokti and makes its critical analysis in relation to various literary concepts- alankara, svabhavokti, rasavadalankara, marga and rasa. Finally, it deals with the striking similarities between dhvani and vakrokti, and brings out the fundamental aspects of practical criticism as shown by kuntaka.