ISSN: 3048-6920 DOI: 10.70396 An Indian outlook on the World's Literature is ILN Journal: Indian Literary Narratives! India is a land of wisdom and intellectual prowess. The Golden Perspective that Indians have is unique and exclusive. We capture this stream of premium literary intelligence and projects it to the world. ILN Journal: Indian Literary Narratives is a peer-reviewed, open-access quarterly e-journal, that is published on the 30th of March, June, September and December. We accept research articles and book reviews from Indian academicians, Indian scholars, Indian researchers and Indian faculties of English Literature, English Language and Linguistics.
Interview: Dr P. Veerasamy in Conversation with Mr. Antonythasan alias Shobasakthi
Section: Book Reviews/Interviews Keywords: Shobakthi, Tamil Deprecated: preg_replace(): Passing null to parameter #3 ($subject) of type array|string is deprecated in D:\ILN Journal\ojs-3.4.0-4\ojs-3.4.0-4\cache\t_compile\e027190bf0731df296bc994dac604b9dd7c5670d^c940d5f8376e6af774deb7e0a5efe41e5bfff906_0.plugins-1-plugins-generic-webFeed-generic-webFeed.rss.tpl.php on line 131
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr. P. Veerasamy (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Exploration of Masculinity and Its Contradictions: A Nuanced Examination of Gloria Naylor’s Male Characters in The Women of Brewster Place, Mama Day and Bailey’s Café
Section: Articles Keywords: Masculinity, Oppression, Family, Absence, Responsibility Naylor's novels consistently address the oppression of women due to their sex and race. Her novels often portray men as irresponsible and unwilling to commit to any relationship. Naylor's literary corpus offers a comprehensive assessment of masculinity that goes beyond basic binary oppositions between positive and negative masculine depictions. Her works expose the underlying inconsistencies of masculine beliefs, especially when they intersect with race, class, and economic circumstance in African American communities. Naylor's work shows how societal forces and influential injustices shape masculine identity, which creates a pressure in the community they belong to. Therefore women toil emotionally in search of love and support, but in vain. African American women wouldn’t have been suppressed and neglected had the African American men given them what they needed. To live in a family and as a family is a dream for African American women. The reluctance of men to take up responsibility is vividly portrayed through the male characters portrayed by Gloria Naylor. This paper endeavours to discuss the hegemony of African American men and the pitiable plight of women because of the negligence of men.
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr D.J.B. Esther Rajathi (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Digital Voice: Technology as a Tool of Oppression and Liberation in Christina Dalcher’s Vox
Section: Articles Keywords: Technology, Empowerment, Cyberfeminism, Digital Feminism, Technofeminism Digital feminism combines feminism and digital tools; the core purpose of digital feminism is to demonstrate how women utilize the internet as a platform to share issues and promote empowerment. This study focuses particularly on the two main concepts under digital feminism: technofeminism and cyberfeminism. Technofeminism suggests that technology and gender are profoundly linked, frequently intertwining with masculine dominance, yet it also authorizes women’s empowerment. Cyberfeminism visualizes digital realms and the cyborg as instruments for combating and surpassing gender restrictions. Overall, they demonstrate that technology has the potential to both suppress and uplift women's individual freedom. The study aims to highlight the technofeminism and cyberfeminism aspects in Christina Dalcher’s text, Vox. The study’s methodology utilizes three technofeminism and cyberfeminism concepts: Gender Technological oppression, Gender-based digital divide, and Cyber empowerment. There were numerous studies conducted on technofeminism and cyberfeminism, but they were done using a quantitative method; yet, the researchers have used a qualitative method to analyze the text. This paper explores how Vox interconnects with the concepts of technofeminism and cyberfeminism through the experience of the protagonist Jean’s active fighting against the restriction of the authorities that stop women’s communication with the wrist electronic counter and her intelligence in identifying a new formula for serum. These findings prove the text can examine how technology works as both a tool of oppression and a source of resistance. Further, this study also allows subsequent researchers to explore and incorporate digital-related concepts and theories, such as digital feminism, cyberfeminism, and technofeminism, to analyze the text.
Copyright (c) 2025 Angayarkanni Shanmugasundaram, Dr K. Gurusamy, Dr A Hariharasudan Anandhan (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Rewriting Greek and Indian Myth: The Evolution of Mythical Women in Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad and Kavita Kané’s Sita’s Sister
Section: Articles Keywords: Retelling, Comparative analysis, Influence, Narratives, Centre, Female This article studies Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad (2005) and Kavita Kané’s Sita’s Sister (2014) and examines the contemporary retellings of Greek and Indian myths by a deliberatly posing female as its central notion. The study examines the traditional constructions of femininity which are rooted in chastity, fidelity, sacrifice, and silence, and rewrites it by the characters, Penelope and Urmila. By negotiating canonical epics The Odyssey and The Ramayana, the article understands the patriarchal frameworks that shaped women’s identities and confined them to subordinate roles within mythological narratives. The article studies fate, duty, art, and childhood conditioning, along with parental presence, matrimony, and political agency, to trace the evolution of mythical women from passive figures to assertive, reflective individuals. Margaret Atwood and Kavita Kané’s uses satire, introspection, and resistance to dismantle traditional perspectives and offer alternative ideologies on woman.
Copyright (c) 2025 Sneha A, Dr R. Princee (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Cultural Duality and the Immigrant Encounter in Shoban Bantwal’s The Sari Shop Widow
Section: Articles Keywords: Femininity, Taboos, Identity, Culture, Legacy, Expectations Shoban Bantwal’s writing skilfully expresses her Indian heritage, providing a deeper enquiry of femininity and emotional complexity as seen through the eyes of her female protagonists. As a woman, she imparts realism to her writings, eloquently depicting women's lives and their intricate ways to life. Her works frequently focus on Indian women residing in the USA, exploring the intricate intersections of ethnic identity and modern expectations. These characters often transcend societal taboos while preserving a profound connection to their origin. Bantwal explores the intricate interplay between traditional beliefs and contemporary aspirations through the themes of identity, culture, and empowerment. Her narratives explore the immigrant experience, illustrating how protagonists regain their heritage, resilience, and voice from eras of oppression. She elucidates the cultural underpinnings and familial ties that work as lasting pillars of strength and empowerment, providing her characters with a deep sense of identity and perseverance.
Copyright (c) 2024 Dr D.J.B. Esther Rajathi (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Cultural Imperialism in the Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathi: A Post-Colonial Perspective
Section: Articles Keywords: Imperialism, Culture, Hegemony, Cultural Domination This article theoretically explores the phenomenon of cultural and political domination of Meluha over smaller regions of the Sapt Sindhu in Amish’s well-known Shiva Trilogy. The postcolonial aspects, ideas, and the anti-colonial struggle against the oppressor are sprinkled throughout the text. The theme of cultural imperialism has been dealt with subtly and meaningfully by authors of mythological retellings like the Shiva Trilogy. Amish focuses on this phenomenon in Meluhan society, which has an edge over the other parts of the Sapt Sindhu, where King Daksha’s colonial aspirations make him sacrifice his own Naga child and grandchild to keep his hold on power. Shiva's transformation from a tribal leader into a divine savior is misused to influence and subjugate lesser provinces like Branga and Swadeep. King Daksha’s ambitions led him to violate natural resources to enjoy longevity and youth through the consumption of Somras. The severe damage to the people and the environment caused by his greed for power brings the annihilation of his kingdom itself. The article critically contextualises the current trend of domination of the powerful countries over the poor ones by imperial designs of King Daksha and the destructive consequences through the lens of postcolonial theory.
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Saroj Bala (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Androcentrism vs. Gynocentrism: An Ecocritical Study of Anuradha Roy’s The Folded Earth
Section: Articles Keywords: Androcentrism, Anthropocentrism, Eco-centric, Ecocriticism, Eco-feminism Ecocriticism, a literary counterpart to the environmental movement that emerged in the late twentieth century, provides a disciplinary lens for interrogating the representations of nature in cultural texts and the ideological frameworks that underpin human-environment relations. Within this framework, ecofeminism has crystallised as a significant sub-strand, foregrounding the gendered dimensions of ecological crisis and contending that valorised patriarchal domination, hierarchy, and dualistic logics pave the way for the suppression of women and depletion of the natural world. The research paper utilises a close reading approach to explain Anuradha Roy’s depiction of the intricate relationship between humanity and nature in the novel The Folded Earth, set against the backdrop of the Himalayan foothills. It investigates how the novel reveals the extension of partriarchal dominance over both women and the natural world through the eco-critical concepts such as of anthropocentrism and androcentrism. The findings emphasise the novel’s contribution to contemporary discourses on ecological conservation and gender justice, highlighting the role of literature in addressing the interconnected social and environmental issues.
Copyright (c) 2025 Megha R L, Dr R. Selvi (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Cultural Subordination and Nomadic Subjectivity: A Posthumanist Critique of Casteism in Perumal Murugan’s Seasons of the Palm
Section: Articles Keywords: Subaltern, Posthumanism, Ecologies, Otherness, Humanism, Cultural Homogeneity, Social Mobility, Nomadic Subjectivity The apparatus pattern of class consciousness plays a universal role in cultural subordination. In rural Tamil Nadu, the class dimension is ascribed in terms of casteism, subjugating marginalised communities in mental, physical, and moral aspects. Perumal Murugan, a realistic Tamil writer, efficaciously displays the hegemonic influence of landowners over subordinate labourers, especially child labourers. Murugan, through his novel, Seasons of the Palm, attempts to expose the embedded violence against untouchables or subordinates within the hierarchical spectrum by giving life to characters like Shorty and his fellow sheep-herd child labourers, who work as slaves to their masters. The research paper is infused with the standpoint of posthumanism theory, a call to the quest for logical cultural homogeneity of humanism attained through a ‘zoe-centred’ ethical approach. The theoretical premise of posthumanism embodies a pivotal role in defeating the inhumane and violent cultural ideology that prevails consciously in the traditional mentality of so-called ‘upper-caste’ people in Tamil rural society. The research paper emphasises the nomadic nature of a constructive society based on the radical critique concept of ‘Nomadic Subjectivity’, which rhetorically rejects the fixed hierarchical idea of a superior human, transcending authenticity from ‘being to becoming’.
Copyright (c) 2025 Agnes Jeba S (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Resilience and Recovery: Analysing Davis in Brave Enough through the PERMA Model of Positive Psychology
Section: Articles Keywords: Young adult fiction, Resilience, Recovery, Well-being, Positive Psychology Young adult fiction is aimed primarily at readers between the ages of twelve and eighteen. It often centres on themes that are highly relatable to teenagers. Illness narratives in young adult fiction explore themes of personal struggle, resilience, and recovery. These narratives can mirror real-life processes of healing and personal development. The character’s recovery can be depicted as a process of growth rather than just a struggle. This research paper applies Seligman’s well-being theory, particularly the PERMA model of positive psychology, to analyse the character Davis in Brave Enough by Kati Gardner. The PERMA model emphasises five core elements, including positive emotion, engagement, positive relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. This paper explores how the portrayal of Davis’ journey from addiction to recovery reflects positive transformation through these five elements. This paper aims to show how positive psychology can offer deeper insight into character development in young adult fiction, particularly while overcoming adversity.
Copyright (c) 2025 Rughanyah S, Dr D. Nalina Palin (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Eruptions of Funk in Priya Chabria's Clone: Ruminations on Bio-Ethics and Human Consciousness in Posthuman Transgenetic World
Section: Articles Keywords: Bio-Ethics, Utopia/Dystopia, Consciousness, Science Fiction, Clone Priya Sarukkai Chabria in Clone explores the historical dimension of imagined possibilities in the distant future of twenty-fourth-century India. This distant society of the future is a systematic Utopia/Dystopia named Global Community based on hierarchic organisation with little room for divergence and the population classed as – Originals, Superior, Zombies, Firehearts, and Clones. This posthuman world becomes a space for examining what constitutes human nature. The thrust of the premise in Priya Sarukkai Chabria’s Clone is the nostalgia for the humanist subject, a subject that is undermined by bio-engineering which attempts at erasing human ‘consciousness’ by bio-engineering and transgenetic cyborgization. The moral and ethical dimensions of bio-engineering are problematized and the text questions whether the de-coupling of mind-body can erase the constraints of human consciousness, for, after all, consciousness is the essence of human subjectivity. This paper would adopt a Cultural History approach and interpret the text as a matrix interspersed with diverse discourses to interrogate the ideological foundation which gave form, function, and content to the idea of Utopia/Dystopia.
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Shimi Moni Doley (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Struggle for a Home: A Reading of the Male in Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire
Section: Articles Keywords: Immigrants, Assimilation, Identity Crisis, Liminality, Migration Home Fire represents the life of British Muslims by modelling on the tragedy Antigone. The novel is modernised with characters whose actions correlate to the characters of Antigone. The story begins in the middle, introducing the grown-up Pasha siblings, and progresses to an end with flashbacks in fragmented narratives that reflect their broken lives. The characters bear the weight of dual identities – immigrants and being a minority (Muslims) – which gives them limited decisions, which they consciously uphold to assimilate and belong in a host country. This article specifically looks at the male characters to study the father-son relationship and the image of a male immigrant. The question of belongingness lingers around the male characters – the longing for a home in the host country and in their own home, where they yearn to be accepted by making their fathers proud.
Copyright (c) 2025 Jerusha Praveena S (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Reshaping the Margins: Disability and Social Integration in Jean Little's Listen for the Singing
Section: Articles Keywords: disability, inclusion, assistive technology, empathy, social attitude This article examines Jean Little’s Listen for the Singing, which narrates the uplifting tale of Anna Solden, a little girl with a vision disability. The tale chronicles Anna’s challenges in acclimating to her new school and life subsequent to her relocation to Canada. Initially, she experiences a sense of dissimilarity and ambiguity over her position in the world. With the help of her affectionate family, compassionate educators, and newfound companions, Anna learns to confront her challenges with bravery and optimism. The narrative illustrates how specialised learning instruments, including Braille, audiobooks, and typewriters, assist Anna in pursuing her education and fostering self-confidence. The article draws on ideas from Lennard J. Davis’s The Disability Studies Reader (5th ed.), which explains that disability is not only about physical or mental differences, but also about how society views and treats people who seem different. Many of the challenges faced by people with disabilities come from a lack of understanding, poor accessibility, and limited acceptance from others. This idea is clearly reflected in Jean Little’s Listen for the Singing, where Anna, a young girl with a visual impairment, struggles not only with her limited eyesight but also with how others perceive her, teachers and her classmates in Germany fail to understand her needs, making her feel isolated and discouraged but later joins a more supportive school in Canada, she is given access to assistive tools, patient teachers, and caring friends who help her succeed. Through Anna’s journey, the novel shows that when society changes its attitude and provides the right support, people with disabilities can thrive and live with confidence.
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr S. Srimathi (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Beyond Patriarchy: Eco-Masculinity as an Alternative Masculine Identity in Perumal Murugan’s One Part Woman
Section: Articles Keywords: Eco-Masculinity, Infertility, Nature, Hegemonic Masculinity This article explores the concept of eco-masculinity as an alternative framework to understand masculine identities, with a focus on Perumal Murugan’s One Part Woman. Traditional patriarchal norms define masculinity through domination, virility, and reproductive success, marginalizing men who do not conform. Eco-masculinity, on the other hand, emphasizes the value of caring, reciprocity, and the interconnectedness of men, land, and non-human life as legitimate manifestations of masculinity. This alternative approach is best illustrated by the character Kali, whose masculinity is based on his closeness to the earth, his compassion for cattle and his synchronization with ecological cycles. While society ridicules him for his infertility and forces his wife into coercive rituals of reproduction, his dignity emerges from ecological stewardship and emotional vulnerability. Through this lens, Kali’s woundedness is exposed as the result of patriarchal erasure of alternative masculinity rather than as a personal weakness. Eco-masculinity not only challenges the violence of patriarchal systems but also gestures toward sustainable, ethical models of manhood that affirm both human and ecological survival. By reading One Part Woman, this paper argues that eco-masculinity provides a transformative framework that redefines masculine identities beyond patriarchal binaries, making space for tenderness, ecological consciousness, and ethical coexistence.
Copyright (c) 2025 Binola J, Dr. A. Annie Divya Mahisha (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Partition and Aesthetic Expression: A Comparative Reading of Manto’s Toba Tek Singh and Malik’s Savage Anguish
Section: Articles Keywords: Partition, Aesthetic, Trauma, Irony, Suspense The seminal short stories based on the Partition of India, Saadat Hasan Manto’s Toba Tek Singh and Syed Abdul Malik’s Savage Anguish (Bibhatsa Bedona), have several thematic and artistic parallels between them. These short stories employ unique aesthetic functions to unveil the absurdity, trauma, and moral disintegration that were unleashed by the Partition. Manto situates his satirical narrative within a lunatic asylum, symbolizing the broader insanity of a divided nation, while Malik exposes the same moral decay through the perspective of a self-centered middle-class narrator confronting the naked realities of communal violence. The article calls attention to their craftsmanship in narrative technique and in the symbolic use of madness, nakedness, and light to expose bitter social realities lying underneath. Elements like irony, suspense, and the contrast between appearance and reality reinforce the emotional and ethical impact of the narratives. Both writers transform socio-historical tragedy into a profound artistic statement evoking pathos and self-reflection. The humanist vision of these writers questions the inhumanity of communal hatred, rendering these stories enduring reminders of the irrationality of Partition and the need for compassion in a growingly divisive world.
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Shivajit Dutta (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Epistemic Violence and Spiritual Displacement in Postcolonial Nigeria: A Comparative Study of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus
Section: Articles Keywords: Epistemic violence, Spiritual dislocation, Resistance, Cultural identity This article investigates the concept of epistemic violence and spiritual dislocation in postcolonial Nigeria through a comparative examination of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus (2003). It posits that both novels illustrate how colonialism, in addition to exerting political dominance, systematically undermines indigenous knowledge systems, spiritual practices, and cultural identities. Achebe’s portrayal of the gradual disintegration of Igbo society evidenced by the weakening of the Oracle, the silencing of ancestral voices, and the neglect of rituals, demonstrates how colonial forces invalidate traditional worldviews. In a similar vein, Adichie depicts the enduring repercussions of colonial rule within familial structures, where rigid religious tenets stifle personal freedom and cultural expression. Highlighting the postcolonial theoretical frameworks, particularly Gayatri Spivak’s notion of epistemic violence and Frantz Fanon’s insights on psychological alienation, this study unveils how colonial authority reconfigures reality, truth, and self-identity. The tragic decline of Okonkwo and the internal struggles of Kambili and Jaja serve as representations of the wider cultural crisis and identity loss that accompany epistemic oppression. This paper asserts that epistemic violence transcends historical contexts, remaining a pervasive influence in contemporary families and communities. Through resilience, consciousness, and cultural reclamation, Achebe and Adichie propose avenues for resistance and healing against imposed ideologies.
Copyright (c) 2025 P.Antony Maria Jenobhar (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Double Exile: Psychological Dislocation and the Quest for Self in Anita Desai’S Bye-Bye Blackbird
Section: Articles Keywords: Nostalgia, Alienation, Migration, Mental Trauma, Displacement, Self-Discovery, Psychology, Homeland This research article explores the deep sense of nostalgia in the lives of the immigrants. Migration takes place in everyone’s life. The reasons may be vary according to the situation they undergo. The immigrants who migrate to other countries face critical situations and unfair treatment by the colonizers. They experience a sense of longing, loss of cultures, loss of traditions, alienation, dislocation, depression and torn between multiple cultures in the new land. The settlers experience mental trauma and homesickness. The treatment by the westerners on the indigenous people is unfair. They are treated as outsiders. However they have to remain resilient in every situation. Nostalgia is not only a sentimental longing for the past, but it is the driving force in bringing people to their homeland. The nostalgic effects can be overwhelming, prompting individuals to return to their homeland. Nostalgia serves as a catalyst in the protagonist’s life, leads to self- discovery and ultimately, return to his homeland. This research analyses the psychology of the immigrants through the lens of psychoanalytical theory proposed by Sigmund Freud and the concept of fragmentation by Jacques Lacan. The settlers are torn between the impacts of nostalgia and unable to escape the bitter life in western life. This inner conflict made a tremendous change in their lives and ultimately made them to return to their homeland. Homeland is a place of joy, happiness and peace which made the settlers to return to their homeland by using nostalgia as a catalyst.
Copyright (c) 2025 S. Merlin Azifa (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Scheherazade’s Isomorphic Replication: The Narrative Praxis as an Exigency for Sustaining Survival and Political Authority in Amish Tripathi’s Sita: Warrior of Mithila
Section: Articles Keywords: Scheherazade; , Feminist Mythography; , Sita; , Narrative Sovereignty; , Mythic Reimagination; , Cultural Memory In the evolving landscape of contemporary feminist literary criticism, the reimagining of classical myths provides a fertile terrain for exploring the dynamics of agency, power, and identity. Amish Tripathi’s Sita: Warrior of Mithila represents a significant departure from traditional narratives of the Ramayana, presenting Sita not as a passive emblem of chastity and obedience, but as a proactive agent navigating complex social, ethical, and political landscapes. This paper argues that Tripathi’s Sita exemplifies a modern manifestation of narrative sovereignty, drawing compelling parallels with Scheherazade of One Thousand and One Nights, whose storytelling ensures both survival and empowerment. By employing narrative as a strategic and transformative tool, Sita asserts control over her own fate, negotiates her political environment, and challenges patriarchal structures that seek to limit her autonomy. Through a detailed analysis of her embodiment, ethical agency, and rhetorical engagement, this study examines how Sita’s physical and intellectual capacities are interwoven with her moral and political authority, redefining the parameters of female heroism in mythological storytelling. Furthermore, the paper situates Tripathi’s work within the broader framework of feminist mythography, interrogating how the reconstruction of Sita’s identity destabilizes conventional gender norms and amplifies the discourse on female subjectivity in Indian mythology. By juxtaposing textual analysis with feminist theoretical perspectives, this research highlights the ways in which narrative, embodiment, and political acumen converge to position Sita as both a survivor and a sovereign, ultimately demonstrating that the act of storytelling itself can serve as a radical instrument of empowerment, resistance, and self-determination.
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Vijay Karthic R (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The Poetic Chronicles of the Middle-Earth: An Exploration of Songs And Poems In J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship Of The Ring
Section: Articles Keywords: Tolkien, Middle-Earth, Poetry, Songs, Memory The Fellowship of the Ring is a novel written by J. R. R. Tolkien that contains many songs and poems that act as vessels of memory, identity, and culture within the Middle-earth. In addition to their decorative use, these songs and poems preserve history, express different cultural values, and shape the narrative tone. This article analyzes a selection of songs and poems, including Hobbit walking songs, Dwarvish chants, Elvish laments, Tom Bombadil’s cheerful verses, and Frodo’s ballads, as a “poetic chronicle” constructing narrative with oral and literary traditions, and examines how Tolkien integrates verse and prose to enrich his fictional world. The study draws on theories of cultural memory and medial philology to reveal how Tolkien’s poetic compositions maintain the continuity of history and identity across time and race within Middle-Earth.
Copyright (c) 2025 Judah Smith (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Freedom Redefined: Tagore’s Poetic Vision in the Age of Globalization and Digital Surveillance
Section: Articles Keywords: Tagore, Poetics of Freedom, Colonialism, Globalization, Surveillance Rabindranath Tagore’s poems “Where the Mind is Without Fear” and “Freedom” interrogate freedom not merely as political independence but as a radical reimagining of human consciousness. While rooted in the anti-colonial context, these poems critique dogma, fear, and intellectual inertia as deeper forms of bondage. This study employs a dual methodology of textual analysis and socio-historical contextualization to interpret Tagore’s conception of freedom within both colonial and contemporary frameworks. Drawing on postcolonial theory, globalization studies, and digital humanism, it explores how Tagore’s poetic ideals challenge both imperial domination and modern structures of control. In the contemporary landscape of globalization and digital surveillance, Tagore’s vision acquires renewed urgency by exposing how technology-driven control and cultural homogenization replicate colonial subjugation in subtler forms. The study reveals that “Where the Mind is Without Fear” envisions a society grounded in fearless reasoning and moral clarity, while “Freedom” expresses a prophetic plea for liberation from ignorance, conformity, and mechanization. Tagore’s poetics thus function as a counter-discourse demanding critical thought, moral courage, and emancipatory education, sustaining relevance in resisting authoritarianism, disinformation, and ethical erosion. His work embodies a timeless critique of unfreedom in its shifting historical manifestations, redefining liberty as an ongoing process of ethical awakening and intellectual renewal. In an age marked by digital dependency and socio-political inequality, Tagore’s call for fearless minds and truthful living continues to offer a powerful framework for preserving human dignity and justice.
Copyright (c) 2025 Abhijit DEB (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Juxtaposing Humour and Humiliation: Neurodivergent Poetics and the Endurance of Shame in Tito Mukhopadhyay’s Plankton Dreams
Section: Articles Keywords: Neurodiversity, Neuro-Typicality, Neurodivergent Poetics, Autie-Biography Humour, Humiliation, Deterritorialization Neurodivergent poetics provides a critical framework for understanding how autistic authors reshape narrative, language, and subjectivity. This article examines Tito Mukhopadhyay’s Plankton Dreams: What I Learned in Special-Ed through the lens of neurodivergent poetics, focusing on how humour and humiliation intertwine in his work to challenge dominant narratives of autism and intellectual disability. It situates Mukhopadhyay’s autobiography within the evolving field of disability studies, particularly in relation to neurodiversity, and highlights the radical linguistic and formal experiments that characterize his works. The study employs a qualitative, interpretive methodology rooted in close textual analysis, self-narrative theory, and comparative disability scholarship. Findings suggest that Mukhopadhyay converts institutional shame into comic experimentation, exposing the absurdities of special education systems while cultivating new literary forms that affirm autistic ways of knowing. His humour operates not merely as coping but as critique, transforming humiliation into an epistemic tool for reimagining subjectivity. The article concludes that Plankton Dreams demands an expanded hermeneutics attentive to nonlinear, excessive, and experimental forms, positioning neurodivergence as a generative force within both literature and cultural theory.
Copyright (c) 2025 Hafsa Yousaf N N (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Incongruity of Modern Feminism: Prerogative or Proscription?
Section: Articles Keywords: Modern Feminism, Patriarchy, Current Interpretations, Occidental Cultures The global feminist movement is going through a new chapter in the twenty-first century. The 19th and 20th centuries avowed a prodigious concordat deal of success for feminist movements that addressed both elementary and erudite challenges in patriarchal nations. Feminist groups, which first appeared in Western industrialised countries in the 19th century, spread to developing Asiatic and African nations in the 20th century, enticing on new subjects and ventures. On the other hand, since social structures shift abruptly in the period of postmodernism, fresh challenges arise. In order to comprehend the evolving contours of the feminist movement, academics, researchers, and feminists are working to understand these new concerns. In addition, feminists have undertaken fresh initiatives for addressing the most recent problems facing women. This paper aims to look at the history of feminism, from its early beginnings in the West to the challenges it faces in the postmodern era, and to place modern feminism within larger social and political debates. By examining the incongruities between its founding ideals and its present orientations, the study will attempt to clarify whether modern feminism continues as a prerogative of empowerment or has shifted towards a prescriptive proscription. As a result, this study is an intellectual endeavour to comprehend the novel tendency that emerged in the twenty-first century.
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Apeksha, Dr Zeba Mehdi (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Myth, Multilingualism, and Nonhuman Agency in Amitav Ghosh's Climate Fiction: Gun Island and The Living Mountain
Section: Articles Keywords: Cli-fi, Ecopoetics, Decolonization, Polyphony, Multilingualism, Ecological Memory, Cultural Resistance, Subversive Myth, Non-Human Agency Climate change, as a defining crisis of the twenty-first century, challenges ecosystems, displaces communities, and unsettles established human-nature hierarchies. Literature has responded through climate fiction, where Amitav Ghosh holds a central position with works such as Gun Island and The Living Mountain. This paper explores how these novels resist Western realist conventions by foregrounding indigenous myths, ritual practices, and multilingual traditions as modes of ecological resistance. Drawing on ecocritical frameworks (Buell, Glotfelty, Garrard, and Plumwood), dialogic theory (Bakhtin), and contemporary scholarship, the study employs a qualitative comparative method to examine Ghosh’s integration of regional myths, such as Manasa Devi and Marang Buru, ritual forms like Bhut Kola, and linguistic plurality across Bengali, Himalayan, Italian, and English. The analysis shows that Ghosh reconfigures myth and language as repositories of ecological memory and cultural resilience, while attributing agency to nonhuman forces such as rivers, storms, serpents, and mountains as active participants in shaping human futures rather than mere symbols. Both novels underscore survival as contingent on ecological reciprocity, vernacular wisdom, and recognition of interspecies interdependence. How does Ghosh’s rejection of extractivist paradigms and privileging of indigenous epistemologies advance a decolonial ecopoetic in which nature emerges as co-creator and language as an ethical practice? In what ways does Ghosh’s fiction expand postcolonial and environmental discourse by affirming myth and multilingualism as cultural technologies for imagining alternative futures in the climate crisis? This paper shall seek answers to these questions.
Copyright (c) 2025 Aniruddha Bose, Dr Prabuddha Ghosh (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The Forgotten Feminine: Urmila's Plight and the Effects of Patriarchal Feminism in Kavita Kane’s Sita’s Sister
Section: Articles Keywords: Patriarchy, feminism, mythology This article explores the neglected character of Urmila in Sita’s Sister by Kavita Kane, analyzing her plight in the context of patriarchal feminism. While Indian scriptures such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata glorify female figures like Sita and Draupadi, they simultaneously silence secondary women whose sacrifices are no less significant. The study begins by situating women’s status in Indian cultural and religious traditions, where goddess worship and the Panchakanya hymn present an image of inclusivity. Yet, this veneration often masks the deeper mechanisms of patriarchy that celebrate only those women who conform to its norms. The paper uses Kavita Kane’s retelling of Urmila’s narrative as a lens to re-examine these cultural constructs and foreground the silenced voices. The analysis applies feminist literary criticism to highlight the contrast between the limited representation of Urmila in Valmiki’s Ramayana and the fuller, resistant portrayal in Kane’s novel. The findings suggest that Urmila embodies resilience, wisdom, and selflessness, yet remains marginalized because she questions patriarchal norms, unlike the canonized Panchakanyas whose sanctity is rooted in submission. By juxtaposing Urmila’s silencing with examples like Surpanakha’s demonization, the paper demonstrates how patriarchal feminism operates as a subtle but powerful tool of control. The discussion concludes that Kane’s narrative challenges these silences, reclaiming Urmila’s voice and revealing the contradictions within cultural respect for women—where reverence often conceals oppression.
Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Akshaya Lekshmi S R (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Crime as a Grand Adventure: Nation-Building and the Empowered Child in Arup Kumar Dutta’s The Kaziranga Trail
Section: Articles Keywords: National Identity, Governmental Belonging, Adventure This article investigates the contradictory function of children’s detective fiction as a medium for nationalist discourse. Taking Arup Kumar Dutta’s, The Kaziranga Trail as a case study, the paper examines how the genre simultaneously depicts crime with a conceived serious treatment while framing the detection efforts of child protagonists as an exciting adventure. The paper contends that this duality is not an inconsistency but a purposeful narrative technique aimed at fostering “governmental belonging” in young readers, thus positioning them as active participants in safeguarding a post-globalization nation. The analysis focuses on how the genre is employed not merely for entertainment but to explore profound themes of ecological preservation, national identity, and the brutal reality of crime, thereby challenging the typically sanitised portrayal of wrongdoing in children's literature. The narrative illustrates how an innate desire for adventure can be transformed into a profound commitment to the nation. By framing the defence of national symbols as an exciting and intellectually stimulating quest, the paper highlights the narrative strategy to nurture a future generation of proactive and vigilant citizens who see themselves not as passive recipients but as active guardians of their nation. Significantly, the article discusses how this empowerment is ultimately transient, serving to uphold, rather than challenge, adult authority.
Copyright (c) 2025 Rizia Begum Laskar (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Translating Trauma through Gustatory Memorial: A Reading of the Post-Partition Narrative in Kallol Lahiri’s Indubala Bhater Hotel
Section: Articles Keywords: Gustatory, Memory, Food, Trauma, Culinary, Partition The indelible marks that the horror of the Partition and its resultant mass exodus left on the two states of Punjab and Bengal are still felt. The nature of the experience of pathological violence in Punjab has been somewhat different from the psychological trauma that Bengal experienced. The immediacy of visceral violence on the Bengal border did not exceed its counterpart in Punjab; rather, the experience has sedimented into a long-lasting psychological state of unsettlement. This vivid presence of traumatic memory as an everyday reality, however, goes unrecognised within the fold of documented history, resulting in a cultivated amnesia or “memocide” of the minorities. Kallol Lahiri’s Indubala Bhater Hotel (2020) situates this lingering sense of loss and displacement within the everyday realm of culinary practices, where food becomes a symbolic and material site of memory. Drawing on Memory Studies, Trauma Studies, and Food Studies, this paper explores how Lahiri’s narrative reconfigures the Partition through concepts such as Marianne Hirsch’s “postmemory,” Ananya Jahanara Kabir’s “post-amnesia,” and David Sutton’s “gustemology.” The analysis foregrounds the ways in which food, as both sensory and symbolic medium, enables the transmission of traumatic memory across generations. This article seeks to enquire into the ways culinary practices synthesise with the traumatic past in articulation of the otherwise unspeakable memory of uprootedness.
Copyright (c) 2025 Kuheli Singha (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Gender Performativity and Resistance: A Reading of Power Structures in Joanne Harris’ Chocolat Series
Section: Articles Keywords: Gender Performativity, Cooking, Identity, Catalyst, Feminist Resistance This article investigates how Joanne Harris’s Chocolat series: Chocolat (1999), The Lollipop Shoes (2007), Peaches for Monsieur le Curé (2012), and The Strawberry Thief (2019), redefines female identity and resistance through the intersection of food, gender, and power. Drawing on Judith Butler’s notion of Gender Performativity and Michel Foucault’s discourse on power and resistance, the study adopts a qualitative method of close textual analysis. The analysis foregrounds how culinary practices in Harris’s novels function as sites of subversion against patriarchal and religious authority, with food emerging not only as a medium of pleasure but also as an instrument of agency. Characters such as Vianne, Josephine, Rosette, Morgane, and Zozie embody different dimensions of resistance, disrupting societal norms of gendered roles and reshaping the dynamics of community and identity. The article suggest that Harris portrays women as active agents who resist societal oppression through everyday practices, especially cooking, caregiving, and self-expression. The novels emphasize culinary resistance as a feminist strategy, highlighting how women reclaim power and autonomy within restrictive cultural and religious frameworks. Harris demonstrates that gender roles are socially constructed and can be resisted through performative acts that transform ordinary practices into tools of empowerment. This study concludes that Harris’s narratives critique rigid structures of power and propose an alternative vision of female agency grounded in food, creativity, and communal care. Future research may extend this inquiry by exploring culinary resistance in global women’s writing, situating Harris within broader literary food studies.
Copyright (c) 2025 S. Rajeswari, Dr S. Anitha (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The Nexus of Feminine Empowerment and Mythic Revisionism: Contesting Gendered Ontologies within the Contours of Anand Neelakantan’s Ajaya: Roll of the Dice and Rise of Kali
Section: Articles Keywords: Patriarchal critique, Social hierarchy, Ethical negotiation, Female empowerment, Political foresight, Structural constraints This study critically examines Anand Neelakantan’s Ajaya duology—Ajaya: Roll of the Dice and Rise of Kali—as a transformative mythopoetic retelling of the Mahabharata that foregrounds gendered agency and ethical pluralism. By shifting the narrative perspective to the Kauravas and centering female characters such as Draupadi, Kunti, Gandhari, and Subhadra, Neelakantan challenges traditional binary frameworks of heroism and villainy and destabilizes patriarchal readings of dharma and power. The research explores how women in Ajaya move beyond passive archetypes to become strategic, morally reflective, and psychologically complex agents who shape the epic’s social, political, and ethical dynamics. Through nuanced characterization, multi-focal narrative strategies, and a critique of caste and patriarchal hierarchies, the duology offers new interpretive possibilities for the Mahabharata, demonstrating that female perspectives are indispensable to the understanding of justice, morality, and agency within epic literature. Ultimately, the study argues that Neelakantan’s work not only restores marginalized voices but also provides a compelling template for critically reimagining classical texts in ways that promote ethical sophistication and narrative inclusivity.
Copyright (c) 2025 Vijay Karthic R (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Revisiting Canonical Texts in Popular Culture: The Enduring Influence of Iconic Poems and Literary Works
Section: Articles Keywords: Canonical Literature, Popular Imagination, Reinterpretation, Cultural Practices, Literary Authority The persistence of canonical literary texts within popular imagination highlights their continuing capacity to inspire, adapt, and reshape cultural meanings across generations. This paper examines how poems and literary works, once confined to the domain of elite readership and formal study, acquire renewed significance when reinterpreted in contemporary cultural practices. The purpose is to explore how these texts, while retaining their historical weight, undergo processes of reinterpretation and circulation that open them to new audiences and diverse forms of expression. The objectives of the study are twofold: first, to analyze the shifting dynamics between established literary authority and popular reinterpretations; second, to interrogate how cultural practices reshape the meaning of these works, moving them beyond static reverence toward active cultural participation. Through critical approaches that foreground the relationship between literature, power, and popular representation, the study traces how canonical voices are re-read in everyday cultural artifacts such as films, music, and digital media. The discussion demonstrates that canonical works do not remain frozen within the boundaries of tradition but continually re-emerge as vital cultural resources. Their reappearance in varied forms reveals the ways in which popular culture both challenges and revitalizes literary heritage, extending its relevance across contexts and audiences. In this manner, the paper establishes that the enduring influence of these texts lies not only in their historical stature but also in their capacity to be re-imagined as part of the living fabric of cultural life.
Canonical Literature, Popular Imagination, Reinterpretation, Cultural Practices, Literary Authority
Copyright (c) 2025 Debasmita Biswas (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Psychological Resilience in Human-AI Relationships: A Reading of Ian McEwan’s Machines Like Me
Section: Articles Keywords: Resilience, Human and AI Interaction, Ethical Dilemma, Machine Like Me, Emotional Interdependence Resilience is usually characterized in psychology as an individual's capacity to withstand adversity and recuperate from trauma. Nevertheless, the emergence of advanced artificial intelligence necessitates a reevaluation of this notion. This research analyzes Ian McEwan’s Machines Like Me to investigate how resilience manifests as both a personal characteristic and a relational, developmental phenomenon influenced by human–AI interactions. This study employs established psychological theories of resilience and a detailed textual analysis of McEwan’s story to position resilience as a dynamic construct that develops through reciprocal adaptation, emotional connection, and ethical negotiation between humans and machines. The study examines critical interactions among Charlie, Miranda, and Adam, illustrating how resilience is redefined within the framework of relational interdependence, collective ethical issues, and shifting identities. Research indicates that McEwan’s novel depicts resilience as an adaptive, transformational process rather than a static personal trait, emerging from the co-construction of meaning and emotional symbiosis between humans and AI. This reframing underscores the necessity of expanding psychological and literary understandings of resilience to include human–technology relationships, ultimately illustrating that resilience in the age of AI is not solely individualistic but relational, ethical, and identity-forming.
Copyright (c) 2025 R.Gayatri (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The Dialectics of Subservience and Empowerment: Feminine Epistemologies in Amish Tripathi’s Sita: Warrior of Mithila
Section: Articles Keywords: Feminine Epistemologies, Mythological Retellings, Gender and Dharma, Subservience and Empowerment, Indian Mythology This research article investigates the dialectics of subservience and empowerment as embodied by the female figures in Amish Tripathi’s Sita: Warrior of Mithila, with particular attention to Sita, Kaikeyi, and Manthara. It argues that Tripathi’s mythological retelling reconfigures the traditional Ramayana archetypes of passive devotion, villainous ambition, and manipulative marginality into nuanced subjectivities that foreground feminine epistemologies of power, resistance, and moral reasoning. By granting narrative authority and psychological depth to these women, Tripathi destabilizes the patriarchal binaries of the epic tradition and reimagines the feminine as central to the articulation of dharma. The article situates this transformation within the larger cultural and philosophical discourses of gender in Indian mythology, demonstrating how the series engages with questions of justice, agency, and ethical responsibility. Furthermore, it explores how the multi-linear narrative structure, political recontextualization, and dialogic engagement with classical traditions generate a feminist mythography that resonates with contemporary debates on gender equality. In analyzing the coexistence of constraint and agency within the experiences of Tripathi’s women, the article contends that empowerment in mythology is always negotiated, never absolute. Ultimately, it argues that the Sita: Warrior of Mithila exemplifies how myth, when reimagined through feminist lenses, functions not only as cultural memory but also as a dynamic space for the rearticulation of social ethics in the modern age.