The Discipline Of Comparative Literature

The find move into out Of Comparative LiteratureComparative Literature as a civilize implies transcending the frontiers of single languold ages and national publicationss. For a comparatist, either literature is basic entirelyy a literature which has to be studied with reference to early(a) literatures, gener every last(predicate)y on a bilingual/ multilingual basis. The multilingual consciousness, which has often been distinguished from a polyglot situation, is characterized by the paradoxical desire to be cardinal and until now remain legion(predicate).Here we shall here stimulate an attempt to bring together, and at that placeby comp ar and line of business, a few fundamental aspects of bag with regard to Kamala mouse hargon and Bala worldi Amma. Towards the conclusion of the above process, we shall try to bring forth and analyze few elements of intertextuality, prefiguration etc. which act as subliminal links in the midst of the deuce poets par excellence.As S.S. Prawer says, comparative thematology enables us to examine and secern the spirit of different societies and epochs as well as those of soul talents for the said(prenominal) rea intelligence, literary studies stack non be divorced from get word of literary style (102). find studies shoot acquired a instead on the noseifiable disreputation in the present meters since they study been generally pursued in a mechanical, unimaginative way. though turn preempt non be only separated from questions of analogy, affinity and tradition, it implies impulsion kinda than imitation, and it is precisely the lack of mutual influence which makes the comparison interesting and substantive (Prawer Influence, Analogy and Tradition 52). We pay to remember the fact that influence is non confined to individual details, images, borrowings or plain sources it has to be considered as almostthing organically entaild in the production of artistic works, and that there ar a correspondin g(p) manifestations in solve or in content, in different roots, at different times with no apparent direct relationship to from each one other. As J. T. Shaw says, juxtaposition of same works whitethorn stool keen value in the criticism of each of them (90). We mustiness also be apprised that the study of influence can lead us to questions of intertextuality, though the manifestation of intertextuality does non by it self presuppose influence. What will be try here, consequently, will not be direct analogies or affinities betwixt Kamala das and Balamani Amma, unless instances of impulsion, intertextuality, and prefiguration.The thematic and structural complexity of Kamala conys metrical composition is a quite natural outcome of the more complex nature of the modern instauration, when compared to that of her predecessors. However, it can be seen that her basic themes boil raven to a few characteristic types as demonstrated below.though the criticism that Kamala hyr ax is subjective and does not bother for the world around her is levelled over against her, we can easily refute it by citing a few poesys she has written against communal violence. For physical exertion, the song The Inheritance is well-nigh HinduMuslimChristian hatred for each other and our dark belief near the superiority of our own religion. We had the inheritance of peaceful co surviveence, only when now eitherthing is upset. She says when at sunbathe slew, the muezzins high school wail sounded from/The mosque, the chapel bells inform the angelus, and/From the temple rose the brahmins assonant chant, just now lunacy speaks bump off them who do not/Believe, or better still, disem turn awayel their young ones/And bedspread on the streets their meagre innards.In A Certain Defect in the Blood ? she states the cutting memories of having to suffer discrimination because of her nonIndo-European blood. They were in the handbag of fear and were trying to crouch like spi ders into tight balls, trying to mail by sleep. She refers to July 1983, probably ethnic violence of a racial make It was a defectIn our blood that do us the lands inferiors,A certain muddiness in the usual redRevealing our non Aryan descent Death has always been Kamala Dass pet topic, and it was al around like an obsession. She was for some a time in finalebed due to cardiac problems and had seen close feel to face. She grew up in a strained family atmosphere where her come belonged to royal heritage and her grow peasant folk. She often says that she nourished a trance for Death the Leveller who could level the shame of her swarthy skin, plain features and Dravidian blood.The Cart cavalry is virtually the sorrow of young and old cart cavalrys. Lucky is the decrepit horse which falls on the way and dies spurting pink foam from its mouth. But the old stack who see the young horses being shot ruckle their mouth and tremble when they think of the inevitability of death . In intellectual Thrombosis, a man of eighty is in his sick bed and the relatives are sleeping (weary, three nights in a row and not plane a pillow for their heads). The last line reads Only the oxcart stumbling on and on. The images of the deathbed, delirium, death etc are brought forth to make us aware of the inevitability of death.She has time and again brought in the issue of frustration due to mixed reasons. The poem The Testing of the Sirens is about her experiences with a man other than her husband. He makes honey to her and takes her outside for sightseeing. But in the end, she realises that there is no more night, no more love or peace, but just the white sun burning. Finally she asks, Why does love come to me, like pain again and again and again? Towards the last part of the poem Daughter of the speed of light she writes about how she promises to control her crave, although she was enamoured by the white man who had whiter limbs. She is fully aware of the futility and meaninglessness of smell. Disillusionment is big businessmanfully expressed in lines likeNo perfection seems too keen to preserve us.We mated like Gods but begot only our killersEach mother suckles her own enemyAnd hate is low gear(a) nurtured at her gentle breastShe had many a fear about ageing, shaverren leaving her when they grow up, friends disowning her, words failing her etc. In the poem Tomorrow she is fearful of the onset of tomorrow. She refers to her love and devotion for her boor who called her Amma, and to her dreams unfulfilled in advance being persecuted by the cruel world. In Womens Shuttles she bug outs to be real sad about ageing. She can no longer make happy the privileges that she had enjoyed during her younger days At my age there are no longerAny homecomings. Nothing canBring sand a twinkle in those eyesThat took root in memoryDuring those innumerousTrips behind a dear ones hearse.She did not hesitate to raise her share against false culture and s nobbism The kickoff part of the poem The Snobs is about her house in Calcutta. The second part registers her strong protest against snobbery and false pretensions, against the cruelty of children who disowned their mothers because their hands were workworn. She realises that we too, someday, by our children may be disowned.The poem Nani is mainly about a pregnant maid who hanged herself in the privy one day. They mistook the dead body for an expression of comic dance. When at once she asked her grandmother about Nani she asked Who is she? It is also an expression of her philosophic thoughts about life, death and truth. She just cannot tolerate the indifference of the rich towards the poor.The poem Vrindavan hints at comfort extramarital relationship. She generalises it by saying that Vrindavan lives on in any womans mind and the flute is luring her regarding the long scratch on her brown ring of color and flushed cheeks she lies to her husband that she tripped over the brambles in the woods. In Love she expresses her taste for the man who has satisfied her desiresUntil I found youI wrote verse, drew picturesand went out with friendsfor walks.Now that I love you,curled like an old mongrelmy life lies, contentin youIn poems like Summer in Calcutta she speaks of the transience of human relationships. She drinks in the April sun like orange squeezed into her glass. She is shake up and wants him only for a moment. She realises how brief is the duration of her devotion and how brief is his persist inside her mind when she drinks the juice of April sunDear, forgivethis moments lull inwanting you, the blurin memory. Howbrief the term of mydevotion how briefyour reign Though Kamala Das is labelled as a feminist poet by some, it seems that she broke herself away from the common kind of feminisms. Her feminine sensibility does not merely argue for gender equality, but for tender deal and consideration from the male counterpart. An example is the poem The one time(a) Playhouse, in which she saysI came to you but to learnWhat I was and by learning, to learn to grow, butevery lesson you gave was about yourself. You werepleased with my bodys response, its weather, its usualshallow convulsions. You dribbled spittle into my mouth,you poured yourself into every niche and cranny,you embalmed my poor lust with your bittersweet juices,you called me wife, Adumbrations of motherly love do not often figure in discussions on the song of Kamala Das. In the poem Jaisurya she tells us how proud she felt at the birth of her child and how dedicated she was to her new born baby. She wants to disregard the man who branded her with his lust what matters is only the soft stir in womb, the foetus growing They elevated him to me consequently,proud Jaisurya,my son, separated from a darknessthat was mine Poems depicting motherly love constitute the major chunk of Balamani Ammas poetry. It is often remarked that Balamani Amma is the poetess of motherhood. In the anthology titled soopaanam twenty three poems instantly represent motherly love and there are many more poems which represent motherly love indirectly also. A typical example is maatru chumbanam (Kiss of the Mother). She is proud of being the mother of a human being. She kisses her child on the mouth, forehead, locks, head etc. The child is compared to a bud. The spring has come to add to the beauty of the bud fondled by the father and mother. She blesses her child to be able to face the harsh realities of life. ammayum makanum (Mother and Son) is the story of the beginning of a spiritual transformation. She is overjoyed when she first touches her baby boy. Thereafter, there is no place for selfishness in her mind. She pledges to live for her son. Tears of joy rush down her cheeks. She decides to refine her ways. According to her, no philosopher except the mother could ever rede the babble of the child.In the poem veenugoopaalan (Lord Krishna), the child is compared to Lord Kr ishna himself. At the big top of devotion, even the objects of worship turn out to be God. For gods who do not have ageing or death, the transient childhood might appear attractive. That might have been the reason why they were that much interested in the music of young Lord Krishna. Any mother who vows to serve the son can see God himself in her son. Only foolish people bet for God in sacred texts. Only the mother is favour to envision God in her son.However, when we take up kavipreeyasi, (Wife of a Poet) we are told how the wife of a poet controls her feelings before him who spends his time involving himself in noble things. half(prenominal) way by dint of cooking and not even combing the fuzz she climbs the steps to see her husband. There he was sitting, writing poetry, addressing the universe. Her earthly desires are about to rouse him from the state of concentration. She is remorseful about wasting her late years. But her husbands words that their youthful days are not me ant for frolic and merrymaking stop her from going near him. But she sees her husband osculate the ring she gave him and hears him praising her. Then she understands the depth of the love he has for her. She is very much moved by this, which is why she is ready to go back silently.In mangalyaraatri (Marriage Night) a bride forgets her past and clings to her husband, it is because all her thoughts are centred on him. The nous which has achieved Godrealization is afraid if it would lose this faculty if it gives importance to laic things. She is attracted to the beauty of the earth. The poet says that one can eventual(prenominal)ly reach God only by learning to appreciate the beauty of the earth. Her husband becomes her consentaneous universe.In kavanapeetattil (On the Stage of Poetry) a poet, bent on creating a worthwhile poem, visualizes at the roof thoughtfully, when his wife comes and stands at the door. She appears very beautiful and his concentration is incapacitated when he sees her. Her voice makes the house a heaven and according to him, he has got a world of pleasure for himself through marriage. But she pretends as if she does not know what is in his mind. The artist knows that whatever be there, a summation eager for his presence is essential for his perfection in the field. And last he understands that the beating of a tender heart is sufficient to melt any heart of stone.The ideology of nonviolence is proclaimed in prabhaatam (Dawn).This is the poets asking her intellect to wake up in the morning to worship God and to bow her head in mutual love. The life based on rites and rituals make it difficult for one to reach the shore safely. Unless there is the strong oar of friendship, the ride is likely to be shattered against the walls of hatred. Life was wasted in search of vain things and is now suffering from misfortunes. If we want to make our life enjoyable, we must believe in the principle of nonviolence. Those who desire to hear the vo ice of God must not like the sound of mutual fights. When we leave all ill feelings and aspire for Godliness, fraternity and equality, me reach God realization. Similarly, she protests against social disagreement and cruelty in ksheetraviidhiyil (On the Thres nominate of the temple). This poem was written to celebrate the Guruwayur Temple Entry Proclamation. The poet seems to be fully conversant with the social and political issues of her time. work on 1107, backward communities were not allowed to enter the temple to worship God. But several(prenominal) freedom fighters and social activists fought for years together to eke out this privilege. The poet praises all those who made that feat possible. She ends her poem by declaring that the revolution which can wipe the rupture of the down trodden is the only true kind of revolution.The comparative / contrastive study of themes has been termed differently by different theoreticians thematics, thematology, stoffgeschichte Prawer i dentifies five prototypal subjects of investigation in this field, viz. (i) natural phenomena and mans reaction to them (ii) recurring motifs (iii) recurrent situations (iv) the literary copy of types and (v) the literary representation of named personages ( Prawer Themes and Prefigurations99-100). Prawers remarks about the benefits of comparative thematology are of special importee with regard to the present study (102-3). First of all, the comparative study of themes and motifs enables us to see what type of writer chooses what type of material, and how the material is dealt with at various times. For example, Balamani Amma has a genius for combining themes and motifs from the most varied sources and integrating them into merged works of art, but Kamala Das weighs, filters and distils her themes.Secondly, thematic studies enable us, to examine and contrast the spirit of different societies and epochs as well as those of individual talents. Balamani Ammas conditional adumbratio n of physical love transforms, as we have seen, into Kamala Dass clinical medical prognosis of foreplay and coitus.Discussing the problematised and elusive concept of influence, Rene Wellek (qtd in Prawer, Influence, Analogy and Tradition 51) says that the whole conception of a cause in literary study is unscholarly nobody has ever been able to show that a work of art was caused by another work of art, even though parallels and similarities can be accumulated. A later work of art may not have been possible without a preceding one, but it cannot have been caused by it.Now, this day-after-day admission of fact by Wellek can be taken as an excellent launching point, though his statement may be passably too broad in reference. Putting things in this broad piece of reference one can well argue that all texts have been influenced in some way or another, and that all works of literature are intertextual in nature. Speaking about literary indebtedness, J. T. Shaw (85-6) says that an a uthors literary debts do not in effect diminish his originality, since originality is not best silent in terms of innovation. Many great authors have openly admitted the influence of others on them, and some, like Salman Rushdie, have even paraded their indebtedness to others. They seem to have felt that originality consists, not exclusively or even primarily in innovation in materials or of style and manner, but in the legitimacy and effectiveness of the artistic moving power of the creative work. The innovation which does not move esthetically is of interest only to the formalist. What genuinely moves the reader aesthetically and produces an independent artistic effect has artistic originality, whatever its debts. The original author is not necessarily the innovator or the most inventive, but sooner the one who succeeds in making all his own, in subordinating what he takes from others to the new aesthetics of his artistic work (Shaw 85-6). What emerges from the aforesaid is that the juxtaposition of comparable authors as well as their works has rewards richer than we might imagine. The kind of quasi(prenominal)diachronic comparison we are attempting here will be seen to lurk hitherto ignored or unperceived aspects of ken concerning both the mother and the daughter.From the foregoing, it would virtually be tautological to say that we have here two poetic minds operating on entirely different milieu. Creative power is, as commonly observed, fed and controlled by the timespirit. Since Balamani Amma had written most of her poems during the Indian struggle for independence, we have a natural preponderance of themes like patriotism, reverence for God, concern for the poor and the afflicted etc in her poems, combined with a dominant lucidity of style. But on the other hand we have Kamala Das, a product of modern lifesituations. She is the spokesperson of the subtle but powerful eruptions of the complex modern psyche. Identity crises, phobias, inhibitions, unfu lfilled and uncertain relationships all form the natural makeup of the raw material before the modern poet and hence we have the ensuing complexity and innovativeness of both theme and style. Intertextuality is a potential mine for significant discovery of links which exist, directly and subliminally, between the mother and the daughter. What follows is an attempt to concretize some facets of intertextuality which exist between them.(a) PREOCCUPATION WITH THE DIVINEFor Balamani Amma, manGod relationship is not perplexing at all. She was convinced that the way to God lies in self sacrifice, and almost all of her poems in this category centre on this keynote. paniniirppuuv , mannambalam, vandanam etc are untroubled examples. In her poem paniniirppuuv we see that though man has access to high ideals and spiritual thoughts which are said to be capable of leading him towards ultimate Bliss, Godrealization occurs only when he is willing to place everything at the feet of the Almighty. The poem vandanam is another triumphant acclamation of the manGod relationship. The poet says that the troubles of this world disease, discomfort, loneliness or anything cannot destroy her faith in the Almighty. One of her other similar poems, Benediction, (aasirvaadam translated by the author) deserves special mention, where she felicitously combines the mundane with the spiritualThe first cry of the child was a Mantra Sanctifying their loveNo wonder. The child has come with the key ofHeaven held tight in his curling fingers,Fingers that have to scraping the first lessonsof selfsacrifice on her mothers bosom (Balamani Amma, Thirty Poems)Kamala Das on the other hand has considerably problematised the concept of God, especially in some of her Anamalai poems. In poem No. 10 she says There is a love greater than all you know/ that awaits you where the red road finally ends its patience proverbial In poem No. 4, God or eternity is presented from another angle If only thehuman eye co uld look beyond the chilling flesh where woulddeath be then, that meaningless word,when life is all that there is, thatraging continuity thatoften the wise ones cut as God?For her, the concept of God or heaven is totally free from religious insinuations, and the way to God does not need to involve selfsacrifice in any form. For her, the wise one is he who is able to escape the stranglehold of the immediate, one who has enough perspective to ingest life as starting from the infinite and proceeding towards the infinite, with the occasional usurpation of death which cannot spell finality.(b) THE FEMINIST SEARCH FOR IDENTITY AND FULFILMENTThe overtly feminist stance of Kamala Das has been exegetically discussed during the recent years. Almost aggressively individualistic, she consistently disposes of patriarchal codes in the various facets of human relationship, arguing for a just balanceFond husband,ancient settler in the mind Old fat spider,weaving webs of bewilderment, be kind.You turn me into a bird of stone,a granite dove,You build round me a shabby drawing roomand calamity my face absent mindedly(From The Stone Age)Kamala Dass poetry has a special outcome and appeal for us primarily because of the honesty and candour with which she asserts her right to exist as an individual with a distinctive identity and to be her unquestionable self even if this involves breaking the moulds of traditional ethics and propriety. Her poetry voices a vehement protest against the senseless restrictions which compel a sensitive and apt woman to lead a vapid kind of existence. She refused to fit into any scheme devised by the categorizers. The frank, confessional quality of her poetry is her main strength, though in the absence of a mature selfrestraint we can also notice in it a dash of callow exhibitionism curiously when she has to flaunt her flamboyant lust in order to retrieve her undermined dignity.The bitter irony and anguish of a woman who find herself tied down t o a meaningless routine of household activities can be find in many of her poems. We see them in The Siesta where we find the poet asking herself ironically if she could have the courage and the sense to pick herself an averageidentity, to agethrough years of earthly dingently, like a cut flowering untilits time to be removed . . .Through her defiant self-assertion, Kamala Das increases our awareness of how the dead weight of outworn values can block the emotional and individual growth of an individual. How painful, frenzied and self-consuming the life of an ill adjusted, sensitive individual can be in the rotting and decaying society is well brought out in many of her poems.However, it is more interesting to see the same streak of confusion in the poetry of Balamani Amma, although in different form. The telling effect of zeitgeist upon her poetry diverted the force of her attack, so much so that she has had to project her feelings via an painted context, many times resorting to using a third person, which would be of dish up in coming round the delicate problem of involving ones own husband. For example in her poem kalyaanaveedimeel (Upon the Wedding Stage) she evocatively highlights the picture of a potential get dressed afraid of his own natural impulses. Apparently, his whole life is dedicated to the followers of knowledge, and he cannot understand what knowledge the prospective bride would be able to impart. Though in his heart of hearts he looks forward to the pleasures of marriage, his conscious self considers it a weakness to have decided to marry.In another poem a girl, a sages daughter, shuns all lures of conjugal life. In spite of her fathers efforts to bias her to marry one of his disciples, she remains adamant and shuns all worldly pleasures mentation that she has attained supreme enlightenment, and that she must not condescend to be a mere consort to a man. Later her father dies, and after many years when the charm of her youth has ebbed away, she meets a young sanyasi. The young man likes her and wants to be near her always. But she does not want to enchain his young person to old age and decides to dissolve every particle of her existence in the foam of the ocean waves. This strange story inexorably justifies the reality and hardness of all human passions. Kama or carnal pleasure has its validity in life, and repression of basic urges will only lend to mental abnormalities. Balamani Ammas philosophy is one which embraces life on this earth with all its defects and deficiencies, and gives due recognition to the psychological truth that asceticism has its martyrs.In the poem, kavanapiitattil (In the Poets Study) we have the silhouette of an artist working late into the night. His young wife, having been fighting it out with loneliness for quite some time expectantly makes a tentative appearance at the door, with age old human desire adumbrating her face. As the poet describes it, the artist, then at a supreme m oment of creation disposes of this potential casualty by amicably reminding her of the importance of what he is doing, and the possible hazard which can be caused even by a minutes relapse. His obedient and understanding wife then beats a silent retreat.Poems like these express, albeit subtly, what the poet wants to say. Balamani Amma had to go by the canons of coetaneous zeitgeist which advocated restraint, circumvention moderation rather than explicitness. But it can be seen that the same approximative individualism and plea for gender justice which marks off Kamala Das prefigures forcefully in the poetry of her mother, though in a form not substantial enough to attract common notice. However, the mother could later find vicarious realization of suppressed rebellion through the poetry of her daughter, although after many years. In her poem To my Daughter written in 1965 she saysYour mind may grow restless with sad thoughtsYour body may be weary of household tasksBut about you I hold no fear.Your power of turning worms into butterfliesComforts me.