UPSC Mains ENGLISH-LITERATURE-PAPER-II 2011

Realities as perceived by the poet in "Among School Children".

Autobiographical musings in "Burnt Norton"

Ideological posturing in "September 1, 1939".

Cynicism in Philip Larkin's poetry.

Write an essay on the diasporic longings in postcolonial literature.

What directions has Freudian Psychoanalytic theory taken after the Second World War?

Is self-critiqué a salient feature of A. K. Ramanujan's poetry? Substantiate.

What crisis of modern humanist values becomes the major concern of Waiting For Godot?

Comment on the English playwrights' treatment of realist, naturalist elements in their plays.

Is Jimmy Porter a parody of a “cult hero”? Explain.

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.

In what way does a study of literature become a literary act? Why is this element supposed to be missing on the elementary level?

How is a creative act also a critical act? Explain: “rewarding confusions of this sort”.

When does the study of literature lose its value and become a tyranny?

What does the author mean by “fastidious”? Does it have a negative meaning in this context?

Who is a “tyrannical teacher”? Why would some students go along with him?

Why are critical acts so seldom free?

Show that, although Mrs. Dalloway is centred on the protagonist's consciousness, it has an outside, socio-historical dimension as well.

What interest is a contemporary reader likely to have in a novel like Sons and Lovers?

What makes Lord Jim a complex character even in a contemporary setting? Elaborate.

What conflicting views of the body and spirit inform A Portrait .... Man?

What key role does Kanthapura play in the theories of reading postcolonial literatures?

Is Mr. Biswas a caricature rather than a full-fledged character? Explain your view.