Aspects of Contemporary World Literature (Hardcover)  | Released: 2008

Aspects of Contemporary World Literature is an unfailingly resourceful and informative book and its penetrating contemporary analyses bring into view immensely fruitful and illuminating new perspectives on contemporary world literature. It comprises five parts, and each part is closely-knit with the other parts with its overt emphasis on the strand of contemporaneity.
Rooted as it is in concept of world literature, Part A studies interestingly major contemporary British literary artists like Pinter, Farrell and others. Part B examines not surprisingly but unabashedly the modern American artistic sensibilities like Rita Dove, Maya Angelou, Jerzy Kosinski, Thomas King and Toni Morrison. Part C analyses meaningfully and conveniently the most representative literary endeavours of Soyinka, Achebe, Ngugi, Naipaul, and Derek Walcott from the Third World.
Part D scans authoritatively the selections from contemporary Indian writers in English like Vikram Seth, Badal Sircar, and Kiran Desai, besides the others. Part E heralds tacitly and also articulates compellingly a seamless global network of mass media including its affiliations with lexicography and critical theory. Internationally acclaimed critics like Howard R. Wolf, Wail S. Hassan, M.K. Naik, Prema Nandakumar and Shyamala A. Narayan enrich this scholarly work with their perceptive insights into the fiesta of discourse on contemporary world literature. This book of engrossing interest will be a prized possession for any library�personal or institutional.Table of Contents: Acknowledgements; Preface�P A R T � A�1. World Literature in the Age of Globalization: Reflections on an Anthology�Wail S. Hassan; 2. The Matter of Somerset Maugham: A World with Properties�Howard R. Wolf; 3. Vedic Themes in Eliot�s The Waste Land and Four Quartets�Ramesh Chandra Tungaria; 4. J.G. Farrell�The Man and Writer�V.R. Badiger; 5. Pinter and Twentieth-Century Drama�Ronald Knowles�P A R T � B�6. The Sixth Dimension in The Woman and the Sea and The Old Man and the Sea�O.P. Bhatnagar; 7. The Underpinnings of Life�s Terrors and the Restored Balance in Edward Albee�s A Delicate Balance�R. Saraswathi; 8. Centrality of the Marginal: New Horizons in Ethnic American Women�s Poetry�Shikha Misra; 9. Sex, Violence and Disguise: Postmodernist Problematics in Jerzy Kosinski�s Passion Play and Pinball�Satnam Kour Raina; 10. Cultural Politics: Experiments in Two Recent Native American Novels�Ms. Nila Das; 11. Postmodernism as Feminine Text: A Study of Toni Morrison�s Sula�Deepsheekha Kotwal; 12. Home and Abroad: Jhumpa Lahiri�s Interpreter of Maladies�Parmanand Jha�P A R T � C�13. A Dance of the Forests: A Socio-Political Satire�Basavaraj Naikar; 14. �Only Connect�: Anthills of the Savannah and Achebe�s Trouble with Nigeria�Neil ten Kortenaar; 15. The White Man�s Power and Magic�P. Suneetha; 16. Naipaul�s Second Childhood�Gunjan Chaturvedi; 17. �The Lunar and the Solar Alongside the Earthly� Dream on Monkey Mountain�G. Seetha Ramaiah; 18. Metaphors of Rain and Fire in Salman Rushdie�s Recent Story The Firebird�s Nest�Prabhat K. Singh�P A R T � D�19. Humanitarianism in Mulk Raj Anand�M.K. Naik; 20. Breaking the Borderline: A Note on Narayan�s People�R. Ramachandra; 21. An Interview with Raja Rao�P. Bayapa Reddy; 22. Tradition and Change in the Novels of Kamala Markandaya�Shiv K. Kumar; 23. Evam Indrajit: Prototype of Modern Human Consciousness�K. Nirupa Rani; 24. Music as a Medium in A Suitable Boy�I.D. Tiwari; 25. India and the U.S.A. in Kiran Desai�s The Inheritance of Loss�Shyamala A. Narayan�P A R T � E�26. The Role of Mass Media in the New Century�Prema Nandakumar; 27. Problems of Translating Literary Work�Jibesh Bhattacharya; 28. A Case for a Good Dictionary�P. Bayapa Reddy; 29. The Literary Text�A Threatened Species?�Krishna Rayan; Profile; Contributors