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English Writing On India

Posted on:2007-05-01Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:X N YinFull Text:PDF
GTID:1115360218462499Subject:Comparative Literature and World Literature
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
According to Edward W. Said, the pioneer of post-colonial theory, one can't avoid India whenever dealing with Orient. In the history of Western literary imaginations of East, that the English writers described India, the former colony is very spectacular. On one hand, for centuries, India is the oriental impetus for the English writers, whose classics reflect Indian images, genuine or false. On the other hand, in the past century, namely, from before Indian independence onwards, new monographs have been continuously produced in Indian and British intellectual circles. Such numerous works focus on India in the light of English writers. It's regretful that Chinese scholars scarcely know this.While trans-cultural dialogues are going on today, Chinese academia of comparative literature advocate the Chinese school of comparative literature, through which further the first and second stages of comparative literature researches from influence study of French school and parallel and interdisciplinary study of American school to the third stage, i.e. trans-heterogeneous cultural study of Chinese school. It's noticeable that such trend can be seen in two fields: Some scholars are doing some researches about trans-Sino- Western- cultural comparative poetics while others studying trans-heterogeneous literary and cultural contacts between China and foreign countries. In the 21st century, how to break through this bottleneck of Sino-West mode and further Chinese comparative literature to the trans-heterogeneous cultural one in depth is a pressing academic task. Therefore, it's necessary to introduce such an academic subject, i.e. English writers' Writing on India, which spans Western and Indian civilizations.This dissertation consists of nine parts. "Preface" explains in detail two key words (English world & Writing on India), and introduces the dissertation's scope, academic value, current studying situations both in China and abroad. It also traces English writers' images of India before 19th century. Chapter one focuses on the pioneer of colonial literature, Rudyard Kipling's novels of India and roughly discusses some English writers around his times. They shared the same topic, i.e., writing on India. Chapter two emphasizes E.M. Forster's novels of India as well as others like W.B.Yeats, T.S.Eliot and Somerset Maugham's Images of India. Chapter three focuses on Paul Scott and V.S.Naipaul of post-colonial times while discussing J.G.Farrell, N.C.Chaudhuri and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Chapter four focuses on Salman Rushdie, who described India in a de-constructive way from 1980s onwards. Chapter five explores the relationship between colonial literature and post-colonial literature in the light of Indian history, images of India, cultural identity and descriptions of Indian women. Chapter six focuses on the comparison between English writing on China and India. Chapter seven belongs to a kind of academic exploration, which analyses some English literary works on India in the light of Chinese and Indian poetics. Epilogue appeals for a kind of Chinese mode of research, i.e., three-dimension study of comparative literature and comparative poetics.This dissertation tries to do some academic explorations from several angels and determines to have some creative thoughts, which express its ideas and value.First of all, the choice of this subject is a pioneer work in the Chinese academic circles. As is said before, Chinese scholars have had a number of research fruits in the study of Western images of China during the period of trans-cultural dialogues, which are frequent and necessary for the time being. Relatively speaking, the systematical and historical study of trans-civilization English writing on India, Japan, Arabic world in the light of post-colonial theory, anthropology, feminism, new historicism can be rarely seen. So far, India and Western academic circles have gained enough fruits on English writing on India, while Chinese scholars have had little, whether macroscopically or microscopically. It's not a satisfactory situation for China, which is becoming an important country of comparative literary study. Therefore, this dissertation focuses on trans-East-West-cultural English writing on India and determines to break through the research mode of "Sino-foreign centrism" in the Chinese intellectual circles. Some eminent writers discussed in this dissertation like Paul Scott, N.C.Chaudhuri and Salman Rushdie have not been paid enough attention to because of a variety of reasons in China, which makes their literary works of research value in the English world little known in China. This dissertation will try to introduce these writers.Secondly, this dissertation is also a text supplementation and confirmation for the study vogue of post-colonial theory in the current Chinese academia. In contrast with the study and discussion of theory on a grand and spectacular scale in China, the analysis of concrete text in the light of post-colonial theory seems far from satisfaction. In fact, Said's Orientalism and Culture and Imperialism are the models of combination of construction of post-colonial theory and analysis of Western texts. Many Chinese scholars of post-colonial theory like to engage in idle theorizing while other scholars' analysis of the literary representation of post-colonialism is far behind, which will bring negative influence to the comparative literary study in China. So this dissertation tries to judge the texts of Rudyard Kipling, E.M.Forster, V.S.Naipaul Salman Rushdie and other English writers in the light of post-colonial theory, through which verifies the value and limits of post-colonial theory. Meanwhile, it will also apply other current Western literary criticisms like feminism and new historicism to the relevant texts, which is a supplementation to the application of post-colonial theory.Thirdly, the new methods and perspectives are also the aims for the dissertation. Apart from the first, i.e., Western perspective and the second, i.e., Chinese one, Indian scholars' responses to the English writing on Indian is the third one. Therefore, this dissertation emphasizes and highlights Indian third perspective while introducing the Western scholars' criterion, through which my own judgement comes into being. The India described by English writers is always analysed and explained by Indian scholars in the light of their own culture, which makes their researches quite scientific and reliable. Of course, there are some nationalist sentiments in it sometimes. Anyway, in the shadow of Western tropism of the academia, the third perspective of Indian scholars will rectify such an abnormal academic situation as everything about Chinese and Western besides the aphasia of Orient.Fourthly, this dissertation will draw on Said's research tradition and link up the English colonial literature and post-colonial literature for study purpose, which is ignored by current Chinese academia. Colonial literature and post-colonial literature have some natural relations both in ideas and arts. What's more, they have a kind of academic conspiracy and succession of tradition. Since India became the English formal colony, a large number of English writers have plowed and sown in the field of colonial literature and what they gained in turn has become the ideological basis for the post-colonial literature to grow and flourish. The historical combination and study of colonial literature and post-colonial literature is the research methods for Said and Gayatri Spivak, which will help express some special rules of cultural interactions between West and East for centuries.Fifthly, this dissertation has a new dimension of analysis, the comparison between English writing on China as well as India. Generally speaking, in contrast with the English images of China, the description of India by the English writers, including British Indians, has more analyzing value in the framework of trans-civilization, which is decided through the close and comprehensive Indo-British historical contacts. The differences and similarities of English writing on India and on China, the two crucial parts of Eastern civilization, is what Chinese, Indian and Western academia have never touched upon. Therefore, it forms another new growing academic points. At last, this dissertation determines to create something new exposing the feature of Chinese school of comparative literature, which means appreciating English literary texts in the light of Chinese literary criticism and Indian Sanskrit poetics. This method of judging West under Eastern eyes can be seen as a part of mutual analysis, which is a textual response to the academic strategy of re-constructing Chinese discourses of literary theory and the application of Chinese literary criticism. Nowadays, cultural study, including identity and feminism is popular in Chinese and Western academia. If going to extremes, it will lead to a kind of anti-poetic flavor in the study of literature, which in turn will cause a disciplinary crisis of comparative literature. The aesthetic and poetic dimension of Eastern poetics can counteract such imperfection. After all, the English writing on India has some relationship with East. When analyzing the Eastern factors of those Western literary works, Eastern poetics, the efficient instruments are of great value. Excellent works, be it poetry or novels or plays can be examined through times and they also deserve the readers' appreciation from any perspective. In short, letting the Eastern poetic discourses flourish as a hundred flowers blossom and all sounds at one time, should and must be a kind of new trend for the Chinese and world comparative literary circles in the 21st century.
Keywords/Search Tags:English world, English writers, India, colonial literature, post-colonial literature, Chinese literary criticism, Sanskrit poetics
PDF Full Text Request
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