LIBERATION MOTIF IN SELECT NOVELS OF MULK RAJ ANAND AND CHlNUA ACHEBE

375 Pages·2010·32.72 MB·English

LIBERATION MOTIF IN SELECT NOVELS OF
MULK RAJ ANAND AND CHlNUA ACHEBE :
A SEARCH FOR A NEW PARADIGM IN TERMS OF
RELEVANT THIRD WORLD FICTIONAL STRATEGIES
Thesis submitted to the Pondicherry
University for the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
in
ENGLISH
BY
FR. A. LEO ANTONY TAGORE, S.J.
PONDICHERRY UNIVERSITY
PONDICHERRY 605 014
APRIL 1993
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It is with a tremendous sense of gratitude and appreciation that I recall
the services rendered to me by numerous friends, well-wishers, colleagues,
scholars and professoein the process of my completing successfully my Ph.D.
thesis. The journey has been at once challenging and hlfilling, exhausting and
enriching. However the role that these persons played all through the process
has been nourishing and sustaining me.
I owe my debt of gratitude first and foremost and in an abundant
measure to Dr. P. Marudanayagarn, Ph.D. Professor and Head of the
Department of English, Pondicherry University, who guided my research with
critical interest, scholarly insight, friendly concern and above all, with a
perfectionist's eye for the correctness of language, aptness and
appropriateness of style and format of the thesis, and the overall evolution of
thought and the impact of theme. I remember with a deep sense of gratitude
the long hours he has spent with me, discussing the different aspects of the
thesis, clarifying, criticising, elucidating and eliciting. It has been an extremely
enriching experience relating to him as my mentor teacher and fiend. He has
introduced me, by his example and teaching, to fascinating and hitherto
mchartered areas of research and investigation, specially to the infinite
research potential that is there in the domain of Commonwealth Literature
and that of Comparative Literature.
My sincere thanks are also due to my Professors in the faculty of
English of Pondicherry University. Their positive approach to me and their
timely suggestions and ideas have sustained my research fervour.
I express my deep sense of thankfulness to a host of my Jesuit friends
who were a constant source of encouragement and support : Fr. Xavier
Alphonse, S.J. who was instrumental in my conceiving and relentlessly
pursuing the topic that lent itself for fruitful research; Fr.G.Packiaraj, S.J.
who has all through rendered help by way of offering suggestions, comparing
notes and above all, by providing a stimulating companionship; and my
religious Superiors and fellow Jesuits who have given me the necessary
support and encouragement.
I place on record my sense of gratitude to Dr. C.D. Narasirnhaiah, for
his rare insights and views, and his monumental collection of works on
Commonwealth Literature in his Dhvanya Loka Library at Mysore. The
American Studies Research Centre, Hyderabad, the Central Institute of
English, Hyderabad, the Central Library, Pondicherry University, the library
of the Department of English, American College, Madurai, the library of the
Regional Institute of English, Bangalore and the libraries of St. Joseph's
College (Autonomous), Tiruchirappalli and Loyola College, Madras have been
the resource centres I have visited and benefited from.
I remain grateful to the Pondicherry University and particularly to the
English Department for kindly allowing me to do research. My special thanks
are due to Rev. Sax, S.J. who &om Nigeria generously supplied me with
primary and secondary source materials on Chinua Achebe-
Finally let me thank Mr. Charles and Mr. Esther for the excellent
typing of the thesis and Profhirthan,M .Phi1. of the Department of English
of St.Joseph's College, Tintchirappalli for his meticulous reading of the rough
draft of the thesis and his suggested corrections and alterations.
April, 1993
Dr. P. Marudanayagam, P~.D.
Professor and Head
Department of Engl~sh
Pondicherry University
Pondicherry 605 014
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the thesis entitled LIBERATION MOTIF IN
SELECT NOVELS OF MULK RAJ ANAND AND CHINUA ACHEBE :A
SOllURCH FOR A NEW PARADIGM IN TERMS OF RELEVANT THIRD
WORLD FICTIONAL STRATEGIES submitted by Fr. A. Leo Antony
Tagore, S.J., is a research work done during 1990-93 under my supervision
and that the thesis has not previously formed the basis for the award to the
candidate of any Degree, Diploma, Associateship, Fellowship or other similar
title.
I also certzy that this thesis represents complete independent work on
the part of the candidate.
Fr. A. LEO ANTONY TAGBRE, MA
Department of English
Pondicherry University
Pondicherry 605 014.
DECLARATION
This is to certify that the thesis entitled, LIBERATION MOTIF IN
SELECT NOVELS OF MULK RAJ ANAND AND CHINUA ACHEBE :A
SEARCH FOR A NEW PAILADIGM IN TERMS OF RELEVANT THIRD
WORLD FICTIONAL STRATEGIES submitted by me is a research work
done during 1990-93 under the supervision of Dr.P.MARUDANAYAGAM,
Ph.D., Professor and Head of the Department of English, Pondicherry
University , Pondicherry - 605 014 and that the thesis has not previously
formed the basis for award to me of any Degree, Diploma, Associateship,
Fellowship or other similar title.
I also certify that this thesis represents complete independent work on
my part.
PREFACE
It was during my fairly long stint with a College students' movement as
its national adviser that I began to dabble in liberation theology and liberation
movements and struggles in various third world countries. As it became an
absorbing interest I felt urged to make a study of some third world English
novelists who have sought to capture the liberationist aspirations of their
people and their struggles in their novels.
It was at this juncture, that a friend of mine who had already examined
the cultural assumptions of a group of South Indian novelists, proposed that
I could consider the possibility of a comparative study of two third world
novelists from the perspective of liberation. As Mulk Raj Anand of India and
Chinua Achebe of Nigeria came across to me as novelists with a basic
liberative thrust, I decided to work on theh keeping in mind the liberation
parameters and the literary aspects of a study like this. I discussed this topic
with colleagues and professors of English. I found their responses quite
positive and challenging.
The topic, however, assumed its present form only after I held a series
of discussions with my guide. It was he who enabled me to understand the full
import of such a topic and the hurdles I would have to cross in order to
complete my research successfully. It dawned on me during these sessions that
an investigation of the novels of Anand and Achebe from the perspective of
liberation could not only yield some invaluable insights into the perceptions
and performance of these two wrikrs as committed novelists but throw light
on some hitherto unexplored areas in the realm of third world English fiction.
This was how I commenced my research odyssey realizing that, while
investigating the comparative merits of hand and Achebe as committed
artists, it would not be an iduence study but an analogical one. In point of
fact, the whole exercise turned out to be a fascinating and liberating one, as
it helped me to rethink my own traditional and stereo-typed approaches .to
literature in general and fiction in particular and to be open to culture -
specific literary categories, outputs and approaches.
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
In the present study, citations from Mulk Raj hand and Chinua
Achebe are from the following editions. Abbreviations here indicated are used
throughout.
hand, Mulk Raj
Untouchable (London : Wishart, 1935)
Coolie (London : Lawrence and Wishart, 1936)
Tulo Leaves and a Bud (London : Hutchinson, 1945)
The Big Heart (London : Hutchinson, 1945)
Gauri (New Delhi : Orient, 1976)
The R o d (Bombay : Kutub, 1961)
Achebe, Chinua
TFA Things FUZZ Apart (London : Heinemam, 1958)
NLAE No Longer At Ease (London : Heinemann, 1960)
AOG Arrozu of God (London : Heinemann, 1964)
AMP A man of the People (London : Heinemarm, and New York :
John Day 1966)
Anthills of the Savannah (Kenya : Heinemann 1987)
JTWE: Journal of Indian Writing in English
TBP The Banasthali Patrika
KJES The Kakatiya Journal of English Studies
WLWE World Literature Written in English
BW Black World
LHY The Literary Half Yearly
Research in African Literature
513s Journal of Black Studies
CWQ Commonwealth Quarterly
JCT;;;IVL, Journal of Commonwealth Literature
LC Literary Criterion
ALT African Literature Today
MFS Modern Fiction Studies
TLE The Literary Endeavour
JLC Journal of Literary Criticism
IJES The Indian Journal of English Studies
REL Review of English Literature
CI3 Chandrabhaga
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
CERTIFICATE
PREFACE
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION
THE HISTORICAL EVOLUTION AND
RELEVANCE OF "LIBERATION"
IN THE THIRD WORLD CONTEST
MULK RAJ ANAND AND CHINUA
ACHEBE AMONG THEIR
CONTEMPORARIES
LIBERATION MOTIF IN THE
DELINEATION OF PROTAGONISTS
TRADITION VERSUS MODERNITY
CLASS WAR AND CASTE POLITICS
LIBERATION FROM THE FEMINIST
PERSPECTIVE
ART AND COTUIMITMl3NT
SUMMING UP
BIBLIOGRAPHY