UPSC Mains ENGLISH-LITERATURE-PAPER-II 2014

Marxist theories of Literature since 1970

Radical feminism

Life, death dichotomy in 'Journey of the Magi'

Prophetic overtones in The Second Coming

The 'asymmetrical symmetry' of the structure of Waiting for Godot

Is there an Indian way of thinking? In the light of this question, examine Indian poetry written in English.

Analyze the themes of 'hybridity' and 'transculturation' in Ramanujan's poetry.

Examine the use of nature imagery in Ramanujan's poetry.

I think the impulse to preserve lies at the bottom of all art." Philip Larkin, though a nihilist, thus builds up against nothingness. Elucidate.

Explain how Auden captures the essence of human life through the rhetorical device ekphrasis describing Bruegel's painting of the fall of Icarus in the poem 'Musée des Beaux Arts'.

Consider Auden as a critic of W. B. Yeats in his poem on him.

Consider Look Back in Anger as Osborne's comment on domestic culture and the alienation of the post-War youth.

What do you think is the symbolic significance of the Pozzo-Lucky relationship?

What is the relevance of Colonel Redfern to Osborne's critique of the British Empire?

The complexity of a culture is to be found not only in its variable processes and their social definitions-traditions, institutions and formations-but also in the dynamic interrelations, at every point in the process, of historically varied and variable elements. In what I have called 'epochal' analysis, a cultural process is seized as a cultural system, with determinate dominant features: feudal culture or bourgeois culture or a transition from one to the other. This emphasis on dominant and definitive lineaments and features is important and often, in practice, effective. But

What does the epochal analysis usually take into account?

What has traditionally been the treatment of cultures in relation to the culture?

What should be the ideal way to study the historical processes of cultural formation?

Explain the viewpoint of the author towards cultural study at a given point in history.

Bring out the relation between dominant, residual and emergent cultures.

What role does Stephen's burgeoning sexuality play in his development as a character?

My great religion is a belief in the blood." Analyze Sons and Lovers in the light of this statement.

Examine the narrative technique in Lord Jim.

Clarissa Dalloway and Septimus Smith both live in 'continuous present' and thus suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. Comment.

Discuss how deep and wide is the impact of Gandhi's personality and his thought on the theme of Kanthapura

Examine the elements of Impressionism in Lord Jim.

Explicate the significance of the title A House for Mr. Biswas.

Discuss how A Passage to India reveals the complexities of a colonial discourse.

Compare the significance of locale/space in A Passage to India and A House for Mr. Biswas.