"To The Light House" by Virginia Woolf

• To The Lighthouse

• Lighthouse To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf is remarkable work of 20th century / Modernist literature.

• This novel is famous because of its writing technique- Stream of consciousness- which is trademark of Modernist literature. Virginia Woolf breaks the traditional way of telling a story and creates something novel (new).

• The text is heavily autobiographical. By reading Woolf's biography, we come to know about her traumatic experience, her disturbed mind, illness, depression etc. So what she wants to write is not possible in traditional form of writing. So stream of consciousness is appropriate technique in To The Lighthouse.

• The novel is divided into three parts:

•  The Window
•  2)Time Passes
•  3)To The Lighthouse

• Each is fragmented into stream of consciousness.

• It is very difficult technique to write as well as to understand. We are mostly in the minds of the characters. Readers also come to know that characters while doing something- thinking about something else. And writer also tells minor things like sound of waves, someone or something is passing by etc. This kind of internal thinking process finds place in stream of consciousness.

• ★ Stream of consciousness:-

• What is Stream of consciousness??

• Stream of consciousness was a phrase used by William James in his Principles of Psychology (1890) to describe the unbroken flow of perceptions, thoughts, and feelings in the waking mind.

• And then it has been adopted to describe a narrative method in modern fiction.

• Long passages of introspection, in which the narrator records in detail what passes through a character's awareness, are found in novelists from Samuel Richardson, through William James’ brother Henry James, to many novelists of the present era.

• Stream of consciousness is the name applied specifically to a mode of narration that undertakes to reproduce, without a narrator's intervention, the full spectrum and continuous flow of a character's mental process, in which sense perceptions mingle with conscious and half-conscious thoughts, memories, expectations, feelings, and random associations.

•   (A Glossary of Literary Terms – M.H. Abrams)

• ★Interior Monologue in To The Lighthouse

• Interior Monologue is a term that is most often confused with stream of consciousness.
• It presents to the reader the course & rhythm of consciousness precisely as it occurs in a character's mind

• In Interior Monologue author does not intervene nor does it minimally- as a describer, guide or commentator.
•   It is the exact presentation of the process of consciousness.

• 2 types:-

• 1)Direct monologue: - negligible author interference
•  2)indirect monologue: - author intervenes between character's psyche and the reader.

• # Difference:-
• 
  
• -indirect monologue gives reader a sense of the author's continuous presence
• Direct monologue either completely or largely excludes it.
• 
  
• 
  
• In To The Lighthouse, we can observe the modernist phenomenon that - traditionally made up stories were no longer important, what matters was the impression they made on the characters that experienced them.

• Virginia Woolf, in her essay, Modern Fiction :“Let us record the atom as they fall upon the mind in the order in which they fall, let us trace the pattern, however disconnected and incoherent in appearances, which each sight or incident scores upon the consciousness.”

•  Example from the text;

•  Such were the extremes of emotion that Mr. Ramsay excited in his children’s breasts by his mere presence; standing, as now, lean as a knife, narrow as the blade of one, grinning sarcastically, not only with the pleasure of disillusioning his son and casting ridicule upon his wife, who was ten thousand times better in every way than he was (James thought), but also with some secret conceit at his own accuracy of judgment. What he said was true. It was always true. (Pg. 1)

• This shows the similarities between a narrator's utterance & omniscient narrator commentary
• narrator steps aside but soon comes to give the comment “What he said was true...".

• # Use of Parenthesis:=

• “Teaching and preaching is beyond human power, Lily suspected. (She was putting away her things.)”(p.32)
• Parenthesis can also be little asides, expectations, pointers to what is going on.

• [Mr. Ramsay, stumbling along a passage one dark morning, stretched his arms out, but Mrs. Ramsay having died rather suddenly the night before, his arms, though stretched out, remained empty.] (Pg 91)
•  [Prue Ramsay, leaning on her father’s arm, was given in marriage. What, people said, could have been more fitting? And, they added, how beautiful she looked!] (pg 93)
• [Macalister’s boy took one of the fish and cut a square out of its side to bait his hook with. The mutilated body (it was alive still) was thrown back into the sea.]

•   Thus, through Stream of consciousness, Woolf expresses the character's inner world in great coherence and unity.
•  It reveals the character’s flow of thoughts and takes the reader into the consciousness of the character. It deals with conscious, subconscious and even unconscious part of her character.
• Sudden death of central character, Mrs.Ramsay, in parenthesis in the novel's highly stylized middle section, was deeply strange because this is Modernist Literature.
•  ToThe Lighthouse follows & extends the tradition of Modernists, like Marcel Proust and James Joyce. It cited as a key example of stream of consciousness literary technique- most of it written as thoughts and observations.

The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot

•  The Waste Land by T.S.Eliot as Modernist text

• Introduction:-

• The poetry of modern age expresses the chaos and the changing scenario of life and society.
• T.S.Eliot's The Waste Land is both a demonstration and a manifesto of what the new poetry wanted to do and could do.

• T.S.Eliot (1888-1965) describes the boredom, emptiness and pessimism of modern age in bitter, ironical and satirical verse.

• His famous poem The Waste Land is considered the most important poetic documents of the age. It expresses poignantly a desperate sense of the poet, and the age's lack of positive spiritual thinking. Eliot's overwhelming need for redemption transformed him into a religious poet. His intense zeal for religious truth, which lead finally to a new hope in the Christian ideas for rebirth & renewal.

• In his pursuit of giving a realistic representation of life around him, he many times becomes critical of the spiritual degeneration of men and expresses his deep despair over utter emptiness of the contemporary civilization.

• He introduced a new poetic style. His diction is original and unique. It comprehends paradox, irony and contrast.

• Frank Kermode rightly observes that English Poetry would have had no future without the invaluable work done by T.S.ELIOT.

Positive words

Negative words

(1st  part) spring rain winter kept us warm went on in sunlight you feel free branches grow Red rock Morning (2part) burnished throne marble, fruited vines light upon the table glitter of jewels sylvan scene Rain Albert's coming back (3rd  part) the river the nymphs sweet Thames (5th part) a cock stood on the roof tree co co rico co co rico bringing rain flash of lightening Datta,Dayadhvam,Damyata Shantih,Shantih,Shantih

(1st  part) cruelest (month) dead (land) dull (roots) night, dried tubers stony rubbish dead (tree) dry (stone) neither living nor dead NOTHING a bad cold drowned(Phonecian sailor) blank the Hanged man fear death by water unreal city death has undone so many sighs man fixed his eyes before his feet dead sound crying that corpse disturbed Hypocrite frightened you know only a heap of broken images (cricket) no relief i will show you fear in handful of dust my eyes failed silence (2 part) smoke burned sad light barbarous king so rudely forced desert still she cried (Philomela) dirty ears my nerves are bad tonight why do you never speak i think we are rat's alley dead men Nothing again nothing you know nothing? do you see nothing ? do you remember nothing? Are you alive or not? is there nothing in your head? a game of chess ( negative connotation-intrigue) pressing lidless eyes poor Albert if you don’t give it him if you don’t like lack of telling ashamed ....Albert won’t leave you alone (3part) broken sink i sat down & wept... a rat crept... dull canal my father's death white bodies naked... dry garret sound of horns &  motors so rudely forced unreal city the human engine she is bored & tired unreproved, undesired no defense vanity ...of the dead departed lover automatic hand whining of Mandolin the river sweats oil & tar tramps & dusty trees he wept i made no comment Nothing with Nothing the broken fingernails of dirty hands ......people who expect Nothing Burning BurningBurningBurning (4 part) A fortnight dead cry of gulls (5part) frosty silence agony in stony places shouting & crying prison he who was living now dead we who were living are now dying here is no water but only rock dead mountain one can neither stand nor lie nor sit. dry sterile thunder without rain not even solitude in mountains but there is no water maternal lamentation hooded hordes swarming burst in violet air falling towers upside down in air were towers blackened wall tolling bells empty cisterns exhausted wells decayed hole tumbled graves empty chapel dry bones Ganga was  sunken blood shaking my heart awful surrender not to be found in our obituaries seals broken our empty rooms each in his prison nightfall rumors #London Bridge is falling down falling down. Fragments i have shored against my ruins. Hieronymo's mad again.

• The Waste Land

•   The Waste Land represents our current world is a mob of faces, of fragmented images. The scene is set, history is added, and then the voices come in, expressing the feeling of war generation. the feeling of hopelessness  that are still around today, in depression, unhappiness, lack of caring........perhaps despair is not European condition, as most people would have despaired at some point in their lives.

•   The Waste Land is a collage of several things/Images, in which Eliot tries to attempts to tell the story of the modern person. He gives voice to the many voices, the many ideas, the many people in a diverse culture, which is also why he may include numerous languages.

•  The sequence of pictures-Modern Technique of Cinematography:-

•  As in cinema, there are a series of shots transcending time and place, meaningless if. Considered separately, but taken together forming a coherent whole.

•   It helps in controlling time and space- gives universal and permanent significance.

•   Successive clippings, after a few readings fix themselves in memory and convey a coherent whole of meaning.

•  The sequence of picture is central to the poem. The interpretations of these pictures and other symbols and images may vary from person to person. Yet, what is definite is the vitality & realism of these pictures as they pass by like shorts in films.

•  In its novel use of fragmentary voices, dense allusiveness, mythic structures, urban setting, coiling irony and unabashed difficulty, T.S.ELIOT'S The Waste Land epitomizes the central thematic and stylistic tendencies of Modernist Literature.

• Much of the poem brings us face to face with the Modern artist's dilemma of how to find an adequate poetic form and expression to convey his inner experience. It shows us that the modern poet is acutely aware of the conflicts and contradictions, the complexities and fragmentation of his society. So that he can no longer use traditional methods of writing poetry.

•   Hence the artist today is forced to recreate his own esoteric myth & symbols, and draw upon his own vast and unique range of reading for references and allusion to adequately express his meaning or experience. This leads to the charge the Eliot's poetry, especially in The Waste Land is often abstruse and suffers from extreme ambiguity. Thus the disintegration of modern art and poetry itself into the realm of obscurity and elitism becomes a crucial issue in Eliot's poem.

•   Entire The Waste Land is in the stream of consciousness of Tiresias. So whatever Tiresias sees that is the substance of the poem. Eliot rightly chooses Tiresias as a unifying link to connect past, present and future. We are in the stream of consciousness of Tiresias.

•  The very first line of The Waste Land is 'April is the cruelest month', which breaks the archetype of Chaucer's 'April is the sweetest month', is itself the characteristic of modernist literature. He breaks the basic symbol.

• Eliot is showing mirror to world, which they are. Rather than praising he is criticizing rottenness of Western culture. But as a modernist writer he can’t do that in traditional way like Hardy, Dickens or another. So how to do that? He does this in awkward way. He tries to say through hazy, blurred images in a haphazard way.

April is the cruellest month, breeding

Lilacs out of dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain.             ← 1st image.

• Snow covered mountain       -2nd image.
• Marie & cousin         - 3rd image.
• Landscape image
• Lovers coming, wet hair (Tristan and Isolde) – image
• London Bridge (mechanical people)-image
• Madame Sosostris-image
• A lady seating & beautifying herself-image
• Philomela & Procne-Image
• Two person seating (in coffee house) image
• Albert coming back- image
• Image of river Thames
• Tiresias-Sailor, typist, clerk image
• Phlebas the phonecian
•  What the thunder said-
• Christian imagery- Christ caught after last supper.
• Mystical image
• Sterile dry thunder without water
• Falling towers image
• Ganga, Himavat image
• Datta, Dayadhvam, Damyata.

•  Conclusion

Thus, The Waste Land is remarkable piece of writing of Modernist Literature.

Wordsworh's preface to Lyrical Ballads

This blog is written as a comment under the Blog of Dr, Dilip Barad on viewing experience of  video and reply to the questions asked in blog. these video   prepare in Department of English, MKBU. These videos are about unit on "Wordswoth's preface on lyrical Ballads". here is my reply of it.

The videos are really helpful to us In creating a better understanding of the point about the wordsworth’s preface to the lyrical ballad.

The difference between classicism and romanticism is became quite clear. Classicist are believing in intellect as a guiding force. Whereas romantic were believing In imagination as guiding force. Classical were strongly following the rules and regulation while romantics are believing In free play of mind. For example, The writers of the Neo- classical age like pope and other where writing In the classical style of writing, And  they described city, urban life. Whereas Romantics were giving more importance to rustic life, their emotion, their way of life and so on. Romantic writers strongly felt that life of common people can also be the subject of poetry. because rustic people are close to nature, they are more innocent. Simplicity was the trademark of their poetry.

Classicists were believed In restrained (controlled) emotions. According to them emotions should be restrained. But romantics thought that poetry should be Spontaneous and unrestricted. Whatever they feel they are free  to express In simple manner. it means that it is not necessary to follow classical rules of writing, poetry can be written In simple language and for simple, common, rustic people. Even there is difference Indian their approach to life. Classicist were objective and romantic were subjective.

Wordsworth says what is poet rather than who is poet because generally we attached who with a person but wordsworth says what is poet it means that which are the qualities which makes poet different than other people, So He says what is poet. He says that poet is a man speaking to man, endowed with more lively sensibility. All can’t creat lively image as poet can. So here poet differs.  And more than that poet has greater knowledge of human nature. We all are living In this world, all are passing through same experiences, but we can’t express that In harmonius way whereas poet can. Poet can understand and express it very well. Poet has capacity to conjure people In the world of imagination. He is a person who creats verbal world Indian which we lost. Indian short poet is the person who has ability creat thing more beautiful than it actually is Indian reality,  And through which reader gets aesthetic delight.

Diction means choice of language. Language of poetry differs from the language of prose. So definitely question comes that what should be the language of poetry. wordsworth put emphasis on writing poetry  In the ordinary language of people, not a highly crafted poetical one. Simplicity was given priority. He believed that rural people are simple, innocent, so their language should be language of poem. The language of poetry should be the language really used by men. At the same time all the words/language cannot used Indian poetry, so Henry says it should be filtered and refined. And refined vernacular word should be diction of poetry. His language of poetry is easily understandable,   simple but highly philosophical.  one of his famous line  ‘I  wander lonely as a cloud’ is example of this.

Poetry is a spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling recollected Indian tranquillity. Hesays that enjoy the  the nature with open heart, and later Inyour  free time (tranquillity), sit down and try to recollect what you have seen/ experienced. Whenever you will remember that once again that powerful emotion will comes into your mind. And that experiences  collected Indian tranquillity is poetry according to wordsworth.

Thus, I have tried to give answer as per my comprehension.

 Thank you 

Digital Humanities

What is digital Humanities?

The digital humanities is an area of research, technique and creation concerned with the intersection of computing and the disciplines of the humanities. developing from the field of  humanities computing, digital humanity embraces a variety of topics ranging from curating online collections to data mining large cultural data sets. Digital humanities currently incorporates both digitized and both digital and born digital materials and combines the methodologies from traditional humanities disciplines such as history, philosophy, linguistic, literature, art, archaeology, music and cultural studies.

 What D.H doing at Eng. Dept.?

First, after numeric input , text has been by far the most traceable data type for the computers to manipulate. Unlike audio, video, and so on.

Second, there is  the long association between computers and compositions, almost as long and just as rich lineage.

Third, it is a modest but much promoted belle-altruistic project around hypertext and other forms of electronic literature that  continues this day and is increasingly vibrant and diverse.

Yes there is need to do more research in the field of literature because through the use of technology in the field of criticism we get do a lot better thing. For example no one can read text book of hundreds of year, but by making digital text we can evaluate  thousands of texts. For example which word is most use in that particular book is possible to know through this.

Ergodic discourse is a Greek word means ‘Ergos’= work, and Hodos= path.

Cyber texts are  not exclusively electronic or digital. A machine for the production of variety and expression. Traditional reader simply does not have the same degree of influence.

Games are labyrinths and worlds, rather than representations. Text as a machine with different parts and users.

This is great help in our regional languages, for example we can create digital text and do research in this.

Structuralism

 I have read Dilip Barad sir's  blog as a part of sem 2 study , and after this now I will try to analyze T.V. serial or advertisement through structuralist approach.

Structuralist critics like Ferdinand Saussure, Gerald Genette , Roland Barthes, Claude Levi-Strauss etc ., gave their valuable contribution in this approach. Structuralist critics founds basic common structure in every work. He says that skeleton is the structure and it is same every where. Similarly literature has a basic structure which we found common every where.

Here as per instruction rather than writing about structuralism I would  try to analyze like structuralist critic.

For example every literary text has a Beginning, Middle ( Climax) and End.

Movie like P.K. RANGRASIA, OH MY GOD  has a same structure- anti religion or challenges this ideas. If we take structuralist approach then OMG IS better than PK. Structure of both is same.

For example T.V. serial  CID  helps us to understand NARRATOLOGY.  Structure is same for example murder occurs, detection and murderer found by detective. This structure is same in every episode since 17 years. But they make changes in presenting it.

Most of hindi movies  or literature are same. For example  boy+ girl love each other but family is against it or vice versa family ready to marriage but children do not like each other.

We also find binary opposition every where. Good-evil, male-female, god- Satan, white-black.

This and other many common things are found everywhere. This are the few examples .

Thank you

Deconstruction / Poststructuralism by Derrida

 My interpretation of the questions about Deconstruction by Derrida is as follow.

First of all Deconstruction is really a bit difficult to understand, and one reason is that Derrida does not define the Deconstruction. First of all he asks that question that is it possible to define anything once and for all??  Or at what extent can we define something??? So he denies to define  deconstruction.

Derrida’s position is more  philosophical than real. He proves theoretically, not practically.

First of all Deconstruction is not a destructive activity, but it is an inquiry into the foundations of every thing. Deconstructionist critics goes deep into the foundation of text and then they try to subvert , undermine it. Derrida says that every text contains element which  can deconstruct itself.

Structuralist critics says that there is a meaning in the text but Poststructuralist critics says that there is no meaning at all. He talks about free play of meaning. And they also gave idea of supplementarity or decentering the center.

Derrida says that same text cannot be read in the same way. He also talks about free play of meaning that any word can be used for word. It is we who have given the meanings to everything.

We think that words takes us towards the meaning, but at the same time it also takes us away from the meaning. For example what is the meaning of the word “interest”??   we don’t know the meaning of this word, so we go to dictionary to find its meaning. And from dictionary we can get following meaning like…hobby, share in business etc. are meaning. If we take another word BAT, then we will find its meaning like…a kind of mammal,  an old woman, cricket bat  all this meaning we will get.   So what he tries to say that when we go to dictionary then we will find another word for that. The meaning of one word is set of another word, then what is the meaning of those words??.   So he says  FINAL MEANING IS ALWAYS POSTPONED.  According to him FINAL MEANING IS MYTH.

He also talks about phonocentricism and logocentricism  as well as metaphysics of  presence  and metaphysics of absence. He denies western tendency to privilege speech over writing. When we say I am man it means I am this not and that. So presence of one thing is absence of many things.

For example     FESTIVAL OF VASANTPANCHAMI  can be deconstructed.  At this day all the Muhurts  marriages are good. And at the same day  we worship goddess SARASVATI – symbol of education.  But both these opposite things    ( science VS  Nature,  Raw VS  cocked  debate) now a day Raw is corruption but actually it is natural .same way marriage is natural and education is  corruption.   When we go deep into the foundation at that time we found that puja , worship of Saraswati is problematic.  But somebody has merged this both. So when  we go deep into the foundations of this rituals we c an subvert, undermine,  blast the basic ritual.  This is the Deconstruction.

We can go deep into the foundation of anything and then we can deconstruct  it, subvert it, blast it, undermine it.

Thank you

One Night @ the call center by Chetan Bhagat

Chetan Bhagat ON@TCC blog 

(1) Contemporary issues in on@tcc:

From the beginning we are discussing the nature and function of literature. What is literature and what does literature do?Literature is not just imaginative stories written in leisure time only for entertainment. But it is reflection of time, place and society in which we are living. Literature is mirror or photographic image of society. Equally literature is also an X ray image portraying ugly, darker sides of society.

Similarly this novel also throws light on the contemporary issues of present society. All six major characters have their own problems in their personal life. Actually, they are not just imaginative characters, but they are mouthpiece or representative of majority of Indians.

Call center  is a place which unites all the six major characters. Bhagat calls Call centers  as a Soul destroying, air conditioned sweatshops. Most of people were considering it as a great help in boosting our economy. It gives new job opportunities to young people with handsome amount of salary.

But nobody was able to see the under current damage it does. This is the most productive and educated young generation of India. India was never so young before. But this young generation has to work according to American clock, have to talk in American accents and have to change even names also. For example Varun - Vroom, Shyam- Sam, etc.How painful it is to lose identity of one's own for the sake of others or job!!!!!. This is the newer form of slavery and colonization.(Slavery was never abolished; it is just changed to include everyone.-New work culture in office).

And more than that they condition the mind of youth by Ads. what does it mean to be young ?Being youth means  to eat pizza, to drink Coca-Cola, view item songs only. This conditioning is done to majority of people.

Apart from this other issues are also beautifully touched upon like... Love/ arranged marriage, breakup & patch up, Bossism, exploitation in modeling or other sectors, OLD MORALITY- NEW MORALITY, family values, constant fight of parents and its effect on children, low self esteem, emotional blackmailing, hire & fire work culture, anti- American sentiments and many more......

Anti- American sentiments are very strong in this novel. Bhagat through character of Vroom criticizes american policy. American DREAM is just myth. they are not happiest people. He also criticizes war mongering habit of america. those who fight a lot they are the most fearful people. vroom says  Americans suck the life blood out of our country’s most productive generation 

 ‘a thirty-five-year-old American’s brain and IQ is the same as a ten-years-old Indian’s brain. This will help you understand your clients. You need to be as patient as you are when dealing with a child. Americans are dumb, just accept it. this quote explains strong anti American sentiments.

2. Can you justify this observation?

“Bhagat's tone is pitch-perfect, hisObserver’s eye keenly focused on nuanceand detail. Verisimilitude is all: The firsttwo thirds of the novel evokes, indeedreproduces, the way the young callCenter workers think, talk, eat, and drink,Dress, date and behave.” (Tharoor).

Yes, it is quite true observation depicted in the novel of young people in the novel. Vroom complains about America and its negative effect on Indians. He also criticizes call centers. At that time someone says that if this is what happens then why don’t you leave the job. But he replies that I can’t, because I also want to live the way my other friends live. And for that he requires money.

“Bhagat has a talent for tapping into the zeitgeist; that he is not much older than the people he writes about makes him a particularly credible portrayal  of their world.”(Tharoor). 

☆ zeitgeist =¤The spirit of the age; the taste, outlook, and spirit /characteristic of a period.

¤spiritus mundi   
temper of the times

It is interesting observation by Shashi Tharoor that this is what "New" India is. Generally YOUTH hadn’t found enough space in past, especially in Indian writing in English. But Chetan Bhagat is able to catch the spirit of the age. This is what we find happening in and around world. The way youngsters live, eat, talk, drink, behave, spend money is brilliantly capture here. In DRYDEN's word it is JUST & LIVELY IMAGE of contemporary India.


Had Bhagat’s vision been shallow, he wouldn’t’t have been able to see “call-centers as soul- destroying sweatshop, soaking up the energies of young Indians who could be doing better for themselves and their country”. 

 Chetan Bhagat with this observation has captured the skeleton image of the undercurrents in the society

Many people criticize Bhagat's novels as simple, childish things without philosophical depth and keen observation. Though book is written in simple diction, it is not good idea to neglect its importance. It does present the skeleton image or undercurrent of society. It is a kind of reality which may gave shock to many people. Because working in call centers makes them submissive. Why they have to speak in American accents only?? Because if this people identifies them as Indians, then they may abuse Indians. Even if they abuse this people has to speak in decent language. This creates huge Psychological damage/ impact on the minds of the youngsters. It generates LOW SELF ESTEEM, which is found in the character of Shyam.

Corporate sectors USE energy of youngsters by showing dangling carrot. Success story of just 5% people are being told again and again. But what about other 95% people

.their stories never come out. It gives more opportunities to younger people. Because they are full of energy and enthusiasm. Older people cannot work like them. So they are thrown out of job. The same will happen with young generation also, that when their stamina will decrease, when they grew old they will be thrown away from job. (THROW AWAY CULTURE) .they is trapped, used as ploy. And when one comes to know about this, it’s too late.

This is what happening at present time. Everybody is not able to see the undercurrent effect. But Bhagat has very well presented these issues.

Here it is appropriate to use words of Coleridge that :-“ Had Mr. Wordsworth's poems been the silly, the childish things … they must have sunk at once, a dead weight, into the slough of oblivion, and have dragged the preface along with them.”  Similarly after so many years of its publication the book and writer both are still alive- read a lot by large number of people. Had it been worthless, childish thing people might have forgotten it. It has something which appeals to many.


★
Mannepean satire is a seriocomic genre, in Greek literature and Latin literature, in which contemporary institutions, conventions, and ideas were criticized in a mocking satiric style that mingled prose and verse.

At much extent this novel is example of it, because it also satirizes many institutions and ideas and conventions. For example Marriage institution, Bossism, work culture



 Cyberpunk:-

→(science fiction) A subgenre of science fiction which focuses on computer or information technology and virtual reality.

A cyberpunk character, a hacker punk, a high-tech low life.

There are few elements which leads us to read this novel as cyber punk.

-The "BUG" found in MS office is turned out as plot mover.

-open G mail account of Mr.Bakshi and as result fake mail drafted by Vroom is fine example of it.

Narrative technique:-

Apart from what is told in story, HOW part is also very important. Writer himself was traveling in train from Kanpur to Delhi. And then he meets a young girl, who tells him a story on condition of writing it as his  second novel. He listens the story, and story is told by  Shyam- one of the characters in the novel. In the beginning Shyam is introduced and then he introduces other major characters. So this narrative pattern in also very interesting.

PROLOGUE & EPILOGUE:-
Chetan Bhagat makes very good use of prologue and epilogue in his novel. In prologue, writer himself comes as character and talks with the reader.
It looks like Bhagat is well aware about the literary tradition of writing. Exact time and place of action is given. Which follows the Aristotelian unities of time, place and action. Deux ex Machina, is something which must be avoided. So he gives alternative narrative of  entire novel .which proves that God's intervention is not a mistake, but author deliberately does so.
There are many parallel/ similarities in Narrative technique of One Night @ The call center  by Bhagat and "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel- the  Canadian writer. For example beginning of the novel- Prologue. Both the writer himself present in the prologue telling how they got inspiration about writing their second novel. Both the writers meets person who tells them stories - a young lady in ON@tcc and an old man in Life of Pi. Both tell that you can meet the real people to collect more information.

Other parallel is Experience of God. There is not clarity about God, but rather it’s indicated and experienced. One can't say with surety that God is present or not.

And one more point is First person Narration in both the novels- Shyam and Pi- narrator and protagonist in both the novels.

EPILOGUE:-

And in the epilogue of both the novels alternative reading is given. When Japanese insurance agents listen the story of Pi, they are not ready to believe it. They say our company won’t believe this. So Pi tells another story replacing Animals with human beings. When Yann Martel asks what correct story is, Pi tells a story which I told you. But now it’s your story, you can write the way you wish. The same lines are also found in ON@tcc also. When Bhagat asks that people may not believe story with God's call. so the lady tells that you can replace the lines of God with Military uncle.

So, this is the parralel in Narrative technique in both novels, which is quite interesting.


★ Popular literature:-

ON@TCC is charged by many critics as popular literature.

But what is popular literature ??
Popular literature
Commonly lacks a sustained plot, worked

Out with close regard to cause and effect.
a good literary text should have cause &  effect justified. But here it is not so. God's call is there but its justification is not given. effect is there but cause is not justified.☆Still more characteristically it lacks the study of character and the intellectual analysis of such varied problems as occupy the fiction of the present age.
Why Bhagat's novel not won awards or critical acclaim ??- the reason is that characters are not well developed. All the characters are flat characters. God’s call comes and they easily accept without doubting or questioning. The details about characters upbringing is not given as it is given in Life of Pi. Pi believes in God, because from childhood he was grown up with stories of god. He believed in all the religions. So when he tells in the novel that I experienced god, it looks appropriate. Whereas in Bhagat's book it isn’t happening.

→The popular romances lay their stress chiefly on incident and adventure or simple intrigue, and set forth only the more familiar and accepted moral teachings.

ON@TCC:-It is not about something very great adventure characters are doing. What is written is the book is the day to day life of many people.And the moral teaching given by God is not something very great, because it is Chetan Bhagat's god. The kind of Teaching given in the book is already told in many books. He is just putting it in simple language. So it lacks that high seriousness. So it is appropriate to say that ON@TCC present an instinctive or traditional, rather than a highly reflective, philosophy of life. It does not raise or answerabstract questions also. It has happy ending, but life is actually not so. But Post Modern text never ends in clear cut way, but it does so.Because of all these reasons critics  have come to be regarded chiefly as the literature of children- because this kinds of stories were told in the beginning or at childhood of civilization. and if still these kinds of stories are told and people enjoy then we have to doubt whether humanity has evolved or not???

So, from much perspective this novel falls under the category of popular literature. But then even to degrade the text because it is popular is not a good idea. To be popular or classic is not in book's hand. Every text has its pros and cons.