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SEPTEMBER 2012
UGC SPONSORED NATIONAL SEMINAR
Nagaon GNDG Commerce College
Assam
25TH & 26TH SEPTEMBER, 2012
REPRESENTATION OF THE RURAL IN MODERN INDIAN LITERATURE
The looming presence of the industrialized city reduces all cultural productions conceived outside the peripheries of the `urban' to a new category: the non urban. The endemic over population and the rigorous interplay of men and machines has gradually withered away the cultural and aesthetic conventions of the rural phenomenon. It is however irrefutable that rural sensibility has been a very central part of the literary imagination and human interaction with nature goes back to literatures written from within the romantically rural background. Writers and poets at different periods of times have rebuffed the overflowing city and returned to nature and the rural in symbolical or literal terms and this is not merely for a nostalgic revival but to have an unadulterated essence of life and living. Ruralism as a separate literary entity holds good at a time when no other subject but the `crowd' could fascinate the modern writer. The disavowal of the hub for a more soothing surrounding has been apparent in the works of many modern writers as well. Ecological fiction too harp on the issue that the spontaneity of a natural rural environment would go a long way to maintain a healthy balance between a society and its culture.
At the onset of the 21st century does the `rural' reinforce the necessity of a preference for the idea of reconnecting our spirits to the sylvan ambience that leads to a physical, emotional and spiritual enlightenment. Would it help us develop a strong identity? Does a shift from the rural to the urban and vice versa reckon a shift in a person's self identity as well? Does it also change a person's concept of `belonging' to a place?
This seminar is an attempt to explore the representation of the province and the rural setting in literature. It will attempt to look into the various ways in which the rural has merged in and has been imagined across different literary genres. How are the country and the city idealized in literature? What are the idealized stereotypes of representing the country and the city in literature? What are the gendered dimensions of representing these geographical spaces? Is there a cultural outsider in the literary texts about rural spaces? The seminar aims to distinguish the conflict, if any, between the rural and urban realities and in the process seek to justify if the rural paradigm still remains a worthwhile focus of research in modern literature. The seminar will attempt to address the following issues through an exploration and analysis of modern Indian literature.
1. Rural setting and literary work.
2. Rural representations: modern interrogations.
3. Gendered dimensions of rural approaches.
4. Rural contexts and contemporary issues.
5. Nature, human interaction and rural subjectivity.
6. Juxtaposing urban and the rural landscapes in literature.
7. Rural spaces as locations of `otherness'.
Papers related to the theme but not mentioned specifically will also be considered.
Academics, researchers and professionals are welcome to present papers in the conference. Abstracts of the papers (not exceeding 300 words) written in Times New Roman (12), and the full paper along with a brief narrative bio (not exceeding 50 words), are to be mailed at any of the following addresses.
[email protected]
[email protected]
Abstracts should be submitted by 5th July with the following information and in this order: a) author(s); b) affiliation; c) email address; d) telephone numbers;
e) title of abstract; f) body of abstract; g) key words.
The last date for the submission of final papers is July 31, 2012.
The medium of writing can be either Assamese or English.
Selected conference-papers will be in print in an ISBN publication.
Further details will be updated.(www.gndgccollege.org)
Nagaon GNDG Commerce College
Assam
25TH & 26TH SEPTEMBER, 2012
REPRESENTATION OF THE RURAL IN MODERN INDIAN LITERATURE
The looming presence of the industrialized city reduces all cultural productions conceived outside the peripheries of the `urban' to a new category: the non urban. The endemic over population and the rigorous interplay of men and machines has gradually withered away the cultural and aesthetic conventions of the rural phenomenon. It is however irrefutable that rural sensibility has been a very central part of the literary imagination and human interaction with nature goes back to literatures written from within the romantically rural background. Writers and poets at different periods of times have rebuffed the overflowing city and returned to nature and the rural in symbolical or literal terms and this is not merely for a nostalgic revival but to have an unadulterated essence of life and living. Ruralism as a separate literary entity holds good at a time when no other subject but the `crowd' could fascinate the modern writer. The disavowal of the hub for a more soothing surrounding has been apparent in the works of many modern writers as well. Ecological fiction too harp on the issue that the spontaneity of a natural rural environment would go a long way to maintain a healthy balance between a society and its culture.
At the onset of the 21st century does the `rural' reinforce the necessity of a preference for the idea of reconnecting our spirits to the sylvan ambience that leads to a physical, emotional and spiritual enlightenment. Would it help us develop a strong identity? Does a shift from the rural to the urban and vice versa reckon a shift in a person's self identity as well? Does it also change a person's concept of `belonging' to a place?
This seminar is an attempt to explore the representation of the province and the rural setting in literature. It will attempt to look into the various ways in which the rural has merged in and has been imagined across different literary genres. How are the country and the city idealized in literature? What are the idealized stereotypes of representing the country and the city in literature? What are the gendered dimensions of representing these geographical spaces? Is there a cultural outsider in the literary texts about rural spaces? The seminar aims to distinguish the conflict, if any, between the rural and urban realities and in the process seek to justify if the rural paradigm still remains a worthwhile focus of research in modern literature. The seminar will attempt to address the following issues through an exploration and analysis of modern Indian literature.
1. Rural setting and literary work.
2. Rural representations: modern interrogations.
3. Gendered dimensions of rural approaches.
4. Rural contexts and contemporary issues.
5. Nature, human interaction and rural subjectivity.
6. Juxtaposing urban and the rural landscapes in literature.
7. Rural spaces as locations of `otherness'.
Papers related to the theme but not mentioned specifically will also be considered.
Academics, researchers and professionals are welcome to present papers in the conference. Abstracts of the papers (not exceeding 300 words) written in Times New Roman (12), and the full paper along with a brief narrative bio (not exceeding 50 words), are to be mailed at any of the following addresses.
[email protected]
[email protected]
Abstracts should be submitted by 5th July with the following information and in this order: a) author(s); b) affiliation; c) email address; d) telephone numbers;
e) title of abstract; f) body of abstract; g) key words.
The last date for the submission of final papers is July 31, 2012.
The medium of writing can be either Assamese or English.
Selected conference-papers will be in print in an ISBN publication.
Further details will be updated.(www.gndgccollege.org)
